Yendingie came down from the sky and set about making a beautiful mainland. He had a spirit helper K’Gari. One day Yindingie encouraged her to rest and when she awoke she thought the mainland was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen and wanted to stay. She begged Yindingie who after a while relented explaining that she would not be able to remain in spirit form. So he changed her into a beautiful island. So she wouldn’t be lonely, he then made some beautiful trees and flowers, and some lakes that were specially mirrored so that she could see into the sky. He made creeks and laughing waters that would become her voice, and birds and animals and people to keep her company. He gave these people knowledge and laws, and told them what to do, and how to procreate, so that their children and ancestors would always be there to keep K’Gari company. This is the creation story of how K’Gari (Fraser Is) came to be. We befriended a ranger Patrick on the island who told the kids the legend. He is a local man from the Butchulla tribe and over a few conversations gleaned a lot more about the islands culture. From the introduction of “the white fella” things turned sour as they often do. The name Fraser Island came from Eliza Fraser who became shipwrecked there in 1836. Eliza came across the Butchulla people who welcomed her and attempted to help her but upon her return home published an account of her ordeal naming her rescue by the Butchulla as “a fate worse than death”. She painted them as primitive, barbaric, cannabalistic and savage. This later proved unfounded according to other shipwrecked members but the damage had been done and a negative light was cast on all Aboriginal tribes in Australia. This was to be the beginning of their own people being forced from the island and having their homeland named after the very person that had ignited the negative connotations. Their resolve though has slowly won them back some victories. In 1977 they won the battle to prevent sand mining which was destroying K’Gari and in 1992 managed to get K’Gari listed as a World Heritage site. Finally, in late 2014 it was recognised by the Federal Court of Australia that the Butchulla people have lived there for 5000 years and were awarded non exclusive native title rights and interests over K’Gari. However, there’s still the issue that not a single Butchulla person yet lives permanently on the island due to house prices .... Another piece of history on K’Gari is the story of the ship “Maheno”. The T.S.S MAHENO was a New Zealand passenger ship built in 1905 running primarily between Australia and NZ. But she got reallocated by the NZ government for the war effort as a hospital ship that provided invaluable hospital, surgical and medical support from 1915-1919 in primarily the Mediterranean and the English channel. After the war she returned to ferrying passengers across the Tasman until she was retired in 1935 and sold as scrap to Japan. On the journey to japan, she hit a cyclone off Fraser Island, broke her tow rope and with 8 Japanese sailors drifted helplessly onto the shore. She has remained in that watery grave ever since reminding us of our profound historic bonds with Australia. How did we find K’Gari. Absolutely beautiful. It wasn’t too busy so it was vast, with sometimes desolate yet stunning vistas. We had expected more exposed dune systems but they are all vegetated except for the sand blows. The inland roads were sand tracks and soft but with our tyres let down had no problems at all. Downsides? It was strange not being able to swim on these idyllic beaches through risk of crocs, box jellyfish and bull sharks. Something we will have to get used to as we head north but still hard for a kiwi family who is prone to jumping into any body of water about! I was also horrified at Queensland governments stance on rubbish on the island. They have plenty of rubbish points but they don’t RECYCLE!! So the amount of rubbish coming off the island as landfill is horrendous. We took all ours back to the mainland with us. The risk of getting caught in the tide really is minimal if you are sensible. Some people were really going too fast. One little bump or hole in the sand and it’s a whole different ball game. We found 70-80km/hr on the flat long stretches of beach was plenty. Being mating season the supposed aggressive state of the Dingoes had us extra wary and cautious when out tramping and because of the kids we ensured we camped only inside fenced areas with electrified cattle stood to prevent dingoes from entering. Having said that any dingoes we did see were not that interested in us, scavenging Dead Sea birds upon the shore. It was fairly quiet on the island while we were there and we learnt that because most tourists were advised not to venture onto the beach until 2 hours either side of low tide that we could get to spots without the crowds, sometimes without anyone if we worked on 3 hours either side of low. We loved the wildlife, the sound of the surf pounding, the sand formations and the serenity. It’s a fun island to explore and I think it really requires a minimum of 5 nights to really get around and see all its beautiful features. For anyone considering it who lives abroad there were several 4WD hire companies that we come across - all being rented from Rainbow beach. A great school holidays destination.