K’gari Island:Paradise in the language of the Butchulla people

Leonie and I left for our trip to K’gari Island , which is a 3 hour drive north from Noosa. We were unsure if we were able to go, considering all of the cyclone warnings. However , the Kingfisher resort, where we were staying, indicated that all was fine. It was a beautiful drive with glimpses of the coast, beautiful mountains in the distance, sugar cane fields and forested areas. I knew I was in Australia, as we passed as sign warning us that Koala bears were on the move. I watched carefully to see if we could spot any but unfortunately did not see the cuties. We did however see a dead kangaroo on the side of the road.

We stopped at a town en route called Maryborough, which had an interesting history, classic 1800s architecture and a beautiful river running through it. One of its claim to fame is that it’s the birthplace of PL Travers , who is the author of the Mary Poppins series. I found it interesting that they also had an old matchmaking machine that was put together in the mid to late 1800s. It was at this time that they had over 154 ships that delivered 22,000 people to the port of Maryborough, many of them were young unmarried women. It was an enterprising salesman that provided an automated system, installed at the docks, for matchmaking and marriage licensing. Unfortunately, it’s just a relic and isn’t working otherwise I would’ve really given it a chance.

We arrived in Riverheads to register and park the car before we boarded a bus that took us to the ferry terminal. The ferry was about 40 minutes. It was a bit of a rough passage, but we made it safely.

K’gari has gained UNESCO world heritage status meeting criteria of exceptional beauty, example of earth’s history, and evolutionary processes of ecology and biology. They estimate it is 750,000 to 1 million years old and is the largest sand island in the world. Historical, the Butchulla people hold the knowledge to protect and care for the land using three key laws:

What is good for the land must come first

Do not take or touch anything that does not belong to you

If you have plenty of, you must share

I think the Butchulla people could teach Trump so much with these simple laws!

Unfortunately, after the second world war much of the old growth forests were cut down to help rebuild bridges and buildings, primarily in England. It was in 1971 that it became a national park and 1992 listed as a world heritage area.

We arrived at the Kingfisher resort, which was very lovely. It was surrounded by bush, had comfortable rooms, and a lovely lounging area by the pool.

We had signed up to take a tour around the island. You really needed a four-wheel-drive to fully explore it as the roads were quite treacherous , narrow, and very sandy. Anthony was our tour guide. He was so positive and a great storyteller. I have to say that he drove the bus in ways that were unimaginable, like he was driving a getaway car. Our first stop was at Lake MacKenzie, a beautiful white sanded lake with turquoise clear water. We had to stay fairly close to our group as we had been warned several times about the dingoes, which are wolf like creatures. We were instructed several times on what to do if we encountered them so we were all taking this very seriously.

From there , we walked along Eli Creek. It was so lovely and tranquil. The air was fresh as you imagine in rain forests. You could smell eucalyptus and fermented fruit ( or was that me sweating out wine from my pores again) . They have numerous bottlebrush trees which I love. One of the kids on our tour actually spotted a snake.We also saw a Dingo, thankfully from our bus.

We then had our lunch near the 75 mile long beach. We normally would’ve driven the beach to see a shipwreck and the sand dunes however, with the cyclone, there was little room to drive as the tides were high. So we spent a bit of time playing on the beach.

Our driver adapted our itinerary and took us to another lake, which was virtually untouched. However, he had only been there a couple of times and we unfortunately missed a few turns. He actually backed up the bus for several kilometres – a bit scary! We did make it through and thankfully didn’t have to push the bus out of a sand trap. After the lake expedition, we took a walk through an old growth forest which was such a nice way to end our tour.

When we arrived back at the hotel, Leonie and I went to the Sunset bar, which was by the ferry dock for our happy hour. It was such a beautiful setting.

We loved our trip to K’gari, a very special Paradise indeed!!!