The colored sands were looking very good in the morning light and we spotted a large goanna walking off as we explored around them. It was easy driving still at this point as the wet sand is firm and we were still running full highway pressures. What you do have to watch out for is the many fresh water soaks that come out of the dunes and run across the beach cutting a trench sometimes over a foot deep. Doesn't sound much until you hit one doing 50 mph and it will launch you into the air and do damage if you are not careful. I ripped my twin shock tower off the front of my V8 Hilux one night 16 years ago doing exactly that!

Intense colors and early morning beach cruise.

There are tracks through the forest behind the beach and they are a lot harder to drive on as they are narrow and very rutted with very soft sand being worse if like when we were there it has not rained for a while and it is hot let alone towing a trailer as well. Further up the beach there is the wreck of the Cherry Venture which was being towed to be scrapped when a cyclone hit breaking it free and running aground here in the early 70's. There were many attempts to re-float it but in the end they had to give up and only the interior fittings were stripped and the rest left the rust away. You can walk around inside and the engines are huge in these things with the block and heads being about 10 feet tall.

The deep and narrow  inland sand tracks. The Cherry Venture wreck.

We had done 50 kms up the beach and decided not to go further past Double Island Point as we have been past many times before and across to Fraser Island were we spent time on our honeymoon exploring around the largest sand island in the world with beautiful freshwater lakes and thick rain forest in the middle of it. The main beach is 75 miles long and you have to keep a look out for light planes using it as a landing strip and there are no roads only the beach and sand tracks and is strictly 4wd's only allowed. Last time I took off the roof and doors on my V8 CJ7 and had a blast showing up Range Rovers and the like while checking out the island.

Christmas day traffic on the beach and powering off the beach.

What did surprise us was the amount of traffic and campers we came across being Christmas day. Jazmyn counted 396 camp sites filled with people at the base of the dunes just above the high tide line. Even at midday when I thought all would be quiet there were large numbers of people that had setup for their Christmas dinner on the beach and in 40*C or 100*F temperatures with the most popular spot being where the river runs out to the sea with 4wd's of all descriptions being parked there. The only problem was that they had churned up the sand at the exit and in the heat people were getting bogged and they weren't even loaded let alone towing a 750kgs trailer. I didn't feel like airing down the tyres and thought I would give it a go first. Did really well getting past were others had bogged and made it off the beach only to get caught in the bad holes left by the open diffs that dig holes on one side then the other about a meter apart.

The sand was very soft in the 100*F temperature and made it no further.

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