Brisbane/Moreton Island, Australia

From Airlie Beach we took a two hour flight down to Brisbane. We hadn't planned to come to Brisbane originally, but our friends Karen and Dave (who we met in Australia and who subsequently lived in London) were planning to be on Moreton Island at this time, which is just off the coast of Brisbane.

Moreton Island is similar to the more famous (and touristy) Fraser Island. The main difference is that Moreton is quite a bit smaller being 38km from north to south. Due to it's less touristy nature, it's a favourite holiday retreat for Australians. There are no paved roads on the island so a 4x4 is needed to get around.

When we boarded the ferry we started to see what an Australian camping holiday is like. In the UK most people head off camping with a tent and a small stove. That's not the Australian way. Huge 4x4s were loaded up with cool boxes (called eskys over here), massive tents, tarpaulins, fishing rods, canoes and pretty much anything else they could possibly need. Some people looked as it they were moving out to the island permanently such was the amount of stuff they were carrying.

At Moreton Island, the huge catamaran just beaches itself and the cars drive straight onto the sand. The island is basically a huge sandbar covered in vegetation. It is home to the highest costal sand dune in the world at nearly 300 metres high. We found Karen and Dave after a bit of searching and headed through the centre of the island in their 4x4 on a sand track.

There were about 10 people in total in our group who were either friends of Karen and Dave or friends of friends. The campsites are quite isolated which means you get your own little space away from other groups of campers. Our camp was like a small village. One couple had an amazingly well kitted out trailer tent (so they had actually brought the kitchen sink with them!) and the whole camp was covered with a huge tarpaulin. There were multiple gas stoves, gas lights and huge cool boxes filled with meat and beer.

It was great meeting up with Karen and Dave again. They had left London in 2007 and had travelled back to Australia through Africa so we had a lot to talk about. The rest of the group were also great, making us feel at home and keeping up a good flow of inter-country banter. I felt very Australian by the end of the first night - we ate barbequed kangaroo steaks, drank XXXX (four X) beer and sat around a campfire in the bush.

Over the three days we were on Moreton, we swam in the sea and in a beautiful blue lake, played beach cricket, went driving around the island and went fishing. I managed to catch a Dart, a fish that's quite small, but tastes very nice. The beach near our camp stretched the entire length of the island and was really wide and quiet.

Most of our experiences in Australia are going to be quite touristy so we were really glad of the chance to experience something really Australian with Karen and Dave.

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