Captivating K
,
Gari
Fraser Island, locally known as K’Gari, off ers nature-starved
suburbanites a moment to reconnect with the sea, sky and bush.Words & photography SOPHIA AULD“T
he bus is running a bit
late this morning,” says
ranger Annie. “The barge is
pushing the tide.” On K’Gari
(Fraser Island), life revolves around these
forces of nature: wind, weather and tides.
Especially the tides.
We are at Kingfisher Bay Resort, waiting
for our 4WD from Fraser Explorer Tours
to cross the Great Sandy Strait from River
Heads, a trip of about 45 minutes, for the
“Beauty Spots” tour.
Once on board, our guide Des explains
that K’Gari, meaning “paradise”, is the local
Butchulla people’s name for Fraser Island.
Covering approximately 166,000 hectares
and 123km long, K’Gari is the world’s largest
sand island with features including dunes,
lakes, mangroves and forests that spring
from seemingly infertile sands.
K’Gari’s international significance
was recognised with its World Heritage
listing in 1992. In 2018, it was included
in The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy,
a network of forest conservation projects
in Commonwealth countries.
Our first stop is Lake McKenzie, one of
42 perched sand-dune lakes on K’Gari. They
are created by the prevailing south-easterly
winds progressively pushing the dunes across
the island, explains Des. “As the dunes march
northwest, the wind carves out a bowl in the
gaps between them.” Eventually, compressed
mulch, leaves and branches in the bottom of
the bowl solidify into “coffee rock”, which can
hold water. “It’s not a true rock,” Des says,
“even though it looks exactly like it.”Fascinating facts aside, Lake McKenzie
is a stunning swimming hole. The pure
silica sand gives the beach its pristine
white colour. The aquamarine water of the
shallows gives way to deep sapphire blue.
Plunging under, I take Des at his word that
the water is drinkable and down a deep draft
of lake liquid. Having grown up on Sydney’s
beaches, drinking the water I’m swimming
in is unthinkable, but it is cool, tasteless and
refreshing. Diving down, I can’t touch the
bottom, which I later discover is at an average
depth of 6.6 metres. Although the water is
fresh, I can float on my back and watch the
clouds coasting along above me.
Only my concern about sunburn gets
me out of the water to seek shade in the
enclosed eating area for morning tea. Signs
around the island remind visitors that it is
illegal to leave food out, as part of a protective
strategy for dingoes and people. “If we are
dingo aware, we can be dingo safe,” says Des.
“This is their natural environment and we are
visitors.” He adds that dingoes might look like
cute dogs but are wild animals, descended
from wolves. I am eager to see some of these
beautiful creatures today.
A drive through diverse forests, including
1000-year-old satinay trees and ancient ferns,
takes us to Central Station on Wanggoolba
Creek, formerly the logging headquarters on
Fraser Island from 1920 until the late 1950s.
Once containing 30 houses and a school for
the loggers’ children, it now has a picnic
area and information centre surrounded by
towering satinays, flooded gums and kauri
and bunya pines.Wanggoolba Creek flows through the
rainforest and contains various species
of fish, turtles and eels. At first, the creek
appears to be covered in mud, but closer
inspection reveals I am seeing the sandy
bottom through crystal-clear water. Des
likens the drinkable water to twice-filtered
Bundaberg Rum. “It’s filtered through the
sand on the way down and again when it
comes back up from the water basin,” he
says, adding that the basin under K’Gari has
three times the capacity of Sydney Harbour.
We walk along the creek through the
Pile Valley rainforest. K’Gari is the only
place on Earth where rainforests grow
on sand dunes. The centre of the island
provides shelter from the harsh winds and,
with annual rainfall of 1800mm, is ideal for
tree growth — which also means it rains
frequently, especially from January to March.
The humid air forms droplets on my
skin and is sticky to breathe. But my
discomfort is eased by the breathtaking
beauty surrounding me: trees so tall they
are dizzying, some with girths of several
metres. The thick canopy disperses the
sunlight into beams falling between trees,
dappling the path. The shades of green
seem endless and I’m captivated by the
furls of ferns and weaving creepers.
We lunch at Eurong Beach Resort on
K’Gari’s ocean side before heading north
along Seventy Five Mile Beach, which Des
says is also a national highway where road
rules apply. It even doubles as an airstrip,
with propeller-driven aircraft offering scenic
flights taking off and landing regularly.
Continuing along the sand highway, Des
notes the unusual amount of exposed coffee
rock, thanks to Cyclone Oma which passed
through the previous week. “The island will
soon repair itself,” he says. “Within a few
weeks more sand will get washed up and
cover these rocks again.” As we bounce over
the brown rocks, I’m starting to envy the
couples who took the plane.
We meet up with them near the
Coloured Sands, where jutting cliffs sport
vibrant bands in 72 hues, mostly earthy
reds and yellows, caused by iron-rich
minerals that coat each sand grain.
Next stop is the Maheno shipwreck.
Her fractured skeleton is one of 23 wrecks
recorded in these waters between 1856 and
1935, the year the SS Maheno beached after
a storm snapped the chain that was towing
her to Japan for scrap following a lifetime
of service. She has remained there since,
a haunting reminder of the natural forces
that continue to shape K’Gari.
Our final destination is Eli Creek, the
largest creek on K’Gari’s eastern side.
Pouring up to four million litres of fresh
water into the ocean every hour, it’s
a natural aqua-ride. Backpackers in
skimpy bikinis glide down in tubes but
I float down on my belly. The water is cold
and clear and I’m thankful for the hot cup
of tea afterwards.travel
FRASER ISLAND116 | wellbeing.com.au