Noosa, Hervey Bay & Fraser Island, QLD, Australia

A small, tropical town further along the East Coast approximately 2 hours from Brisbane is the quaint beach town of Noosa. Another spot with white sandy beaches and lovely warm aqua blue waters - great for sun bathers, beginner surfers, and bush walkers as there is also a National Park within walking distance.

One of the largest attractions that is done from Noosa is Australia Zoo, home to the now late Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. Probably one of the best zoos I have ever been to with all native animals you could ever think of. Koala bears, grey & red kangaroos, tortoises, guanas, dingoes, crocodiles, alligators, beautiful tropical birds, kookaburras, wallabies etc... We spent the day at the zoo walking around, admiring the animals and also taking in the tributes made to Steve Irwin from fans from around the world.

Noosa also has it's own National Park where wild koalas are known to inhabit, so we walked around the park constantly looking upwards into the trees hoping to catch a glimpse of our little furry friends... to no such luck! We couldn't find them anywhere.

From Noosa, we took the bus down to Hervey Bay, the gateway city to Fraser Island. Fraser Island has been a place that I have most been looking forward to, so I was bubbling with excitment. The day we arrived we met our group of 11 people that we were to spend the next 3 days with, had a briefing and went shopping for food and drink supplies. The evening was spent bonding with the group, as the next day we were to embark on a 4x4 self drive adventure!

Up early to pack our 4x4 with food, drink, and camping gear, a short briefing on how to drive the vehicle and how to get yourself out of thick sand, and off we went 11 happy campers ready for the time of their life and 3 days of sand just reaching places you never knew it could! Fraser Island is a massive sandbar, 120km by 15km of sand, making it the largest sand island in the world. With its fresh water lakes, white sand, warm freshwater creeks and wide eastern beach, Fraser Island has a lot to offer and we couldn't wait to get started!

'Team B' was a laid back group, so planning each days activities, making sure we ave covered the things we wanted to do whilst negotiating the high tides was a fairly easy task. The sea is deadly with man eating Tiger Sharks, and fatal jelly fish so getting caught up in a high tide when driving along the beach or swimming was a huge no-go. Plus the fact that any evidence of salt water on the vehicle would mean our $60 bond per person would be lost...

Lake McKenzie, a spectacular freshwater lake with white sand spread all around it and the sun glistening down on it... beautiful! Lake Wabby and Lake Birrabbean were equally as stunning. From Indian Head you could look down and see man eating tiger sharks, sting rays, tuna fish and turtles - the waters look stunning but once you see what is in them, then you're no longer tempted!

2 nights on the island meant 'roughing it' on the beach and inland camp sites. Our 1st night was on the beach, with the ocean lapping the shore by our tents, camp was set up before sun set, dinner was cooked by torchlight, and then we just kicked back and star gazed... until 2 dingoes came sniffing around our camp. Dingoes can be nasty little fellas if provoked or fed, with many being culled for attacking children. These ones however, had a sniff around and wandered off - phew! With dingoes in mind, all toliet runs had to be done in 2s (yes, even the boys!), one carrying out their toliet duties which consisted of trees and a shovel whilst the other stood guide looking out for the vicious dogs.

An adventurous 3 days with lots of bumpy 4x4 driving, but no disasterous events such as toppling the 4x4 like we saw happen to another group - doh! Next stop, Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands... it just gets better and better...