We arrived in Brisbane on ANZAC day (Australia & New Zealand Army Corps), to find everything closed for the holiday. We'd intentionally headed to a large city to celebrate but missed the parade and the majority of events. A little disappointed, the two of us headed into town anyway to catch the remainder of the festivities which consisted of live performances and long queues for Subway. It was a beautiful day in the city and once we'd seen a few acts and demolished a foot long each, we went to explore. The city centre itself is great with a few bars and relatively old buildings for Australia. On the banks of the river dissecting the city; there is an entertainment quarter with shops, bars and a man-made lagoon to cool off in. Unfortunately, we only had a day in Brisbane, so we tried to see as much as possible, before retiring to our hostel to watch the ANZAC Karaoke which I assume is tradition.

Nursing sore heads; we headed for Noosa a little further north on the east coast. Most people head here to explore the Everglades, sometimes hiking but mostly on kayaks. This was obviously one excursion we would miss due to an earlier "miss-hap" on similar craft (see adventures in Laos). So the time was passed with more goon, television and generally preparing ourselves for the first of our booked trips; Fraser Island.

We rolled into Rainbow Beach two nights before our departure for Fraser, ready to do some camping. Our spirits only slightly dampened by the rain but encouraged that the bar was packed, both nights, with people who were booked on our trip. Once the international party of 30 or so had been split into groups of 8, the challenge was set to gauge how much booze we'd all need and get buying. Panicking in the knowledge that the worst thing in the world is running out of drink on a desert island; Alice and I massively over ordered with 8 litres of red wine and a 6 pack of cider (two days mind you). Everyone else had similar thoughts and the next morning our 4x4 was loaded with enough booze to fill a bathtub and a few other essentials. Each of the four groups is allocated a 4x4 for the next three days, ours was red and seemed a reasonable motor when I jumped in as first driver. Once on Fraser island; we took it turns and ragged the poor red Toyota over dunes, through rivers and almost into tree's and other cars. This was the most fun, challenging and terrifying driving experience of my life. Everyone with a licence had a go and one Polish girl had to be reminded where the break was. Aside from the driving we visited some of the islands sights.

Fraser island is the largest sand island in the world and is aboriginal owned so has an interesting history and spectacular natural bush. Due to sharks and jelly-fish frequenting the shores, we swam in inland lakes and rivers, the highlights being lake Makenzie and Fresh Water Creek. After the fun of the day we headed back to camp each night to get plastered on goon, argue over cooking detail and fend of wild dingoes every few minutes. Frasier was the only place on the east cost we found where wildlife really was wild and very abundant. There are literally thousands of wild dogs, eight types of poisonous snake and god knows how many varieties of killer spiders. Despite these perils and some very stupid antics, we all returned safely to Rainbow Beach with a load of new friends and some amazing memories. The red car however, may never be the same again.

Next on our itinerary was Airlie Beach and the departure point for our next trip to sail the Whitsunday Islands. Before we departed however we still had a very important event to celebrate. Luckily a few of our chums from Fraser Island joined us for my birthday. There was sun, beer, BBQ and I felt very special with a cake and everything. The next day we boarded our boat; the Tongarra, and headed for the seventy-something islands that make up the Whitsundays. The first day and night we spent getting to know a new set of 24, all from across the globe but thankfully a ban on speaking any other language save for the Queens (a spoon full of Vegemite for any rule breakers). This suited us fine and we all got along great united by a common language and plenty of drink. Day two we visited the famous White Haven Beach, apparently rated 1st or 2nd best beach in the world. It was beautiful but as it was stinger season, we all wore wet suits making us look like seals in shark country. Give me Brighton beach any day. With our tans topped-up and our hangovers gone we went to a snorkelling spot a few islands over. This was my first experience swimming with anything bigger than me and was quite unnerving. Thankfully the 120kg giants were Hump-head Wrasse and Giant Trevally not sharks. The next night and day where a familiar mix of drinking, sailing, swimming before returning to Airlie beach for a few nights of R&R before heading to Cairns.

After a stop in Townsville, we reached Cairns, the last stop on our east coast tour. From here we partied, chilled and visited the Great Barrier Reef. The reef tour was amazing, with a huge variety of fish, coral and even a turtle of two, plus some excellent guides who even dragged the slower swimmers around through the relatively rough seas. This was the only occasion I was miffed to have not seen a shark. Everyone else seemed so excited I thought I should be as well. Of course, I write this from the safety of dry land and with all my limbs intact so I can't fully gauge my reaction should we have encountered one. Maybe another time.

A few days after the reef, we packed our things and headed for the airport with a brief stop over in a sunny Sydney to meet up with our friends Charlotte and Amy & Jason before hitting up our next Country; New Zealand