So what a few days we have had! The last time I blogged I was sat by the pool on Fraser island, the world's largest sand island. After a bit of pool time (not swimming just relaxing) we headed down to the jetty bar to watch the sunset. We headed back to our appartment to cook dinner and then about 8.30 (the sun sets by 6pm here at the mo), we headed back down to the reception of the hotel to meet up with 'ranger Jay' for a guided night walk.

He took us down essentially the driveway of the hotel but with torches trying to spot the local wildlife. We saw trap door and wolf spiders, sugar gliders (cute flying hamsters with a bushy tail) and loads of different fish and stingray off the jetty. We even saw a Baramundi who was a bit confused as he should have been in freshwater not salt but due to the floods earlier in the year the salt was clearly diluted enough. It was really good to see all these animals that you would normally have walked right past without noticing.

Early Monday morning we got up and picked up our hired 4wd to tour the island. Due to the tide times and when you can drive on the beach we headed straight to lake McKenzie. It is a beautiful, natural, freshwater lake with golden sands and crystal clear waters and we were there and sunbathing before 8.30am. Amazing! We settled there for a while, taking in the views and sunshine and then once the tide times allowed, headed off on our travels, straight to the beach.

There is a 75 mile stretch of golden sands along one side of Fraser Island which basically acts like a highway. You can't swim in the sea that side of the island due to the high number of sharks and stingers etc so apart from the mad fishermen along the way all you generally see is other 4 wheel drive vehicles zipping along in either direction.

We stopped at the Maheno ship wreck, the pinnacles and drove all the way to Indian Head for some more whale watching and the awesome views. We then drove back down the beach, even managing to spot a wild dingo taking his lunch, before heading to lake Wabby, another beautiful lake on the island. By this time though it was time for home to make sure we were back just around sunset. A jam packed but brilliant adventure day. We then had a couple of drinks on return to the hotel, some dinner and relaxed talking about what we had seen that day.

Tuesday was a travel day so once packed up we headed down to the jetty to pick up the ferry back to the mainland. We then collected our hire car and headed north on our road trip. We were headed for the Town of 1770, the first place Captain Cook landed in Queensland (and discovering it for the English) in... You guessed it...1770!

We arrived at our accommodation and it was amazing!! We were staying in an Eco development where the residents are investing in maintaining that part of the coastline, and our accommodation was made up of pods. One huge living/party pod, two sleeping pods and a bathroom pod, none of them linked up but were all under a covered walkway with huge decking outside it all. All the windows opened right up as well so it really did feel like you were living outside! Certainly a different type of living. You also couldn't even see the neighbours houses as each home had loads of land around it.

After discovering what the accommodation had to offer, we headed back into town and the neighbouring Agnes Water for some supplies and investigating. We had been recomended a bar to watch the sunset from so headed there for a couple before heading back to the 'pod' for a barbie, sat out on the decking looking for the local kangaroos (who unfortunately seemed to be more illusive than normal) we then watched a film on the giant plasma tv (the Hereafter, Matt Damon - very good).

Given that the pods had no curtains we were up pretty early and headed to one of the development's communal pool where there was no one else, so it was just the four of us, with a 20m infinity pool looking out to the sea with the gorgeous sunshine beating down on us. Such a tough life this holiday lark. We did have one visitor of a 4ft carpet python who resides in the roof of the ladies changing room who was also enjoying the warmth of the sunshine. For brunch we made bacon sandwiches on the barbie (again a free one down by the pool area) and then for the afternoon we headed out to the various beaches and strolled along a couple of Coastal paths before buying some grog and settling down in the park by the sea to watch the sunset. Beautiful. A quick turnaround of showers and we were off out to dinner for steak night and a few more drinks before home and bed, but not before seeing a wild kangaroo on the way home.

Yesterday was our last day at the pod so we started the morning by heading down to the closest beach and walking along the red rock Coastal walk. More fantastic views of the beautiful ocean and golden, deserted beaches. We spent some more time at the pool before heading back to the pod for a barbie lunch. I am certainly not bored of them yet.

After lunch we headed down to the jetty at 1770 to meet up with Simon, our kayak guide. He took us out through the harbour and into the sea to spot wild dolphins! We managed to see a few spinner dolphins heading back for their dinner, such graceful animals and amazing to be so close to them. We paddled back into the harbour in time to watch the sun setting while drinking a glass of goon. All good!

A quick shower and finish packing back at the pod before we headed out for dinner at a local pizza place and then on to meet the greyhound bus. An overnighter to Airlie beach, the mainland connection to the Whitsunday islands. We arrived this morning and are here two days before picking up our Whitsunday tour on Sunday so just soaking up the sun and atmosphere until then. Happy days :-)