K'gari (Fraser Island), Australia

K'gari (pronounced gar-ee) means paradise in the language of the Butchella people who are the traditional owners of this island, the world's largest sand island.  It is also known as Fraser Island after a Scottish visitor but her story is long and controversial and the conclusion is that it is quite disrespectful to the Butchella to refer to the island as Fraser.  

Dingo paw prints

Crystal and I have both done this trip before, 20 and 25 years ago respectively.  I don't remember much beyond our visits to Lake Wabby and Lake McKenzie.  This time round we were with a great group ranging in age from 18 to 60-something and there was just a very relaxed, calm vibe, at least more so than a bunch of backpackers with a couple of slabs of VB on board.  This meant that it was easy to really allow the environment to come to you and to take in all the really cool nature that this island has to offer.  Yes, we were chugging around in a fleet of three aging Landcruisers but we had a very knowledgeable yet laid back guide and plenty of time just to be.

We had chosen to drive a bit further the night before from Brisbane to Rainbow Beach, which gave us more time in the morning before meeting the rest of the group who came up from Noosa.  It was cool and the forecast was for a rainy first day.  We met at the Shell petrol station and watched the barefoot, plaid shirt, mullet brigade preparing their 4x4s for adventure.  We felt out of place.  The group showed up at 9.30, 18 in total with us.  About half the group were Dutch, with a Belgian honeymooning couple, a German, a French woman, a Scot, and a young couple from Townsville, and of course our guide Corey, age 43.  

Rainbow beach the evening before setting of for K'gari

It's a short drive from the centre of "town" to the barge crossing at the southern tip of K'gari.  From here we headed up the east coast of the island to our retreat which was a simple but comfortable complex of shared bedrooms and living areas.  We got an intro from Doug and some lunch before heading back out.  We had planned to got to Lake Wabby but the rain put us off the 45 minute walk in and out and instead we went to another lake where we had our first swim on the island.  On the way home we visited one of the tea tree lakes, stained dark by the tea trees.  We tasted the water and smelt the tea tree leaves.  Back to the retreat for kangaroo burger dinner, drinks, and an early night.

On the barge on the way over

Swans, nice touch. The accommodation was very comfortable and we even managed to scare off roommates so we had the six-bed room to ourselves

Tuesday we were all up and on the beach for the 6.28 sunrise although it was a little cloudy.  Still, nice to be out on the beach first thing despite the chill.  After breakfast we were on our way heading north up the island towards Champagne pools via a stop at the wreck of the Maheno, a 1930s cruise ship that did the run between Australia and New Zealand but came a cropper in an unseasonable cyclone when, already decommissioned, it was being towed to Japan for scrap.  Since then it has been pillaged, used as bomber target practice and exposed to the elements for some eight or more decades.  

Sunrise day 2

Wreck of the Maheno

Me and my future

Along the beach we also dug up and raced Pippies, saltwater clams that when placed on the water's edge will filter sand through their bodies in order to dig down into the sand.  They also make good food, cooked in a similar way to mussels.

Pippies

The Champagne pools make for some safe saltwater swimming.  Everywhere else is too shark infested.  Deep and salty it was nice to get in even though the overcast and breezy conditions made it a little cool.

Champagne pools

   

Dingo, out for walk near Champagne pools

Our next stop was at a lake full of turtles!  Not sure which species they were but they had a quite different shell and much bigger flippers compared to the Blandings turtles which we see so many of back home at Mud Lake.

Freshwater turtles

The day still had time for Eli Creek, source of some of the purest water in the world, and a fun place to float downstream.  Corey gave us some more botany lectures on the way up the creek before demonstrating how to float down the currents of the shallow creek.  After, there was a chance to do another lap with a tractor tire inner tube which of course the kids loved.  We learnt to throw boomerangs on the beach in the last of the day's sunshine.

Eli creek

Eli creek

Eli creek

Corey teaching Toby how to throw the boomerang

Whales were a constant presence on the whole trip.  We had seen whales in Hawaii, far off shore, just glimpses of big black tails poking up into the sky.  Here our sightings began with similar, distant glimpses.  But by the afternoon of day 2 we were seeing humpbacks just a few hundred metres offshore fully breaching onto their backs with their bright white bellies clearly visible.  They jumped again and again as we pulled over on the edge of the beach and watched, enthralled by the show.  It is believed whales breach for a number of reasons: as a way of communication; in order to clean parasites off their skin; and perhaps just for the fun of it.   At one point a dingo wandered up alongside our stopped cars so we got the dingo and whale duo for a while.

Wednesday was our final day and we saw the sunrise again before breakfast and an early morning visit to McKenzie.  This is the lake famed for its crystal clear water and white sand.  We took paddle boards and enjoyed messing about in the sunshine which almost but not quite kept the chill wind at bay.  More boomerang throwing and Corey got out his Ukulele. 

Sunrise day 3

Sunrise day 3

On the shore on Lake McKenzie

Family size board

Paddle board fun at Lake McKenzie

Throwing boomerangs on Lake McKenzie beach

Stunningly clear waters of Lake McKenzie

We stopped to do a short rainforest walk at Central Station on the way back to lunch.  Here we learnt about more botany as well as some of the Butchella customs.  This was a traditional birthing location for Butchella women who would then wash their babies in the stream waters.

The rainforest walk at Central Station

The creek at Central Station

One of the things that I didn't get to do last time I was here was to drive because I was only 19.  So it was fun to drive both on the beach and on the inland trails which were rough, steep and rugged at times.  I never quite got the hang of the soft sand, fishtailing all over the place, but I was not alone in this struggle.   

Inland tracks through the rainforest

This was a really great trip.  The kids did amazingly well, just going with the flow, joining in with the banter, especially on the radio, and getting into all the activities, putting the adults to shame at times.  They tried the didgeridoo, a few of the other instruments, throwing the boomerang and of course all the water activities.  It was really nice to be with a group of like-minded people, enjoy that social experience again, and to see the kids thriving in the absence of anyone else under 18.  Another trip highlight! 

Comms man

Tame dingo pups near the barge pick-up