Nature’s Paradise K’Gari Island

One of our Queensland highlights is the nature’s paradise K’gari Island, a huge island a few miles off the coast. K’gari is the recently readopted Aboriginal name for Fraser Island. The name means paradise, which we found highly appropriate for this beautiful place.

About K’gari Island

K’gari is the world’s largest sand island, 122km long. It’s been called Fraser Island for generations, but the name is shifting back to K’Gari Island.

The unique geography makes it one of Australia’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Not only is it the largest sand island, it’s also the only one where tropical rainforests grow in the sand. And they grow! Some of the trees on the island are towering and hundreds of years old. Add to that perched freshwater lakes and miles upon miles of sandy beaches that you can drive on, and the name Paradise really resonates.

Accessing K’Gari Island

This natural treasure is a popular day trip from the mainland. The common way to get to K’gari is the ferry from Hervey Bay, south of Bundaberg. We sailed from Mooloolaba, after Brisbane, happily stopping in a couple anchorages on the way north up the protected west coast of K’gari Island.

Anchorages on K’gari Island

After leaving Brisbane River, we sailed north and into the Wide Bay Bar Crossing, stopping just below K’gari for a night at the Double Island Point anchorage. Then we made a quick jump up through the Great Sandy Strait to Garry’s Anchorage, a good stopping point along K’gari island. Located in the southeast of the island, it’s a nice protected little bay with calm flat water. Onshore is a camping area and a couple of walking trails.

dingoes

We went onshore at Garry’s and were welcomed with lots of signs warning of dingoes. Dingoes are Australia’s wild dogs and they look like lean stray dogs. But they are not good dogs! In fact, dingoes get nasty, especially when they’re in packs, and have attacked joggers and children on K’Gari. All around the anchorages on K’gari are dingo warning signs. We were advised to have a stick handy to ward them off, but fortunately we didn’t see any while at Garry’s. I really don’t want to have to hit a dingo with a stick.

kingfisher bay

Our main destination on K’gari was further north at Kingfisher Bay, home to the cruiser friendly Kingfisher Bay Resort. While anchored there, we paddled to shore each day and enjoyed the resort amenities. It was a middle resort, with okay food, a cold swimming pool, and a hot tub full of children. The best part was the island tour, which showcased nature’s paradise K’gari Island.

Sights on Nature’s Paradise K’Gari Island

Before we visited, all I knew about the destination was it was popular for renting 4x4s and driving them on beaches. That’s not all there is to do. The island has freshwater interior lakes, rainforests, birds, and dingoes.

Here are some of our highlights from K’gari Island nature’s paradise.

lake mackenzie

Lake Mackenzie is a perched lake, one of a few on K’gari Island. Perched lakes consist entirely of rainwater, no ground water. They are also independent of any water sources and don’t flow to any. We learned a lot on this tour!

Lake Mackenzie is beautiful, with a completely sandy bottom since that’s all that’s on the island. We went while the sun was shining brightly, and admired the reflection off the water. The lake is inland and the roads are rough on K’gari, even a couple of miles takes a lot of time. We were happy to have a driver.

rainforest

It was amazing to walk through K’gari’s rainforest of towering old trees, all growing in sand. This is part of why K’gari is a World Heritage site, and it’s impressive. Kauri pines and thousand year old satinay trees are among some of the plants that thrive in the mineral rich sands.

It was soothing and serene to walk through the rainforest on our island tour, admiring the beautiful trees and spotting native birds like this kookaburra.

driving on the beach

Queensland has huge sandy beaches, and K’gari Island’s are so big everybody drives on them. The beach on the island’s east coast is called 75 Mile Beach, and it has a whole list of tour stops, including a shipwreck.

We moved much faster on the beach than on the regular roads on the island. You can rent a 4×4, but we saved ourselves the stress and booked the bus tour. Tours are not cheap, about $250 pp, but we learned a lot and saw a lot without having to drive ourselves. Weighing these options, for us it was worth it to pay for the day tour of nature’s paradise K’gari Island.

While driving on the beach, we spotted multiple breaching humpback whales in the ocean and a few dingoes in the sand. It was a relief to finally see a dingo but to be safe in the bus.

Eli creek

We stopped at Eli Creek on the tour, a fresh water creek right on the beach. Many people tried to float down the creek, but the tide was low and it was too shallow. It was very pretty, and we walked along the dunes and across the creek.

K’Gari Island Great Walk

Many hikers visit K’gari for the Great Walk, a 90KM walk which takes about a week to complete, with campsites along the way. That would be an adventure, and definitely a great way to see this nature’s paradise. Other people do multi-day tours using 4x4s and camping along the way. Or there are resorts and a day trip by ferry, making K’gari accessible to many. Dingo sticks, bug spray and proper walking shoes recommended.

K’gari Island is a special place, and I’m glad we spent a few days there enjoying its natural treasures. Queensland has so many beautiful islands and anchorages, and we wish we could stop at them all.

If you’re in this part of Queensland, I recommend taking a ferry over to see it yourself. Share your Queensland, and Australia, recommendations in the comments. We’ll be here awhile and we love exploring!