After a seven hour drive from Ballina through the torrential rain, we were glad to arrive at Ray and Gillian’s brand new luxury home in Hervey Bay. True family friends, they managed to ignore our bedraggled state and welcomed us in to their home. After a cup of tea and a tour of the grand house, Gillian made us a lovely dinner (the first of many, including a roast for Dave). We settled in to Hervey Bay for a few days of relaxation and mooching around, guided by our very enthusiastic hosts. For the first time since leaving Victoria, the weather finally took a turn for the better, and we enjoyed reliably sunny days drinking tea on the patio and listening to the native birds. Good riddance New South Wales, bring on more of Queensland.

From the comfort of a Habitat armchair, we were able to plan our trip to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world, situated just off the coast of Hervey Bay. Four wheel drives are the only vehicles allowed on the island due to the rough sand tracks, so we arranged to hire a Landrover for the weekend to tour the island. Whilst the hire company thought we would prefer the more modern and more comfortable Discovery model, we chose to rent the old Defender as a tribute to my dad who drove from the UK to Australia in a similar old Landrover in the late ’60s. Who needs air-conditioning anyway?? It seemed a bit empty with just the two of us rattling around in the long-wheel base car, so we invited Ray and Gillian along for the ride. They happily accepted on the condition that we upgraded from camping to a cabin (their treat), and of course we whole-heartidly agreed.

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