Fraser Island

We took a ferry from Hervey Bay to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. After a quick dinner, we had our "No Clothes Party," which entailed dressing in anything besides regular clothes. I just wore a toga, but some people were really creative, making full outfits out of magazines, placemats, saran wrap, even a kiddie pool and a strategic towel!

The two Monicas

Amber & Paul

Jackie (perky smile + those abs = aerobics instructor)

Marvin and Brock

Larry (Brooklyn Boy) and Rhys (The English Avenger)

"Dodgy Rob" and Brett

Matt, our reliable driver, and Brett, our fearless leader

Jack distracts Dodgy Rob from his precious billiards

Several cocktails later, we barely had time for some rest before we were up again for a 4-wheel-drive tour of this incredible island. It's made entirely of sand, yet it somehow supports and extremely complex tropical rainforest. It has 8 cocentric dune systems, which makes it the oldest dune-system island in the world.

This tree was thousands of years old before it fell!

We went to Lake Mackenzie, Fraser's famous freshwater lake, were we exfoliated with the sand as our guides instructed us to do.

After a really cool walk through the rainforest, we drove to the ocean-side of the island, where we had lunch, visited a crazy shipwreck, and walked along Eli Creek.

Then it was back to our camp-style cabins for some beachside barbeque and a good night's rest (6:00am wakeup tomorrow!)

Sunshine Coast

After an ungodly early start, we made our way east, back to the Sunshine Coast. We spent a while in Noosa, the last surfing town on our way north (the Great Barrier Reef blocks the break for the rest of the Queensland coast). Noosa is a lot like the beach towns in the Hamptons or Cape Cod - a mixture of surfers and underachievers with posh shops and socialites.

After a fantastic cheeseburger and a final surfing attempt (I did stand up), it was off to Fraser Island.