K'gari (Fraser Island), Queensland – an ancient name for a new era

Boorangoora (Lake McKenzie).Credit: Tourism and Events Queensland.

It's midday by the time my husband and I arrive at Boorangoora (Lake McKenzie) after a two-hour hike along dappled, leave-strewn trails. Ringed with forest and trimmed with soft silica sand the water glows like a Maldivian lagoon, its inky depths reflecting the clouds above.

To the Butchulla people, who have lived here for tens of thousands of years, the island we know as Fraser is K'gari (pronounced Gurri), named after the beautiful sky spirit who helped create the land. K'gari fell in love with the place and never wanted to leave, so the god Beeral transformed her into a sand island and made the flowers, trees and lakes to keep her company. In the Butchulla language K'gari means paradise.

To the early colonialists it become Fraser Island, named in honour of Scottish woman Eliza Fraser, who was shipwrecked here in 1836 and whose mistruths about being kidnapped and mistreated by the "savages" directly lead to the vilification and dispossession of the Butchulla people.

On an eco walk with Fraser Island Hiking.Credit: Sean Scott

Finally, after a decade-long campaign by Butchulla Elders and community members, the UNESCO-listed island was renamed K'gari (Fraser Island) World Heritage Area in September 2021. Community consultation is currently underway to change the official place name back to K'gari.

Standing at the edge of Boorangoora, which translates as 'waters of wisdom', we pause to take it all in, grateful to have the place to ourselves. By arriving on foot, far from the busy 4WD hubs and hoons, we've reached a remote and secluded stretch of the island's most popular swimming spot.

Soft-adventure and solitude, that's what this two-day/one-night Lake McKenzie eco walk with Fraser Island Hiking is all about. Carrying only day-packs, with all meals, snacks (even complimentary alcohol) included, and a support guide to transfer equipment and set up camp, ours is the Goldilocks experience – less intrepid than the company's longer, carry-your-own pack 'adventure hikes', but not as comfortable as the guided 'luxury' option.

For us, this trip is about celebrating missed birthday milestones (boo, COVID) but it's also about revisiting a place with fresh eyes and having a deeper, more immersive experience. As K'gari enters a new era, innovative operators are responding, with nature-focused, sustainable ways of exploring the island.

From Boorangoora we slip back into the forest, where the sky darkens, and the trees take over. Hiking the sandy tracks we pass a gallery of scribbly gums, their trunks stencilled as if by hand; marvel at giant king ferns, whose ancestry pre-dates dinosaurs; and skirt plush tree stumps upholstered in fluorescent green. What we don't pass is another person.

After a night under canvas at Central Station we walk into Pile Valley, a rainforest of giants studded with 1200-year-old satinay trees, where vines hang like dreadlocks and slanted sunbeams shoot from the sky. If there's a more enchanted forest, I'm yet to see it.

And I never will, given that K'gari is the only place on Earth where sub-tropical rainforest grows to this extent, entirely on sand.

The surprises continue: a stream, so clear it appears like an apparition, a hike across the lunar landscape of Hammerstone sandblow, and a bracing dip in the emerald waters of Lake Wabby. While a handful of jewel-coloured lakes would be wondrous enough, K'gari is dotted with more than 100, including half of the world's known perched freshwater dune lakes.

After walking 22 kilometres over two days, our hike concludes at Eastern Beach, where we are transferred back to the jetty at Kingfisher Bay Resort. Hervey Bay local Scott Whitcombe is waiting. Together with his wife Steph, he started Fraser Island Boat Charters in 2021. They now have a fleet of four luxury catamarans, which they rent out from Hervey Bay as either bareboat (self-drive) or skippered charter. "We wanted to share the Great Sandy Strait with visitors and show them there is a slower-paced way of seeing K'gari," says Scott, who will be our skipper for the next three days.

"The world's largest sand island – at 123km long by 25km wide - is also the world's largest windbreak," says Scott. "Which makes for calm and safe sailing conditions year-round."

A catamaran offers a passport to hidden beaches, to stopovers on small sand islands and exploratory tender rides into freshwater creeks in search of shipwrecks. Our plan is to trace the remote west coast, a quiet alternative to the pounding ocean and busy sand highway of Seventy-Five Mile Beach on the opposite side.

We cast off, picking up a pod of humpback dolphins near Moon Point, the island's mid-point and our anchorage for the night. As the sun sinks, we sit on the back deck of Coralita enjoying pre-dinner drinks as the sea and sky burn as one.

