So the next stop on our Australian adventure was the seaside town of Hervey Bay which is the gateway to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and in order to visit or tour the island you have to go armed with a 4WD vehicle to even get off the ferry at the other side! There are two ways to visit the first is with an organized tour company who take you over for anything from one day to a whole week. The alternative is to hire your own truck and take on the island yourself. We opted for the latter option as it gave us more flexibility, more control over what we saw and more importantly it gave Michael the chance to spend two days in a massive 4WD car doing some proper off road driving (what boy wouldn't want to do that)? We arrived in Hervey Bay in the early afternoon with no idea how we were going go about organizing our tour however on the road into the town there were numerous 4WD hire companies so we set about gathering prices and making plans. Eventually we decided on a company called 4WD Safari and rather than booking the smallest car a Suzuki Jimney which frankly didn't look up to the job we upgraded to the more substantial Toyota Land Cruiser. The chosen package included the car for 2 days, camping gear, ferry tickets, a 4WD for beginners lesson as well as advice on how best to attack the island and all of its sights. As the collection of the car was early the following morning we watched the information dvd and had the lesson that afternoon allowing an easy collection the next morning. If I wasn't feeling anxious about the whole off roading thing already after we had watched the dvd I was cacking myself. From start to finish it is a lesson on how to flip your car, get bogged in sand, nose dive into washouts, be submerged in deep water and loads of other scary ways to write of a land cruiser and seriously injure yourself but not before informing you that if you do hurt yourself the only way out is by helicopter at a cost of over 1 million dollars. By the time the man got to the two gear sticks and letting air out of the tires on the ferry I was covered in stress rash and covering my face with my hands in fright! Needless to say when asked if we wanted to take the option to reduce our insurance excess from $5000 to $500 I don't need to tell you what our answer was! All I could do throughout the whole briefing was keep asking Michael if he was understanding everything to which he continually uttered the textbook reply "yes dear", much to my frustration. The final part of our lesson was much more fun as we were given loads of information to help us plan our itinerary in order to fit in as much of the island as we could. The main highway on Fraser Island is the 75km long beach on the islands eastern side and being a beach is susceptible to the tides and therefore you can only drive on the highway 4 hours either side of low tide so for us that meant arriving on the beach by 11am and being off the beach by 6pm. Having completed our lesson and filled out all of the necessary paperwork we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves and decided to park up the van at the nearby campsite and take a walk around the town. The weather for the last few days had been pretty questionable so rather than go to the beach we spent the afternoon in the shops and even found time for Michael to get a haircut for our big adventure!The next morning and 7am sharp we reported to the depot to trade in our trusted campervan for a huge land rover. We had no idea what camping gear was supplied however we were assured it would be all we would need so all we had to bring was our bathers, towels, food, sunscreen and most importantly insect repellant and me being me I packed a few other camping "essentials" that I will fill you in on in a while! The drive to the ferry was a breeze and a refreshing change to be driving a car when we have been lugging round a massive bus for the last month. Once at the ferry terminal we collected our island pass and our camping pass before being instantly invited to board the ferry. Much to our relief we were not one of the few asked to reverse onto the barge however our relief was short lived when it soon became clear that we would be one of the ones who would have to reverse off as there was only on way out. Once we were safely on our way I let Michael take over with the necessary tire adjustment which involved dropping the pressure gauge thingy from 40psi to 30psi and locking in the 4WD mode in the front tires. Once on the other side it was time to begin the off roading experience as you reverse straight out onto the sand. We had a couple of hours to kill until we could venture to the beach so we decided to take in an area of the island called central station. