We had an early start this morning as we packed up the van, put it into storage (at the park- $5 for the night) and headed off to catch the Barge from Inskip Point. Accessed from Rainbow Beach, Inskip Point is the closest Barge crossing to Fraser Island. Although it’s only a 10min trip, it still costs $100 per car return! Money well spent though, because Fraser Island was amazing! It is the world’s largest sand island and the 75 mile beach is actually a registered highway.

Yes, it does have a speed limit of 80km (30km) in parts and we did see a police car (4wd of course!).  We came across a couple of dingos feasting on a washed up dugong and the most amazing sunfish. It was very unusual to see the sunfish as they often swim in water as deep as 200m. Although, we were informed by the ranger that if you swam off the beach and kept going- you would hit Chilli- so it could have come a long way!

Driving through the rainforest of Fraser was incredible. You can see how it is literally made up of sand- pushing through the tracks was almost like dredging sand. After stopping at Eurong for morning tea, we made our way through to ‘Central Station’ and enjoy a boarded walk through the rainforest.

After doing a couple of laps to find Josh’s shoes (left beside a tree!), we headed to the gorgeous Lake McKenzie for a dip in the crystal clear, fresh water and a picnic lunch. It was freezing and the boys quite delighted in pushing Melinda in. We then headed up to Kingfisher Bay Resort, where we had booked to stay for the night. We enjoyed a swim in the pool and spa and had a delicious pizza for dinner.

Kingfisher bay is a popular resort as it has direct ascess via barge from Harvey Bay. People can come this way to the island without a 4wd and then tour the island via organised tours from Kingfisher Bay.  After the kids had gone to sleep, Joe enjoyed fishing on the wharf and brought back a few fish for dinner the following night. The resort, along with a couple of other places on Fraser Island, have dingo proof fences.

The following morning, Josh and Melinda joined a bird-watching tour and ventured out through the dingo fence and onto the beach. Josh was delighted to follow some dingo tracks in and out of the water and we learnt quite a bit about the local birdlife.

After breakfast, we headed through the island tracks again and back to 75 mile beach. Then we headed up the beach to Eli Creek, another great place for a dip where the fresh water meets the sea. We kept going up the beach and saw the Maheno Shipwreck. Being low tide, it was amazing to get right up close to it. Apparently, the story behind it was that the ships’ propellers had been sold and it was being towed back to Japan. The towing line broke and consequently, the Maheno washed up on shore. Opps!

We then headed all the way back down the ‘highway’, met the barge at Inskip point and headed back to Rainbow Beach. Following a good car clean, we picked up the van and headed for Bundaberg. On the way, we were flagged down by a couple of guys who had managed to bog their truck. Joe unhitched the van and proceeded to tow out an 8 tonne truck with trailer! Lucky it was empty! The Disco 3 has really done well (oh, yeah…and Joe’s driving too!)

We had to stop in Maryborough to reinflate our tires again. Joe was very patient as his beautifully clean car was now covered in mud! Cars and kids- they never stay clean! We enjoyed the best noodles out of a box from a little place called Natural Noodle before we headed for a free camping spot overnight, situated 25km below Bundaberg.