On Australia’s shiny holiday coast, Miriam Corowa investigates the engineering behind the 1970s Florida-style canal system of the Gold Coast. Neil Oliver heads to Peel Island to see the remains of a bleak chapter in history. Xanthe Mallett scours a WW2 fortification at what could have been Australia’s front line, and discovers what life was like waiting for the war to arrive. Brendan Moar dives headlong into a dangerous current to investigate first hand the science of rips. Emma Johnston joins a scientific hunt for dugongs, in the hope of saving them. Finally, Tim Flannery travels to Fraser Island to investigate what’s at the end of the line for the longest sand drift system in the world.

• Brendan Moar
• Xanthe Mallett
• Neil Oliver