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to describing the road from the ferry to the first stopping point. Firstly it is entirely soft sand and where other cars and buses have gotten into trouble there are huge big holes and ridiculously uneven areas and as you pass over them you are literally thrown around the cabin like a rag doll. With sharp dips quickly followed by steep rises it is impossible to go any faster than between 10 and 20kph it is absolutely hilarious however we were in someone elses car and had paid all the damage waivers and so we were having the time of our lives. Never before have either of us been on roads like this and to be honest I don't think many like that exist so we were just savoring every minute of the very bumpy ride. I was chief pot hole spotter and Mike was the pot hole negotiator. Eventually we weaved our way through the rainforest and arrived at central station. It is here that many years ago the main town on Fraser Island existed and whilst many of the buildings are long gone there still remain some artifacts and plenty of information boards and photographs of how the area used to look. After reading all of the information you can then take a boardwalk through some of the rainforest along the edge of one of the many creeks on the island. We were undecided about where we were going to camp that night as there are 2 options the first being an organized campsite with facilities like the one found at central station and the other option is to rough it on the dunes down at the beach where there are no facilities and so you take everything you are going to need. We had a quick look at the campsite in case we were to return later before getting back in the car and making our way to the beach. Another very bumpy 40 minutes later we finally arrived at Eulong which was marked the start of the beach highway. Feeling a little nervous and very excited we felt ready to attack the beach but not before a quick safety briefing from me where basically I repeated everything we had heard on the dvd the previous day about what NOT to do when beach driving, much to Michaels amusement as he was just desperate to hit the highway. Once we got to the start of the highway we were both given a bit of a reality check when just at the entrance to the highway there was a rented 4x4 already completely bogged in the soft sand with the guys wife out trying to dig the sand from the back wheels! With a quick prayer to not let that have to be me shortly we attacked the sand with ease and were soon in the middle of the beach. It is one of the maddest things I have ever seen with no set lanes you just drive wherever you deem safe as you make your way along the beachfront. Apparently the normal rules of the road apply so you have to try where possible to stay to the left of cars coming the other way. We just tried to follow the tire marks from the cars that had gone before us. You would be quite happily driving along a straight beach with everything in front looking flat when suddenly you notice a massive washout where freshwater from the middle of the island has carved a path in the beach out to the ocean. You have to completely change direction to avoid nose diving into a giant sand crevasse and with them being so well hidden you cant afford to take your eyes off the road for even a minute. The other thing I hadn't banked on was that the sand was really slippy, even with our huge gripping tires, we would be driving in a straight line then suddenly we would start to slip, a bit like when you hit a patch of ice the wheel and car seem to have a mind of their own and off you go on a wee slide before regaining control. If it wasn't such a wide road with relatively few cars it would prove quite a dangerous challenge. Being the fast learners that we are we soon had the hang of it and were really starting to enjoy ourselves and with lots of sights to take in along the way it was off to the next stop. Rainbow Gorge was first on the agenda and this involved a short trail that ran between to sand blows (huge sand dunes). Once away from the beach front where you could no longer hear the rush of the ocean we were instantly transported to the most remote of deserts. After a short jungle trail you find yourself completely surrounded by giant towering sand dunes where sand from the beachfront has blown up to form huge mountains of desert. It is an awesome sight and it really takes your breath away as the guide book doesn't even begin to prepare you for what you see on the trail. Everywhere you look there is just endless desert and its hard to believe you are only a short stroll from the beachfront. With the walk completed it was a quick rehydration before heading further up the beach to Eli Creek for a well deserved cooling dip. Eli Creek is hailed as the nicest swimming spot on the island, where freezing freshwater makes its way out to the open ocean. It is one of the designated tour stops and as such was a little busier however just as we arrived a couple of tour buses were leaving so we had the creek mostly to ourselves. Generally the plan with the creek is to walk to the farthest point on a specially built board walk then gracefully float your way back to where you began. We decided to make life a little harder, giving our legs a much need workout by walking upstream with intention to float back down. I am not gonna mince my words when I say the creek was bloody freezing and on the tough walk to the top I wasn't really looking forward to the elegant float back to the car! Being the biggest moaner in the family I was nominated to take to the creek first while Michael watched on with much amusement camera in hand ready to capture my discomfort. Much to my delight the sun that had been mostly hiding behind clouds since our arrival poked its head out just in time for my swim and this definitely made it easier to take the plunge. As expected it was very cold but nowhere near as cold as the water in Scotland so we soon adapted and effortlessly floated down the creek and rather conveniently could step out of the water straight into the car. Feeling