A visit to Paradise

 

Why are we here?

Since my brother and his family emigrated to Australia, Drew has always asked them if they had been under threat from Dingoes. Clearly he had been influenced by the 1980's story of Azaria Chamberlain whose mother's defence when accused on her child's murder was: "A dingo ate my baby". Linda, the mother, was imprisoned for murder and only after new evidence was discovered in 1986, four years later was she released from prison and her conviction was formally overturned some 32 years later. [Co-pilot's note: I wish, dear readers, to introduce a clarification on the above. Linda Chamberlain and her husband were formally pardoned in 1988, however it was not until 32 years later that the fourth inquest into Azaria's death concluded that the death was due to an attack by Dingo.]

Unbeknownst to me, but very well known to Drew, is the cultural references to the Dingo/Baby story in American TV programmes - A band called "Dingoes ate my baby", of which Oz was a member, were regulars in the teen drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer, of which Drew was an addict. References to it also occur in Frasier, Seinfeld and The Simpsons, plus in that comedy film Tropic Thunder. So, Drew likes to assume that every Australian is consistently watching out for Dingoes. [Co-Pilot's note: If, dear readers, they are not watching out for Dingoes, then they should be - they are vicious killers!!]

With that in mind, when we decided to come to Australia I asked my brother for suggestions of places to visit, in addition to visiting them and his first response, back 13 months ago was:

First on the list has to be Fraser island, Drew will love it there.

On further enquiry about why he replied:

K’Gari is famous for its population of a popular Aussie gem. I’m sure you’ll be able to find a news article or two.

He was right from ABC News, The Guardian and the BBC there were plenty of stories of Dingoes savaging people on the island. 

It seemed like a perfect location to discover a little more about Australia's native species! [Co-pilot's note: !!!]

[Co-pilot's note: at this point, dear readers, I wish to correct any misconceptions you may have. My first awareness of the true nature of dingoes/the Chamberlain case came in approximately 1994 when I watched, late at night on BBC2, the Meryl Streep movie - A Cry in the Dark, which is about this story.]

More about K'gari

K'gari is pronounced with an aspirated K, so more like Gaaari where the a's sound like the long sound of english expression Ah when a doctor asks you to stick out your tongue. 

The Butchulla people can trace their ancestry on the island for 6,000 years and perhaps far longer.  Sadly, the European settlement in the early 1800s had a devastating impact on the Butchulla people.  Much of their way of life was destroyed and their numbers were reduced from the thousands to around 300. The islands English name was for a sea captain and his wife, James and Eliza Fraser who were shipwrecked here. James died, but Eliza went on to write many stories, many of them fantasy, about her experience. In 2023, K'gari's name was restored after 200+ years, being only the second restored place name in Australia after Uluru, which had been known as Ayers Rock. 

We were retold this history by our guide for today, a Butchulla man, who loves the ancient ways of his ancestors. (He has some Sicilian ancestors too, but assured us that he hasn't taken up any Godfather/Mafia behaviour from that side of the family!!). He explained that the nearest English word to translate K'gari is Paradise. If paradise is as lovely as K'gari I'm all for it.

More about our guide and this wonderful island shortly, but first, let's get back to the beginning of the day.

Early Morning

I wake at 4.30am, get up and load the photos from last night. So we are back up to date with them again.

Drew wakes at 5am and I make a cup of tea for us both. We do our ablutions at 5.45am ready for breakfast at 6.30am before our busy day on this amazing island.

We walk towards breakfast through the lovely surroundings. A pond, empty when we go to breakfast is filled with wonderful flowers by the time we walk back.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served in Kingfisher Bay in a restaurant that is open for breakfast and lunch called Sand and Wood. Bed and Breakfast was included in our booking so we headed down at 6.30am when they opened.

Drew's Breakfast

Haydn's First Course

Haydn's breakfast main course

It was a very well provided buffet style breakfast and it even had pork sausages, something we have not seen very often since we came to Australia, where beef and chicken seem the most common sausage meats, based on my limited experience.

After breakfast I wrote postcards and posted them in the little postbox on the island.

Exploring K'gari

When I asked about a visit to K'gari at Trailfinders, the advisor recommended that if we were going to go there, we should opt for the bespoke guided package, which means that instead of being in a group with other guests for the tour, you have a one to two interaction with a local guide. I reckon this was probably the best advice of the holiday, as the day was like a dream.

We were scheduled to meet the Guide at 8.30am and as we approached the reception desk, so J (short for Jermaine) came forward and greeted us. He explained that he has been a guide on the island for about ten years, but during Covid he gave up his role here, as they needed to reduce staffing levels with no guests. He now works full-time at a high school in River Heads. His role in the school is to work with aboriginal students to support their learning and links to their culture and to work with non-aboriginal staff to help them become more capable and willing to teach aboriginal issues.

J was a mine of information he began by asking us what we were most interested in and our only request was to see a Dingo. Otherwise we were happy to be immersed in the culture and life of K'gari. He seemed happy with this and walked us out to his vehicle. We are out of the resort and into the national park.

 

Stone Tool Sand Blow

The tour with J was image rich, so for the rest of this post I'm going to share pictures of the various sights we visited, with less commentary than usual.

