This post has been a long time coming. We have been going non-stop since our road trip, and we began work in our new home on the Gold Coast right away, so I am just beginning to catch up now. Better late than never!

We recently finished a 9-day road trip through Central Queensland, where we made our way up from Brisbane to Airlie Beach and back to see what the Queensland coast had to offer. I thought I would make a separate post for each of the major highlights of our trip, since we saw a lot in nine days and I have a lot to write about!

Our first few days of the road trip were spent driving up to and then exploring the magical K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island), the name which translates to “paradise” in the Indigenous Australian Butchulla language, according to NPR. It definitely lived up to its name. It is the world’s largest sand island where the beaches are the highways, and there is something amazingly beautiful around every corner.

To get to K’gari, we first had to drive up to Hervey Bay, a small fishing town located about 3.5 hours northeast of Brisbane. On the way up, we stopped at a bakery called Mi Bakery in Gunalda for some meat pies, and they were fantastic. We have been enjoying the savory pie scene in Australia, especially George.

When we arrived in Hervey Bay, we had to go for an orientation at the rental company where we rented our 4-wheel drive (4WD) vehicle. As there aren’t really any paved roads on K’gari besides the small areas surrounding two resorts, we had to learn the ins and outs of how and where to drive. We also learned what to do if we got stuck in the sand. We had a very intensive orientation about Dingos, wild dogs that have experienced an increase in human-interactivity over the last while on the island. We were told to walk in groups, do not run, carry a stick at all times, and definitely not leave any food out. This wasn’t brand new information for us since we are used to the wildlife awareness required for backcountry hiking and camping in Canada, but we were a little nervous about encountering a new type of wild animal.

After camping at a local campsite, we woke up really early the next morning at 5 a.m. We had an early ferry to catch! After taking down our tent, we headed to the ferry terminal to catch our barge that was leaving at 6:45 a.m. It was a very small barge, and the entire lineup was comprised of 4WD vehicles that had to individually back onto their spot on the ferry. I felt bad for the drivers who were also carrying a trailer with them! Before setting off, we made sure to let some air out of our tires as the reduced pressure helped with navigating the softer sand.

Once we arrived on the island, we were greeted with the rules of the road: 30 km/h speed on trails, and 80 km/h on the beach. It took us a while to get going, but George was a great sport and took each turn and bump with confidence.

One of the main dictators of our plan for the day on the island was the tides. On K’gari, it is advised to only drive on the beach within three hours of low and high tide. High tide on our first day was at 3:30 p.m., so we had a few hours to kill until we were able to drive on the beach safely.

Our first stop was Lake Mackenzie. We were extremely lucky to be the first to arrive at the lake for the day. It is a beautiful crystal-clear lake, filled entirely by rainwater. The shelf closest to the beach is the most beautiful blue color, and then becomes a deep and darker blue where it drops off. We had about twenty minutes on the beach of the lake completely to ourselves, which was so special and magical. We walked along the beach, I found the perfect stick in the sand to ward off potential Dingoes, and just took it all in.

When more people started arriving, we decided that it was a good time for a swim. The lake was beautiful and warm, and we probably could have spent the whole day there, but there was so much more to see on the island, and we wanted to see it all.

Our next stop was Central Station, which is a beautiful bushland trail area. We completed the Pile Valley circuit, a 4 km track that began on a boardwalk and then climbed a bit into the jungle to complete a loop. The most astonishing aspect of Central Station was the creek running next to the boardwalk, which ran on sand and was completely clear. The water was so clear to the point where you have to look really closely in photos to see the water at all. We also saw some wildlife near the creek, mostly of the lizard variety.

After exploring the interior of the island, we headed to the beach as it was time to drive on the sand. Driving on sand is an interesting experience as you never fully feel that your vehicle has a grip on the ground below it. The closest sensation I can compare it to is driving on snow, which we have some experience with every winter in Canada. After the many warnings we had received at the rental company, George made sure to be very careful in our first few minutes of driving as we didn’t want to flip or cause a flat tire (which can happen with irresponsible sand driving).

We drove all the way from our entry point at the Eurong resort to Indian Head, which was about 70 minutes of driving. Indian Head is a giant coastal headland that you can hike up and get spectacular views of the surrounding landscapes. It was stunning! This was also the point on K’gari that was the farthest we could get away with driving that day before heading back to beat the tides. There was one more landmark just past Indian Head called Champagne Pools that we thought about visiting, but once we saw all of the vehicles struggle and get stuck in the soft sand trying to get around the headland, we were happy with our decision to stay on our side of the beach.

From Indian Head, we made our way back down the beach, stopping at various landmarks on the way. Of greatest interest to us was the famous Maheno shipwreck:

Eli Creek was another beautiful landmark, a clear creek leading into the ocean surrounded by jungle vegetation. There is a boardwalk there that you can walk and then float down the river for a few minutes back to the beach. We gave it a try thanks to the owner of our unit in Brisbane who had lent us some floaties. It was a really beautiful float with the water being so clear, but there were so many kids around due to it being school holidays that it was less relaxing than it could have been. It was still absolutely beautiful, and we were happy we stopped to take a look.

After Eli Creek, we made our way down to our accommodation, called Dilli Village. We stopped at some interesting landmarks on our way down the beach and were greeted with a VERY soft sand track leading into where we were staying. After 6 or 7 tries driving up the track, the caretaker of Dilli Village happened to return from fishing on the beach in his truck, saw us struggling, and gave us some help with letting more air out of our tires. We had no problem getting through after we let out the air. We were very relieved to get the help.

Our stay in Dilli Village was lovely. We stayed in a mini cabin that was basically just a bed, and it was exactly what we were looking for after such a big day. While there was a lot of camping available on K’gari, not all of them had Dingo fences (which we had decided we wanted) and/or required you to bring your own toilet. The other stressful part of trying to book a place to stay was that we weren’t sure how far we would get with the tides, and how far we would be able to get back the next day to make our ferry time. In the end, we were happy to stay at Dilli and have a break from setting up our tent for the night.

The next morning, we debated between completing an inland drive to some of the other lakes or taking it easy. We knew that we had a few hours of driving up the highway in Queensland after getting off the ferry, so we thought it would be good to take it slow that morning and hang out on the beautiful beach as we waited for the tide to go out for our departure drive.

We made sure to leave plenty of time to get back for our ferry, so we spent the extra time washing the rental 4×4 near the ferry terminal and then taking a walk down the boardwalk. There were so many people fishing everywhere on K’gari, and many of them were on the ferry landing boardwalk. It was fun to look and watch what people caught, as well as what we could see in the crystal clear water, One of the highlights was catching glimpses of several stingrays swimming by.

K’gari was an absolutely magical place that should be on everyone’s must-see list when visiting the East Coast of Australia. The amazing landscapes, untouched natural feel, and 4×4 vehicle requirements make this trip a real and true adventure. In fact, it was the exact type of adventure that inspired the name for this blog – that truly exhibits life beginning where the paved road ends.