Onto one of the highlights of our journey up the east coast...the one and only Fraser Island!

We had opted for the 2 day 1 night guided tour. Most people seem to prefer the self-drive, but I had visions of that going very wrong, and it's always nice to learn something about the places you are going to!

For those of you haven't been there, Fraser Island is massive sand island, stretching for 124km, a short distance away from the mainland. We were picked up in a 4WD bus, which looked slightly hilarious driving through the streets of Rainbow Beach due to the humungous tyres and being positioned slightly too far up from the ground! To get to Fraser we had to take a barge (not what I thought a barge was at all! This was more like a mini vehicle ferry) for a short crossing, and once on the other side we were driving along the beach. Seemed bizarre at the time, but we certainly got used to it, as driving along 75 mile beach was to be a common theme over the next 2 days.

At that point we were on a day trip with a slightly odd driver, so we were pleased when we met up with our new bus and driver a short distance away! Warren was to be our guide, and guide he did. Very informative, full of local knowledge and generally a nice chap. He was telling us the places he's been to in Australia, and Sooz and I were astounded that in 5.5 weeks we would have seen more of his country than he had. Clearly we can't compete with him on timescales in each place though!

Our first stop was a walk through the rainforest at Pile Valley. There was a creek running through the forest next to the path we were following, and it seemed so strange to see clear water flowing over sand like that and surrounded by all these luscious greens. The ferns were the most amazing colour, especially when viewed from beneath with the sun streaming down from above.

It was on leaving the rainforest and jumping back onto the bus that we realised just how difficult driving on the island could be, as we came across a road blocked by some self-drivers who were stuck in the sand. Most of the men on our bus ended up getting down to help them out with a friendly push. Our vehicle (and experienced driver!) had no problems getting past, but it made us realise that we had made the right decision - who wants to spend their whole time on Fraser trying to get out of patches of soft sand!?

Back on the beach we came to the Maheno Shipwreck, which was definitely something I'd been looking forward to. Warren showed us some pictures of how she looked when she was first washed ashore by a cyclone back in 1935(?) and the difference was unbelievable. In her finest hour the Maheno was a cruise liner, and then was used as a hospital ship in the war. Now, she's a rusting reminiscence of her former life. There's something really beautiful about these hunks of orange and brown coloured metal though, with the sand in front and the beautiful blues of the ocean and sky behind. Personally I think the ship is more beautiful now than she ever could have been in her working days.

We continued along the beach towards the coloured sands. Warren insisted that the Red Canyon was the best spot, so we pulled over here for photos. This was the whites, golds, yellows, oranges and reds of Rainbow Beach on a far grander scale. More intense in colour and size. I'm not sure the photos do it justice.

After negotiating a tough bit of sand, which the self-drivers seemed to be giving up on, and Warren only managed after several attempts, we managed to make it over to the Champagne Pools. The name pools is slightly misleading. It's a small sandy section with rocks making a barrier between sand and ocean, and apparently at certain times the sandy section will fill with enough water to make it suitable for swimming. On the day of our trip it was more of a paddling pool, but still beautiful. I spent most of the time trying to take photos at just the right moment to capture the waves breaking against the rocks. These were almighty crashes, with spray flying metres into the air. I was semi-successful, but it would take a far better photographer than me (with a proper camera!) to capture the full effect.

Next we drove along to Indian Head, which juts out on the North East of the island and provides spectacular views of the ocean and 75 mile beach, as well as the sandblow which I was dreading crossing the next day (fears of another steep climb were pressing on my mind!). We had a rocky scramble up to the top, in flip flops, which seemed a little dangerous to me and made climbing Tors with Mike and Sooz in Devon seem far less scary!! The group sat perched on rocks towards the edge and looked into the ocean in search of marine life. We saw a couple of turtles, but to be honest most of their exclaiming 'look!' was lost on me, how you are supposed to identify a sea creature from that far up and that great a distance is beyond me!

Our last stop of the day was Eli Creek. On the way we were lucky enough to see a wild dingo chilling out on the beach. I got out of the bus for photos, and he was actually quite cute, despite being a dangerous animal! He seemed quite friendly and playful, although had I been on my own with no means of escape I'm sure my attitude would have been different. Eli is another creek flowing over the sand surrounded by the green of plant life. I can't remember the figure, but a ridiculous amount of water flows through here into the ocean. Sooz and I waded against the flow to the end (well, as far as they'll allow at least), then turned around and came back again, me in my beige coloured outfit, imagining I was something out of a safari! It was far funner than it sounds, and the cold of the water in late afternoon soon became bearable.

One of the advantages of the guided tour was that meals were included and we got to stay in a proper resort on the island. And meals they were! All you can eat buffet style, which went down well with Sooz and I who are living on pasta and tomato sauce for dinner most nights!

Day 2 began with the drive over to Lake Mackenzie, another highlight of the trip to Fraser. Gleaming white sands and water of many shades of blue greeted us. Simply stunning. We spent most of the morning relaxing on the sand and quite literally chilling in the water. Mornings like this are a perfect reminder of how lucky we are to be here and not stuck behind our desks hour after hour, day after day.

The afternoon brought with it a trip to another Lake, Wabby. This was less accessible and involved a 2km walk, slightly up hill, then a death walk over the sandblow to reach the lake. I call it a death walk because the sand was so insanely hot we all felt like the soles of our feet would burn off. Warren said we were the last group he'd be taking to the lake via the sandblow because of the temperature of the sand - so I'm not even exaggerating! Reaching the lake was a moment of pure relief as we all ran down and soaked our feet in the cool water. This was completely different to Mackenzie, but equally beautiful. Instead of blues the water appeared green (although was actually clear) due to the algae underneath. There were millions of disgusting fish swimming around a little too close for my liking, a load of catfish and some little baby things. They were interesting too look at from a distance but no way was I going to get in there with them!

Our adventure on Fraser Island was ended with an amazing, completely unpredicted whale sighting. We could see a couple of them in the distance, thrashing around with their tales. So incredible, we all just sat there staring in wonderment for a good 5 minutes. Warren said it was a mother and baby and that all the commotion was possibly due to shark activity. Whatever it was, it certainly had them active.

Truly one of the best things we've done on this trip. Amazing island, amazing times.