Friday 12th February 2016

So we woke early this morning as we had to catch our tour to Fraser Island at 8am. When our camper van rental company told us that the car battery is seprate from the battery powering the lights and fridge, they obviously lied. We tried to start Kylie but no luck, just a clicking noise and clearly a flat battery. It must have been because the other battery had gone flat as she had been working fine up to now.

Isla ran off in a panic to try and get help from reception whilst I sat there cursing. Amazingly we had picked a good site to stay at, as within 5 minutes a member of staff had come round in his truck and got his jump leads out to bump start us. Kylie was back to life but we had to catch a boat so when the guy said leave her running for an hour we were like "great" she will be flat again when we come back.

Anyway we didn't have time to worry about that, we headed to the harbour and caught our boat to Fraser Island. The weather was a bit overcast today, not ideal when your going to a tropical island for water sports and laying on beaches. The island is the largest sand island in the world and we were heading for the eastern side which when we arrived was completely deserted. All of the tour groups went to the other side. We got off the boat and kayaked around a mangrove swamp for about 1 hour. The swamp was fresh water rather than salt water which is weird as it runs to the sea about 30 meters away. The guide demonstrated this by drinking it. We messed around in the kayaks trying not to bump into everyone and then we headed back to the boat to go snorkelling.

We snorkelled around the edge of the mangrove swamp hopeing to see our first turtle. The visibility wasn't as good as we hoped but we did see loads of sting rays, probably about 20-30 of them, along with some small schools of fish.

We then headed back to the boat and had a lovely BBQ, loads of food and unlimited tea which got Isla' approval. After lunch we headed to a different part of the island and did some more kayaking around an inland creek. This time it was not connected to the sea and was much clearer. Other than birds which had migrated from Siberia we did not see any other animals. After kayaking we chilled on the beach and did some paddle boarding which is a lot harder then I first thought. After doing so well at surfing I thought paddle boarding would be a breeze but it is a completely different stance and action. After this Isla and I went in an inflatable tube whilst being dragged by a speed boat. This was very fun and had us laughing all the way around. I kept messing around, letting go of the straps and leaning into Isla to try and make the tube flip over but this didn't work.

After the tubing we climbed up a very high and steep sand dune. The view was amazing and the sand was so soft and fluffy it would have been easily mistaken for flour. We then headed back to the boat to return to shore. All in all the trip was good, weather could have been better but at least it didn't rain and was much warmer then home.

We got back to Kylie and were met with the realisation that she might not start and we would be stranded on the side of the road. Amazingly, thank God she started first time. What a relief! We headed north again towards our next destination a country town called Bunderberg. We arrived at night so couldn't really see what it was like, we stayed in a truck stop about 20 minutes out of town. This one had toilets with no glass in the windows, the lights were left on overnight which meant it was a party place for all the insects. The toilets were filled with every flying insect you could imagine. Definitely another pee in the sink night.

Saturday 13th February 2016

We got up early today to head into Bunderberg to use a laundromat and get breakfast. This was the first one we had used and it was quite fun. We put our washing in for a 30 minute cycle and then headed to a cafe for breakfast. The breakfast was quite expensive about $30 (£15).

We then collected our washing and went to Aldi to get dinner for a few days before we went on our second tour to the Whitsundays. We started our drive north to a place called Airlie Beach and on the way we stopped off at a town called 1770. This was the site in which Captain James Cook first landed in Australia in 1770. It was a lovely place with a beautiful beach. Isla said the beach was the best one yet, in terms of scenery rather than sand quality. We walked around the shore line trying to picture what it would have been like travelling in the ship and arriving in Australia after being at sea for so long.

On the way back to Kylie we bumped into a drunk Aussie who happened to see Isla scratch a bite. She dragged us to her caravan and gave us a lot of prescribed cream to use on the bites. Very nice lady, like most Australians, very friendly and approachable always willing to help.

We headed off with our new cream and sat and had lunch on the beach. After lunch we headed to a town called Rockhampton which is known for cattle and that's about it. A very country and western town where people wear cowboy hats and boots and is supposedly the best place in Australia for steaks. We reached Rockhampton at about 1830 and decided to have steak for dinner. We went to a restaurant chain called Hogs Breath Cafe who advertise that they do the best steaks. We took advantage of this and were not disappointed. A very nice and big steak.

We then went and stayed in a free campsite which turned out to be a big field behind a pub. When we turned up another Kylie was already parked up and by the time we went to bed a third one had joined us. Very funny, we had literally only seen 3 or 4 since we left Sydney and now we were in a field with 2 others.