Campervan Trip 3 'Hervey Bay' (Sunshine Coast)

On our way but Tom really needed a haircut (either that or start sporting a ponytail) so visited the local barbers and a guy from Dublin cut his hair, returned with a distinct tan tide mark!

Easy journey to Hervey (pronounced Harvey) bay which is known as the gateway to Fraser Island so stopped at the Info centre on route to book our trip to the Island for the following day with pickup at 7.25am! Noticed along the way that the terrain is quite marshy now that we are approaching the tropical north and we have seen some very fine examples of homes built in the Queensland style. These houses are timber in structure with wide verandas and are raised on stilts, all to facilitate circulation of air and thus help to keep the interior cool.

We had booked a campsite that offered ensuite facilities (nice) and was only a short walk to the beach - yep we went straight for a swim in the ocean which was like a mill pond. The beach was around 8km in length and practically deserted. Later we walked to the pier, the longest in Australia at 800m, then had a 'Tuesday Special' at the local restaurant. Hostelries all clearing up by 8pm - it's getting earlier!

Off bright and early next day for Fraser Island which boasts the world's largest sand island with approximately 75x15km of vegetation, rain forests, lakes, creeks and sand blows. Sand blows are created by sand drifts occurring over hundreds of thousand years and resemble sand glaciers as they creep upon the vegetation of the island. Quite a phenomenon,

The ferry journey took about an hour and the weather had begun to look decidedly dodgy with fine rain. But still hot and got straight onto the 4 wheel drive, 20 seat coach with Tom jumping up front to nab the co-pilots seat - big kid! We were welcomed with the usual safety briefing as well as some alarming safety advice with regards to dingo's, snakes, spiders, sharks, stingers and stingrays. Any swimming along this coast line is totally out of the question and Sue now more than a little concerned!

Had only driven about 200 yards when our driver informed us that the rest of the trip would be off road and with that we literally launched over the hill and proceeded to be bounced and jolted along the narrow and deep, sandy tracks. Bit of a shock to the system but great fun, we were glad to have our seat belts firmly in place. After about 15km of our bone rattling roller coaster we stopped at Lake Mackenzie in the centre of the island for a swim. The water of the lake is pure rain water, crystal clear and because of the mineral and silica content of the sand bed it has high alkalinity making for a very relaxing swim and soft skin. Furthermore the sand acts to exfoliate and is brilliant for shining up any jewellery too! All this was followed by a welcomed tea and cake break, very English.

Next stop was a trip around the old 'central logging station' where the industry of logging was still active until the 1980's. Here we were taken on a trek through the rain forest and even got to sample some bush tucker - just berries nothing disgusting! Moved off over some more intense tracks to the other side of the island to find a small holiday resort (Eurong) which appeared to spring from the forest and seemed so out of place in the middle of this wild island. However we had a great lunch with a glass of wine so civilisation isn't all that bad! After lunch the coach took to '75 mile beach' (it really is) travelling through the water's edge at 50mph, we even passed a police car checking for speeding vehicles, crazy! I know we use the word amazing a lot but this really was truly amazing! Stopped to take in 'The Cathedrals' (iconic cliffs of coloured sands), the 'Moheno Ship Wreck' which beached over 80 years ago and climbed up beside Eli Creek where we swam and then drifted back down to the beach…..lovely.

There was an offer to take a small plane off the beach to view the island from a different perspective, yep we did it. It seemed really strange to take off just 10 yards from the sea edge but once up we did get a really good perspective of just how large the island is and there were such fantastic views showing off the forest canopy, the lakes, 75 mile beach and the sand blows. The landing was even stranger coming over the beach and feeling that we were much too close to the water to possibly land! Brilliant trip.

Met up with the bus and told that the bus would need to move quickly to catch the last ferry and that it did! Shamefully we had quite a laugh at the expense of the poor guy who had volunteered to go upfront and was being thrown all over the place. We just about made the ferry and whilst the day had started damply, it had improved during the day and so we sailed back to the mainland towards a glorious sunset. Oh and forgot to mention that there was a bar on board - very convenient. J

On the transfer back to our campsite the driver stopped as he had spotted kangaroos! Sue absolutely delighted to see her first Roo, really great day.

Matthew and Rachael had told us all about this trip as it was one that they had done on their travels. Well thank you guys it lived up to everything you told us and we can't wait to compare notes xxx

Many thanks also to all of you for your messages on the blog site. Recently we have had problems accessing Wi-Fi so it is even more special to hear from you. Sending Love, Tom and Sue xxxxx