All over Frasier Island are warning sings to protect your children from the dingoes by keeping them within arms length at all times. Before we even arrived on the continent, my children had informed me that the most deadly animals on the planet reside in Australia. As 10-year-old boys, they are naturally drawn to bizarre and dangerous animals.

Luckily, the peskiest creatures we’ve run into have been mozzies and sting’as (that’s Australian for mosquitos & jelly fish). Jens ate several Moreton Bay bugs based on the recommendation of a cute waitress who convinced him they were a local delicacy. He claimed they were delicious.

A highlight of this trip has been feeding kangaroos and cuddling with koalas!  They are as gentle and as soft as they look.  The boys were scheming how smuggle just 1, maybe 2 of them home with us, but reluctantly gave up on the plan after considering that Cody may enjoy chasing them more than cuddling with them.

But back to the biggest sand island in the world: the 4WD track opens from the jungle to a beautiful 75 mile beach, with wave after wave rolling onto shore. The haunting iron skeleton of the Maheno shipwreck emerges out of the sand. One the way back to the hotel, we had to race the high tide while avoiding the prop planes landing on the sand, carrying the jet-set tourists.

Jens is having an absolute blast 4 wheeling on Fraser Island, with the boys squealing from the back seat for daddy to ram the next sand bank so we can catch more air. I’m holding on for dear life and willing the truck not to sideswipe the trees lining the single track.

Frasier Island was just one of many beautiful white sandy beaches we visited while driving an RV down the coast from Cairns to Sydney. Our favorites: Noosa Heads, Agnes Waters & Mission Beach. And of course, snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef near  Whitsunday was amazing too.