FRASER ISLAND, AUSTRALIA

To start off day two of our camping trip we drove north along the beach to Indian Head, a rocky headland that's the highest point on Fraser Island. To pass around the head, we had to execute the trickiest maneuver of our itinerary, driving uphill a hundred meters or so through soft sand. This is where a lot of people get bogged, but with Sven driving we did fine. We then climbed to the top of Indian Head, which gave us some great views of the island and the sea below. People often spot sharks and dolphins from the top of the cliffs, but we just saw some fish, a dark blob that might have been a stingray, and a couple of sea turtles. Still, it was an impressive view.

A little further on from Indian Head we came to the Champagne Pools, which are large round tidal pools fed by crashing surf. This is the only place on Fraser that it's considered safe to swim in salt water, as the beaches, though immaculately beautiful, are patrolled by potentially maneating tiger sharks (this is one of the world's biggest breeding grounds for them). Ah well! So we swam in the pools for a bit, then headed back south down the beach.

We stopped again at Eli Creek, a cold-water stream running down to the ocean that's popular for swimming, tubing, and otherwise floating down. There's a long boardwalk running beside it which I followed to a drop-in point upstream, then I waded through the creek down to the sea.

At this point we were running really behind schedule, which could have been a real problem, since it's only safe to drive on the beach when the tide is low enough. Because of the rising tide, we ended up stopping early for the night and making camp in a different place than we had planned, off the beach behind some sand dunes. For dinner we (the non-Israelis, that is) made spaghetti, which was a lot less hassle than yesterday's steaks, then we lay on mats beside our tents to watch the stars.

At one point a dingo walked up to our campsite, probably wanting some Bolognese, but it ran away when I tried to take its picture. A few years ago, a nine-year-old boy was tragically attacked and killed by dingoes here on the island, but I really haven't felt threatened by them at all so far. Still, we've been cautious around them, just like with any wild dogs.

Australia Fun Fact:

• Even though Foster's relentlessly advertises itself as "Australian for Beer," no self-respecting Australian actually drinks the stuff. In fact, every Aussie I've met hates it, and is acutely embarrassed by the fact that everyone around the world thinks that's what they drink here. (They do drink VB, Toohey's, XXXX, and Bundy rum.)