thoroughly revived it was only a short drive to a particular highlight for us, the Maheno shipwreck, beached in 1935 it has been left to the elements and as a result all that remains is a rusty and intricate skeleton of a ship that once was. The wreck is an amazing sight and in my opinion is almost as awesome from a distance as it is close up as you can only see the outline with no deterioration and you could almost be fooled into thinking it is a modern ship recently beached on the shore. On closer inspection the ship has been ravaged by rust and what you see are the most amazing shades of brown and orange as the decay slowly eats away at the body of the ship. Portholes, funnels and the bow are still very much visible however much of the stern and internal facets are long gone leaving only unidentified pieces of partially submerged ship in the sand. The contrast between the harsh structure and colour of the ship surrounded by beautiful blue sky and white sand make for a somewhat eerie but fascinating sight that given another 50 years may be completely destroyed by the ocean wave! After the shipwreck the next natural phenomenon were the colored sands of the Cathedral Cliffs. As the name suggests as you drive along this stretch of the beach you pass a multitude of sandstone cliffs of varying colours from pale ochre through to vibrant oranges and reds. The way the wind and ocean have eroded the soft stone make way for the most beautifully shaped cliffs that from different angles look amazing and what's more the sand around the base of each cliff is also colored so one minute the sand under your feet is white then suddenly it becomes a bright orange it's a very funky sight indeed. The final stop on the agenda was at the end of the highway and the farthest point we are allowed to drive our rental car. Indian Head is a rare and very tall rocky outcrop and more interestingly it is the anchor around which the island formed originally with a small accumulation of sand leading eventually to the massive sand island present today. It is only a short climb from the beach to the lookout at the top of the cliff. The views are worth the climb and from the top you get an amazing sight of the eastern beach that we had just traveled along out to the right and to the left you get in my opinion and even prettier view of the more remote northern beach. As no rental vehicles are allowed on this stretch of beach it was much more remote with just miles and miles of unexplored territory. Having climbed to the top we felt we had earned ourselves a break and as the sun had put in a rare but appreciated appearance we took an hour out to relax and read our books but there was no dip in the ocean for us due to the numerous tiger sharks that regularly patrol the waters around the island! Time was soon marching on and with a bit of a drive to our intended camping spot and the tide starting to come back in we started to make our way back along the beach. We had decided to enhance our fraser island experience by opting for camping on the beach with no facilities as we are only ever going to be here once and its all part of the fun (plus its only for one night so surely even I can survive that)!? We had chosen a camping area fairly close to where we were intending to go exploring the next morning and the first task before we could even think about tents or camping stoves was to negotiate the horrendously soft sand at the foot of the dunes that we had to cross in order to get to the sheltered camping area. It was a very hairy experience indeed with the first two attempts having to be abandoned when our back wheels started spinning. It was third time lucky, that and a bloody big run up in Mikes special 4WD oh s*** we are stuck in sand gear and we make it over the dune, just!!! Once we had selected our camping spot or rather I stood around looking completely out of my depth as Michael pointed out the pros and cons of what looked like identical patches of sand and grass! The next job was tent erection strangely not a skill familiar to me however I was pleasantly surprised to find a very small and inoffensive dome shaped canvas with only 2 poles and 10 pegs what could be easier? A mere 10 minutes later and the tent was done but not before I announced that we had 2 tents only to be informed by a sniggering Michael that there is actually an inner and an outer tent…huh?? With a little bit of daylight left we got out the picnic chairs to sit, relax and take in our handy work with the tent before it soon started to get dark. As we only had a primative camping stove to prepare our dinner I threw together my trademark lobster thermadore, yea right it was pasta and sauce all the way with festive mince pies for dessert. After dinner we had to instantly clean up as we had been made aware that there were many wild dingoes on the island and whilst it is rare for them to attack, leaving food scraps around encourages them into your camp. Once all the food was cleared away it was time to start unpacking our things into the tent and it is at this point that I hear Michael say "what the hell"? He had obviously found some of my "camping essentials" and he appears at the front of the tent holding my rape alarm in one hand and my pink loofa in the other with a very puzzled look on his face! I cannot fully explain the logic behind the rape alarm I just figured if we got lost or stuck somewhere I could set it off and someone