A baby cried continuously for two hours last night. And then, just as it was quiet, a drunk girl stomped through the hostel and woke it up again. I don't understand people who bring babies to places like this. Anyway, Noosa was really lovely as we drove through it this morning, and there was a series of waterways through the town so that most houses had jetties of their own. We arrived in Rainbow Beach slightly later than expected because the bus stopped at a service station for 40 minutes, but it turned out to be a nature reserve too, and I got to see the pukeko, my other favourite New Zealand bird, up close. He had enormous feet.

We checked into the hostel, another 6-bed dormitory, and then went out to find out how to get to Fraser Island, and to see the multi-coloured sand that the town is famous for. The tourist information people were really helpful, and suggested that instead of the self-drive single day trip we wanted to do on Fraser Island we should do the guided tour for two days. I don't like guided tours but it seemed to be a good deal and we would get to see all the things we wanted to see, and be fed, too, so we booked that for tomorrow morning. Then it was off to the beach, which was several miles long. Loads of 4-wheel drive vehicles carrying fishing gear were speeding along the sand (the speed limit signs posted along the way said 80kph although I don't think that's really enforced) and we walked for about an hour and a half. The red and yellow pigments in the sand dunes are caused by mineral deposits and it was rather nice to see. It's a shame that so many people had felt they had to carve their names into the rock, because it made taking nice photos more difficult. The waves alternated green, blue and red, presumably to do with depth of the water and the colour of the sand being washed up, and the sea was very cold, but it didn't stop me paddling.

Our second long walk of the day was up to the Carlo sand blow, which we'd heard was a view point but didn't know anything about. It was a long walk up hill through a new housing development (very nice houses, all glass and balconies and stunning views) in the sun, and then a track through the rainforest, and then we found it. A massive expanse of untouched sand dune, maybe about half a mile across, that formed a valley between two other dunes. The scale was hard to see, but Mikey took a couple of photos to try! That's me in the middle

We walked around in the sand, watching a sea eagle soar on the warm air, then decided to climb a vertical sand cliff to see the view. Unfortunately, after all that hard work there was no view, so I tried to sledge down it on a piece of asbestos tile that seemed to be lying there for just such an occasion. It didn't work, the sand was far too thick, so I just jumped in giant leaps down the hill again. We were both very sandy and tired by the time we returned to the hostel!

We made the decision that after we've been to Fraser Island we will take the overnight bus to Airlie Beach, about 12 hours from here. We could have stopped at Rockhampton on the way, but that would have meant getting to the hostel at midnight and leaving at 4am, which seemed pointless. It won't be a nice journey, but we'll be closer to Cairns and the promise of a couple of beach days and scuba diving! But for now we'll make supper, read for a bit, pack our bags for Fraser Island and enjoy the sushine!

Oh, and we found a table tennis table (hardly difficult, but you know what I mean) and after an initial pair of defeats, I soundly thrashed Mikey 3-2. Actually it was incredibly close, and I was surprisingly tired afterwards, although that might have had something to do with having to chase the ball after just about every shot! I think more games are called for in the future!