One of the notable features is the tree known as the Scribbly Gum Tree, the scribbles are caused by the interaction of maggots with the sap of the tree. Some early Europeans thought it was writing, as it does resemble squiggles. This true is a great source of glue which the Butchulla people used for waterproofing their dwellings. The leaves also make fantastic herbal tea.

You have to pinch yourself to remember that all these amazing trees in multi-varieties are all growing on sand. K'gari is a sand island, there is no soil as such, yet creatures of all types have managed to create a fertile environment on the sandy plains. K'gari is the world's largest sand island, a very distinctive, distinctively beautiful place.

Seventy Five Mile Beach

The next location we visited was Seventy Five Mile Beach. J took great pleasure in driving on the sand, past a plane that was about to take off, as it was low tide, and around a complex set of formations that looked like rocks, but were dried vegetable matter that had solidified.

The end of this drive brought us to the amazing Pinnacles, as you'll have seen, if you watched the images to the end, these are a display of hundreds of different colours through the compressed sand. J told us of the dreamtime story of their creation, the table of the Butchulla Women. As this is womens area J himself stayed in the vehcile as we explored these amazing sites.  The scientific story doesn't include infidelity or boomerangs but the range of minerals and the different speed at which they are eroded. However they come about, they are truly amazing.

SS Maheno Shipwreck

We returned along the beach and this time had a close up view of the SS Maheno which was shipwrecked here on its final journey from Melbourne to Japan where she was set to be scrapped. A cyclone caused the Maheno to be adrift in the ocean off the east coast of Australia. She eventually beached on K'gari two days later and is still there today.

Eli Creek

Our next stopping point was Eli Creek, this crystal clear freshwater creek runs through the forested area and down to the sea. It is a natural phenomenon which reminds me of the, not so natural, Typhoon Lagoon in Disney World. Eli Creek has water flowing from it which is part of the under dune water table. Some of this water is stored 30 metres or more below sea level and for up to 100 years before resurfacing and running towards the sea - this process clarifies it of all impurities. 

Crossing Eli Creek involves walking through the water, but seeing so many people having fun coming down the creek, made the little dampness worth it.

I love the photos of us crossing back over Eli Creek to get to the vehicle. It is a good example of the difference between my and Drew's personality. I, like a bull in a china shop, pull my trouser legs up as high as they will go and rush into the water, living with any little dampness that may occur. Drew takes care to turn up his jeans very carefully and with lots of attention to detail - the look on his face as they come down halfway across the lake is a real picture. Sometimes dropping in at the deep end does pay off! 

Lunch

As part of our tour package morning tea and lunch were included. We had enjoyed ourselves so much this morning that we had skipped morning tea, so at lunch time we opened what had been in the cool box, an amazing selection of fruits and cakes (and tea) which the three of us eat vociferously. 

Tropical Rainforest

After lunch there was more to see as J drove us into deeper and deeper jungles to, it is hard to believe one can be on a sand island, a Tropical Rainforest. There are Kauri pines, brush box, hoop pines and amazing huge thousand-year-old satinay trees all growing in sand. How you might ask? Well the key to K'gari’s rainforest success lies in the rainforest’s location and the fungi that are able to grow on the forest floor under the thick forest canopies formed over many hundreds of years. The fungi work in symbiosis with the trees to provide the level of nutrients rainforests need. The river that flows through the forest is occluded by a mix of fungi and nutrients in the water. 

Dingo

If an astounding rain forest wasn't enough excitement for us, as we left the forest what did we see lopping along beside us, but a Dingo.

It was like a dream come true. Our ambition for the visit had been fulfilled and contrary to all the dire warnings of the twelve page Be Dingo Safe leaflet, she didn't disturb us and we didn't disturb her.

[Co-pilot's note: At some point, dear readers, during our encounter with the Dingo, our valiant blogger disappeared to the loo. As you can see in the final photo, our friendly dingo is about to walk down a path. About ten metres further on there was a group of people coming the other way. They weren't paying attention to their surroundings - hence an excitable Australian accent could be heard saying "Oh, Shit" as they walked around the corner right into the Dingo.]

Boorangoora

Following the Dingo excitement it was a nice change of pace to visit the calming lake called Boorangoora, formally Lake Mckenzie. Boorangoora is a perched lake, which means that an impermeable layer forms underground, meaning rainwater gathers at the surface in depressions in the sand dunes without running away and form a lake. Unlike 'normal' lakes there are no rivers/streams running in to it, nor are their any outlets which link it via a river network to the sea. 

The sand here is 98 per cent silica which makes it soft, silky and white. Indeed the Butchulla people believe that caking your hands in this sand and water mixed and letting it dry in the sun is one of the best manicure treatments known to man - Drew tried it out, and recommends it. 

Afternoon Tea

The lunch that had been packed for us became our afternoon tea, so after walking back to the car park from Boorangoora we found a picnic bench and tasted its delights

We arrived back at Kingfisher Bay Resort and from a day of four wheel drive travel back to two wheel drive at 3.40pm. I used the time to edit and upload the amazing photos - you have seen some of them, there are many more on my Flickr - start here and keep clicking.

We had dinner booked (yes more food!!) for 7.45pm in the Dune Restaurant - but more about that in my next post.