If evenings are about rest and relaxation, days are for discovery. On day two we hoist the sails and cruise alongside cliffs composed of coffee rock and white sand, before taking the tender ashore to the mouth of Awinya Creek. Here, freshwater tannins churn with tidal seawater to create a twirling masterpiece of rust, indigo and turquoise. I paddle in the cool water while my husband scales a large sand dune, the crest so high it not only affords 360-degree views across the island, but bragging rights for days.

In Platypus Bay a pod of five humpback whales encircles our stationary boat, close enough to see barnacles around their mouths. It's August and peak whale season in Hervey Bay, as these migrating humpbacks pull into the Great Sandy Strait for a bit of R&R of their own.

Back on land at Kingfisher Bay Resort ranger Cassie Duncan talks about wildlife encounters of the feathered kind. "More than 380 bird species visit K'gari each year," she says, as we pause at a bird-watching platform overlooking Mirror Lake on the resort's grounds. "K'gari is a place you visit, not just to tick it off some list, but to immerse yourself in the natural surroundings."

A dedicated team of rangers run daily guided walks, talks and nature-based activities for guests including bush tucker tastings, night adventures to spot the island's nocturnal species and canoe paddling tours through the mangroves, all designed to connect visitors with the land.

We're rounding out our time on K'gari with three nights at the island's premier ecotourism resort, a chance for some pampering (hello day spa) and to continue to explore the island from a sustainable base. Given the resort's commitment to treading as lightly as possible, it's no surprise Kingfisher Bay Resort welcomed its first guests the same year the island received UNESCO World Heritage listing, in 1992.

We arrive during the week of the 30th birthday celebrations. Yes, there's cake and a jaunty new logo, but more importantly, the resort is continuing to set benchmarks for a greener and more culturally aware future. Initiatives include rebranding sister property K'gari Beach Resort (previously Eurong Beach Resort) and K'gari Explorer Tours (previously Fraser Island Tours), plus the opening of the K'gari World Heritage Discovery Centre, launched in 2021 in collaboration with the University of the Sunshine Coast and the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation.

Given time, it is hoped K'gari will enter everyday language in the same way Uluru has replaced Ayres Rock

Back in Hervey Bay, Butchulla man Dinka Dinka from Hervey Bay Eco Marine Tours leads cultural walking tours, where he introduces guests to bush tucker while visiting significant sites and meeting places. He also shares the beautiful creation story of K'gari and explains why renaming the island so important.

"We need to keep the name K'gari going for future generations, to show respect for our ancestral grounds," says Dinka Dinka. "We'd rather tell our creation story than the lies told by Eliza Fraser."

FIVE MORE THINGS TO DO ON K'GARI

BUSHTUCKER TALK & TASTE

Experience native bushtucker ingredients paired with kangaroo and crocodile at Kingfisher Bay Resort. See kingfisherbay.com

CHAMPAGNE POOLS

Relax in a natural jacuzzi on the island's northeast coast.

THE FRASER ISLAND GREAT WALK

Walk almost the full length of the island on this 90km hike. See des.qld.gov.au

BEAUTY SPOTS TOUR

Join a full-day, ranger-led tour of the island's iconic sights. See kingfisherbay.com

WATHUMBA CREEK

Visit at high tide to snorkel amid turtles, rays and fish in crystal clear waters.

THE DETAILS

FLY

Fly from Melbourne or Sydney to Hervey Bay with Qantas (qantas.com) or Jetstar (jetstar.com). K'gari is a 50-minute ferry ride from Hervey Bay (River Heads). See sealink.com.au

STAY

Kingfisher Bay Resort offers resort rooms with views across the Great Sandy Strait from $299. Look for seasonal deals and packages. See kingfisherbay.com

TOUR

Hervey Bay Eco Marine Tours offers a 90-minute Djinang cultural walking tour on selected days and costs $55 per adult and $35 per child. See herveybayecomarinetours.com.au

HIKE

A two-day/one-night pack-free Lake McKenzie Eco walk with Fraser Island Hiking operates year-round and costs from $550 per person. See fraserislandhiking.com

SAIL

Fraser Island Boat Charters offers bareboat and private skippered packages tailored to individual needs. See fraserislandboatcharters.com.au

MORE

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Kerry van der Jagt travelled as a guest of Tourism and Events Queensland and Kingfisher Bay Resort