Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island, and it's said that all the sand on the East Coast of Australia ends up there. Measuring 120km's by 15km's it's entirely made of sand, but has dense tropical rainforest, diverse bird and wildlife, and nearly two hundred freshwater lakes. Once the settlers realised the value of the rot-free timber and sand on the island, logging and sand-mining were big business until the early 1990's and 1970's respectively, but now the land has been given back to the Aborigines.

As part of our East Coast deal we took a two night, three day tour called the Cooldingo, even though we'd been advised to do the four-wheel drive self drive. The idea of being crammed into a small truck with eight sweaty, young strangers, camping on the beach with no toilets or showers and cooking all our own meals didn't appeal too much though (still, we did worry about the people on our tour though, as when we turned up a fella was reading Shoot (isn't that for kids?) and a young Aussie lad kept trying to get Rich to splash girls with him).

Instead we took the forty-five minute ferry over to the island and were met by our tour guide, Peter Meyer, who we later found out has a photography book out on Fraser Island, and was also hired by the BBC for Walking with Dinosaurs, so basically was a bit of an authority on the place.

The tour was aboard an air-conditioned, forty-seater, four-wheel drive truck, as the island has no paved roads and so all the driving is done along the old mining and logging tracks, which are basically sand roads. As such the ride is bumpy to say the least, and at times the truck can only just make it through. Often the self drives get stuck, on occasion for over a day until someone finds them.

Even so we managed to get some shut eye on occasion, though Allison nearly put the window through with her head whilst asleep as we hit a really bumpy part, and had a cartoon-sized lump on her nut (about thirty minutes later she also got bit by a huge ant and then scolded her toe on boiling water whilst making tea, but she's not clumsy!). Basically for three days it's like riding a bucking bronco, as you're thrown violently from side to side.

As with all Australian tours there was a large focus on swimming, as we visited four freshwater lakes including the stunning Lake McKenzie and Basin Lake on day one, and Lake Birrabeen (where we saw a freshwater turtle) and Lake Wabby (which Rich sandboarded head-first into) on day three. All the lakes had beautiful white sand beaches, though with all the tours and self drives Lake McKenzie was as busy as Brighton Beach on a summer's weekend (a slight exaggeration maybe).

Emerald-green Lake Wabby is next to huge sand dunes (known as sandblows), so is a great place for sandboarding, though you hit the lake pretty hard at the bottom and Rich nearly knocked himself out. It's also possibly the only place in the world where you can see ocean, a lake, sand dunes and forest all at the same time (another useless fact for you all).

The trip also takes in the Moheno shipwreck (which drifted during a storm and was washed up on the island) on the seventy-five mile beach, the Champagne Pools (which are two natural rock pools of bubbling sea water), the coloured sands of the Pinnacles, a rainforest walk (surrounded by Cicada's, the loudest insects in the world that apparently are as loud as a jumbo jet), and Indian Head (a clifftop overlooking the Pacific Ocean from where you can see sharks, turtles and stingrays if you're lucky, though we weren't).

We also tried a bit of boogie boarding down Eli Creek, where you just lay in the water and let the current float you down to the beach). Finally we also saw our first dingo, though didn't go too close as they have attacked people in the past and killed a nine year old boy a few years back, as basically they are wild dogs. We also saw a snake.

All in all it was a great trip with breathtaking scenery and the four-wheel drive experience was fantastic, especially when driving at speed along miles and miles of beach on a sunny day with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bob Marley playing. The tour guide really added to the experience too, as he knew loads about the place and wildlife, and had some very funny stories to keep us entertained. Trev would be glad to hear Bad Boy Bubby got a mention (well from me) too when discussing great Australian films.

We spent another night in Hervey Bay when we returned to the mainland, which is a small town with a huge bat population. As you walk down the main street in the evening there are dozens of them flying above you, which is really eerie.

The next day we headed to Rockhampton for two nights, where we tried Stonegrill dining (where your food comes up on a four-hundred degree celsius hot plate and you cook it to your liking), and Rich tried kangaroo and crocodile. Kangaroo was OK but nothing special. Crocodile was like a mix between chicken and fish and was surprisingly nice. Can't think of too many countries where you can eat the national animals, but glad you can here. Tasty!