STEPHEN LARKHAM's sleight of hand has helped the Wallabies to countless Test match wins over the years, but early on Sunday morning all it got him was 20 minutes of push-ups in front of some highly amused teammates.

Larkham's crime?

Trying to sneak a utility knife and some headache tablets into the Wallabies' pre-World Cup boot camp on North Stradbroke Island, just south of Brisbane.
Contraband was quickly identified after instructors performed a full search of each of the 27 players and their equipment early on Sunday morning.

Also caught out were hooker Sean Hardman, flanker Rocky Elsom and back-up five-eighth Berrick Barnes, who won the prize for ingenuity after being caught with several chocolate bars stashed in the cuff of his beanie.

"Thankfully I wasn't one of those guys but it was quite amusing watching them go through the gear and taking contraband and the guys getting down and doing push-ups for trying to sneak things into the camp," joked towering lock Nathan Sharpe.

"I think the guys were just testing the limits to see what they could get away with and the answer is obviously not much."

Welcome to Camp Wallaby - a five-day military-style camp designed to take the players out of their comfort zone, away from their familiar surroundings and challenge them to work together to get through a series of tasks totally foreign to them in their lives as professional footballers.

With the World Cup only a month away, the players were promised an easier time...
Thoughts of an armchair ride quickly evaporated, however, when the barge carrying the group to North Stradbroke stopped 400m short of dry land and the squad was ordered to make its own way to shore.

The use of local water police to monitor for sharks did little to ease the players' concerns about what was to come.

"George [Gregan] and [forwards coach] Michael Foley struggled," said Connolly. "Greegs almost turned white, it was that cold."

Dutifully facing the small media contingent that gathered near the shoreline at North Stradbroke yesterday morning, lock Nathan Sharpe could only laugh when asked about the positives he had taken from his experiences over the first 24 hours of the camp.

"I've had an hour-and-a-half of sleep. I have been swimming through the night and woke up with frostbite on my toes, so I'm not feeling real positive about anything at the moment," Sharpe said with a wry smile.

"It's definitely out of the ordinary for us. We're not really used to walking through the middle of the night and swimming through lakes in freezing temperatures, so it's not the typical regime for footballers.

"I think the hardest thing is not really knowing what's coming up. We came to this camp not having any idea of what was in store for us and we still don't. So we're pretty much living minute by minute and doing as we're told."

Two testing hikes through the rugged terrain ensured the group was well and truly ready for bed when the sleeping bags were rolled out at 8.30pm.

The same could not be said of their preparedness for a wake-up call just two hours later for another trek to the edge of a lake, which they swam across fully clothed and with packs in tow - a most unfortunate scenario for a number of the team who failed to adequately waterproof their belongings.

"I was just filthy that all my undies were wet and I think most of the boys were the same because our double-bagging skills weren't that good," winger Mark Gerrard said. "But it's just a good change-up.
Obviously I don't do this often ... walking up some sand dunes and jumping in the water at one in the morning naked, that is."

While taking some pleasure in seeing the discomfort of his players, Connolly was confident the exercise had merit as part of the final phase of the Wallabies' World Cup preparations.

"History shows that Australian sides have always had a great spirit and these camps of three or four or five days go a long way to building that," Connolly said.

"It's not meant to be easy.

"It's about everyone getting along and on the same page. We've got some very strong individuals in this side and this is all about developing the squad as a whole."