Frasier Island
We drove all day from Rockhampton (which I'll deal with later) (I don't want to start on a negative) and arrived at the ferry terminal at Hervey Bay just as the last ferry left. Cursing our luck we headed back to Koala's at Hervey Bay, where we were told how lucky we were we didn't make cos there were no hostels and the shops were really dear. (We were of course tentless and foodless). So we crashed in a motel and got up early and bought a threeman and some scoff and down to the ferry terminal. There were loads of 4WDs and big tour vehicles there. We wondered why everyone was checking their tyre pressure... Frasier Island is a sand island and you need a 4WD to get around. I got first go and drove to Central Station on the middle of the island. It was fairly bumpy but grand if you took it easy. Here we learned about being "Dingo Smart", basically dont't feed the Dingoes or attract them in any way. We then drove to a beautiful lake and went for a swim. Then JP took over (his first time behind the wheel) and within 5 minutes we were stuck in the sand. We all jumped out and pushed him back helped by an Aussie who was stuck behind us. We noticed smoke rising from the bonnet, which we opened to find a six-inch flame rising from a tube in front of the driver. After a stunned moment we all shouted "Where's the fire extinguisher?", then "Do we have a fire extinguisher?", enter the Aussie with his fire extinguisher and quenched the flame. At least we didn't get into a fight over whose towel to use. The expert opinion was that some transmission fluid had caught fire. Thankfully the jeep started and the Aussie assisted us in lowering the tyre pressure and we drove on. JP was banned from driving. After a bumpy and fretful journey we made it to the other side of the island and drove north along the beach. It was kinda like Mad Max with 4WDs coming towards us from all angles, waves rolling in from the right, hills on the left and hard sand to drive on. There were occasional streams which the driver had to constantly watch for. We passed a old shipwreck and eventually made it to Indian Head where there were no noise restrictions. As we drove into the campsite a Dutch girl told us not to take a left. We went left and got stuck in the sand. Couldn't push ourselves out. Thought about the situation over a beer. Eventually dug and pushed our way out. There were amazing sand dunes up behind the campsite, quality formations etc. Dinner was interrupted by 4WD pushing missions. A ranger gave us dingo smart stickers due to the cleanliness of our campsite. She wasn't to know that a lack of camping gear was the main reason for this. Our guitars were the only form of entertainment around apart from the dingoes which were cheeky and sniffed around the campsites a lot.
Keith had decided to sleep outside and woke up to find his pillow 3 feet away from him. A dingo was suspected. Later a dingo ran off with his sandal but was retreived by an English backpacker. She was clearly dingo smart. We drove down Seventy-five Mile Beach to the end of the island and got the ferry to Rainbow Beach, grabbed a pie and drove along the beach to Noosa where we were going to spend New Year's Eve.