could help us?? I hadn't really thought too much about all the blood thirsty wild dingoes that would come flocking for miles to the sound of my high pitched rape alarm, oops! As for the pink loofa, just because we are camping in the middle of nowhere its no excuse to neglect exfoliation! Once I had the piss thoroughly taken out of me we unloaded everything we needed and after a quick wash to remove some of the sand and sun cream I was placed in the tent where I couldn't cause trouble while Michael tidied up the rest of the camp. I amused myself watching all the bugs on the outside of the tent fighting with each other to climb on our light that was hanging on the tent! I was just happy they were on the outside of the tent and not anywhere near me! Once all the chores were done we were able to lie in the tent relaxing, chatting and laughing about the day and all the crazy things we had done. We were just about to get ready for lights out when I suddenly spotted a lone dingo running past the front of the tent, fortunately as we had nothing lying around and no food in the tent he just wandered past so quickly that if you blinked you would have missed it! Needless to say the last pee of the night was interesting with Michael on dingo watch as I scurried to the makeshift loo absolutely s***ting myself that I was going to be eaten alive! I kept hearing noises but was sure it was just Michael fooling around so imagine the fright I got when I shouted at him to stop only for him to promise he wasn't making any noise. On shining the light around the base of the tent it soon became clear that the culprit of the noise or I should say culprits were a bunch of giant crabs trying to crawl up the side of the tent! Just happy they weren't dingoes I had the most entertaining pee of my life watching Michael launching flipflops at them only for them to keep coming back for more, they were very brave crabs indeed! With all the excitement of the day I can honestly say I had the best sleep and it wasn't until the sun started to steam us in the tent around 6.30 that I woke up unable to believe I had slept so well! We suffered the heat of the tent until about 7.30 and then had to get up to try to cool down and as we opened the door of the tent we couldn't believe that all around the tent and the road to the tent were hundreds of little doggy footprints leading us to believe that as we slept we obviously had a few curious visitors circling the tent and we had been blissfully unaware, pretty scary stuff! It was far to early to hit the road because there basically wasn't a road as the tide still had to recede back enough for us to drive. Putting the tent away and packing up all the camping gear was much easier than setting it up and took no time at all. Once everything was away we had about an hour or so to kill so we just relaxed, read our books and watched from the dunes to see when there was enough beach for us to drive. It wasn't too far to drive along to our first stop of the day, Lake Wabby and whilst it wasn't officially time to be on the beach we could easily see when it was clear enough to get back in the car. In order to get to Lake Wabby we had to do a 2.5km bush walk which in the blistering heat wasn't much fun. By the time we arrived at the lake it was shoes off and straight in and whilst I normally am petrified of fresh water lakes I was so hot I was just happy to cool off and freshen up. After our swim we took a walk to the top of the dune at the bank of the lake and once at the top the view was amazing, as far as you could see in all directions there were sand dunes everywhere and yet again we were transported to the most remote desert and whilst there were a few other people there you would never have known due to the expanse of sand all around. Unfortunately we then had to put our shoes back on and begin the hike back to the car and on to the next lake. Our last stop of the day was to venture back inland to one of the islands other lakes, Lake McKenzie. Overnight the inland roads had not improved and by the time we bumped along the 15km to the lake we were ready for a new set of teeth and I had what I am sure is whiplash from a massive pothole that had caught us both off guard! In contrast to the previous lake the water at lake McKenzie was more like the ocean with it shimmering a lovely turquoise blue and whilst the sand wasn't as pure as the silica sand at the Whitsunday's it wasn't far off it and so was the most beautiful white colour. Lying on the beach it was so hard to believe that this wasn't the ocean, it was a freshwater lake right in the middle of the island. We had a couple of hours to relax in the sun before it was time to head to the ferry terminal to catch the boat back to the main land. The road to the ferry was by far the worst we had driven on the entire 2 days and we were both thoroughly rattled and amused by the whole experience by the time we arrived at the ferry. I am not exaggerating when I say at one point we actually took off as in all four wheels were in the air at the same time, James Bond eat your heart out and thank goodness it wasn't our car! So that was our island adventure over and what an adventure it had been, we had loved every minute of it and for Michael the off road driving was the icing on the cake. As for me I am just happy in the knowledge that I can survive a night roughing it camping on a sand island with wild dingoes and giant crabs!