Noosa and Fraser Island

9th - 11th December

Noosa was a shortish drive up the coast from Brisbane and miraculously, the Sun came out as we arrived. The town centre was really cool and full of a lot of nice restaurants and bars and even more posers out for a promenade.

It's surrounded by picturesque lakes, rivers and some very expensive looking houses so it's definitely a great place to live, although there are about a thousand roundabouts which aren't ideal if you don't have a clue where you're going, are driving a vehicle with the turning circle of the QE2 and have one of the shortest temperamental fuses in mankind's history.

We stayed about a ten minute drive from the centre and decided to take a daytrip to Fraser Island on our first full day.

The tour bus was a four-wheel drive beast and we got a big car ferry over to the island after a two hour trip to the crossing point. Was a bit weird driving up '75 mile beach' at first as the road is literally right next to the sea, although it's got a speed limit, a fair few bits of driftwood debris and planes using it as a runway (which we saw later in the day).

Our guide for the day gave us all a running commentary and some island history as we drove to our first stop and I'm pretty sure he broke the land speed record. Big bonus for the day was that we got morning and afternoon tea on the beach with cake included - nom nom nom nom. We also had an awesome BBQ lunch with a couple of beers in the middle of the rainforest that's on the island.

We stopped at Lake McKenzie for a mid-morning swim and couldn't believe how beautiful it was. Absolutely crystal clear and unpolluted and apparently very good for your hair and skin which settlers realised when they described the aboriginal population that lived thee as the healthiest they'd ever seen.

We met an Aussie couple (Tristan and Emma) who insisted on taking loads of photos with a ridiculously expensive camera they had so we have some good shots for the wall at home at last.

The trip finished with a stop at a shipwreck on the island and a look at some rare sandstone on the edge of the beach. Both sound massively dull, but were actually pretty cool.

Contemplated a surf on Noosa beach the next day, but realised thee was hardly any surf so we didn't bother. Once again the rain caught up with us and it proceeded to torrentially rain for the next 24 hours - arrrrggghghghhghghgh.