East Coast: Odds and ends (and reposts)

Part 4: K’gari

Day 7: K’gari Day 1

The best news of the morning was that the tour company had automatic transmission troopies so I would be able to drive on the world’s largest sand island! The briefing for the day was chaotic, trying to sort sixty people into 8 vehicles while keeping friend and tour groups together, but I was easy enough, being a solo traveller. I ended up sharing a land cruiser with the tour guide, and then 4 other solo twenty-something travellers and a pair of girls on their gap year after high school. Being British and touring Australia seems to be a common occurrence! The four other solo travellers and myself got on great, and were having a grand old time before we knew it. Our larger group was split into two sub groups, each occupying four vehicles and having one guide. 

A couple important things drilled into us while at briefing:

• It’s dingo mating season, so never, ever, go anywhere alone, and take ’dingo sticks’ with you when leaving our camp compound
• Don’t walk over the cattle grids (aka Texas gates) because they’re electrified
• No swimming in the ocean – sharks and riptides galore
• Snacks and scented toiletries are to sleep in the cars
• Australian road rules still apply, so seatbelts, speed limit obedience, and drink driving laws apply even though we will only be driving on sand

Around 9, it was already toasty warm out, so I was sunscreen up as we made our first of many sardine squishings into the SUV. We drove down to Inskip Point, to take the barge across to the southern end of K’gari, pronounced gar-ee (first syllable rhymes with car) and formerly called Fraser Island. We were running our tyres at 25 PSI, so they were flexing hard! In the lead vehicle, with our tour guide, we trailnblazed up the eastern coast of the island until it was time for lunch. We had make-your-own wraps before continuing up to our first dingo sighting. They look like skinny dogs, not all that vicious, but I’ve still got no plans of finding out the hard way. 

Our next destination was Lake Birribeen (spelling?), where I had my first freshwater swim in ages. It was so lovely to not come out of the water feeling sticky from salt. This lake is what is called a “perched lake”, sitting atop the sand, but not draining because of a layer of compressed and cemented organic matter. The water was crystal clear, and it is entirely rainfed, with no waterways emptying into the lake.

After our swim, we were off to camp to get settled in. We were a 3 minute walk from the beach, and went to attempt to watch the sunset, but the geography of the island was not in our favour, so I had to wait until tomorrow to see what I hoped would be some spectacular colours. Dinner was burgers, cooked by the other sub-group. Being in Queensland meant that the sun set early, and by the time dinner was done it was dark enough to see the stars, so we (my car’s group of solo travellers) ventured back to the water to look at the stars. 

The stars, like in Broken Hill, were SPECTACULAR. They caused all of us to abandon our commitment to stay sand-free, and we were all laying on the beach absorbing the feeling sight of the universe before us. Looking out at the stars elicits one of my favourite feelings of being human, the appreciation for everything that has happened in the world to culminate in my life and me being exactly where I am. After spending so much time looking up, I looked down and saw another sight: the blue glow of bioluminescent algae! 

The day was a busy one, and I remedied that by going to sleep before 9 pm. Don’t want to be overtired and grumpy!

Day 8: K’gari Day 2

Two of the girls in my little group and I woke up to see the sunrise, but the clouds kept the star from our direct view, but provided a canvas that was painted all the shades of salmon through crimson and tangerine. Maybe I’m a little sappy, but I love how stopping to watch the sunrise or sunset reminds me that this exact moment in time will never happen again, and to make the most of every single day. 

After the sunrise, it was time for brekky! Wheat bix for the win. We did a vehicle shuffle, ending up in an automatic one with 370,000 km. The company gets the “end of lifers” because the sand and salt isn’t the kindest. They still weren’t that rusty though, thank you sub-tropical lacking-snow climate for that. 

Our day started off by hiking to Lake Wabby in the pouring rain. It really didn’t affect us that much, seeing as we were going for a swim anyways. Lake Wabby is a green lake, teeming with catfish, which were eager to come and check out the tourists. No nibbles, luckily! It’s a green lake that is located at the bottom of Hammerstone Sandblow, a massive dune. 

After lunch, we were off to Champagne Rock pools, where we were informed not to stick our hands in any crevices because of potential lurking blue-ringed octopi. Did that stop me (or anyone else) from going for a swim? Absolutely not. The rock pools’ water was so blue because of the air being incorporated as the waves crashed in, and it was quite fun to get tossed around by them when they slammed over the edge.

I got to drive on the way back to camp! And it just so happened that we passed through a check stop and I got my first breathalyzer. Passed with flying colours 😎

Dinner was steak, and I think we did a bang up job of cooking them. The stars weren’t out tonight, but it was raining on us! I’m grateful that I got one good night out of the deal.

Day 9: K’gari day 3

Our last day on K’gari had us packing up camp, then heading out to Eli Creek, with a pit stop at the S.S. Maheno shipwreck from 1935. 

The Maheno, the most famous of the K’gari (formerly Fraser Island) wrecks, was driven ashore just north of Happy Valley during a cyclone in 1935. Once a well-known trans-Tasman liner, the Maheno was bound for a Japanese wrecking yard when she met her stormy end. Today the hull lies slowly deteriorating in the harsh salt environment, about 10 kilometres north of Happy Valley. https://www.visitfrasercoast.com/product/maheno-shipwreck/

Eli Creek was one of the more touristy spots we stopped at, there was a boardwalk constructed to walk upstream, then you could drop your tube in the water and float back towards the ocean. It was fun! More so after we figured out that it is easier to float lying on your stomach to prevent running aground. We spent about an hour and a half there before making our way back south to the barge. I ended up being the one behind the wheel as we arrived, so I can now say I’ve drove across a barge! 

Once we were back in Rainbow Beach, I went to check into my hostel and realized that I had made a mistake: I had booked my second night’s stay for the night prior, and did not have a bed to sleep in. After a minor panic, I went into “fix it” mode and called the other hostel in town to see if they had room. Lucky for me, there was space, so I didn’t need to go to Plan C. I’m just glad it was a minor hiccup, all things considered with planning a trip of this scale.

I had the best shower of my life, washed laundry, and then went out for dinner with the group that was in my 4×4 on the tour before we had to start parting ways. We all ordered chicken parmi (the Queensland way of saying chicken parma, it’s a point of strong debate), despite all the other yummy looking options. On our walk back to the hostel, we stopped and listened to a street performer on the saxophone for a while. Then it was early to bed, because Queensland!