How I suddenly spent two months on the world’s largest sand island!

The year was 2019, and I’m sure everybody remembers that year. It was the year when everything was still possible. We pretty much could go wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. My world travels also started that year, and after travelling through Asia, I ended up in Australia. At first, I drove around Western Australia for a month. Afterwards, I started my big adventure—a journey from Cairns to Sydney, stopping wherever I should and could stop on the way. Somewhere halfway, I set foot on the world’s largest sand island for the first time. The island is well-known as Fraser Island, but the indigenous name and correct name is K’gari. With K’gari meaning paradise, I already knew that this was a place I wanted to revisit later in my travels. So I did, and I lived there for two months.

K’gari (Fraser Island)

Located off the Fraser Coast about 250km north of Queensland‘s state capital, Brisbane lays K’gari or Fraser Island. Iconic for being the world’s largest sand island, it became world heritage-listed in 1992 because of its natural values. It is the only place on Earth where rainforests grow on sand dunes. Besides, it is home to half of the world’s perched lakes (depressions in dunes that fill permanently with freshwater). Compared to Australia, the island looks small on a map. In reality, it stretches 123km in length and is 22km wide, making it the largest island on the east coast of Australia. The population of the aisle is not higher than 180 people, with most of them living in the settlements; Happy Valley or Eurong! It is a trendy tourist destination and belongs to the traditional owners, the Butchulla people.

Within moments of setting foot on K’gari, you can see and feel the magic and exceptional natural beauty. There are no roads, and driving only happens on open beaches or between rainforests. Time on the island is island time. Whether for a couple of days, a couple of weeks or a couple of months! With over 250km of sandy beaches, coloured sand cliffs, spectacular dune blowouts, rainforests, perched lakes, shipwrecks and ever-evolving coastal dune formations, that time is well-spent. I can only recommend experiencing the ultimate beauty here at least once. My travel guides, tips and tricks and videos for the island are on their way! Make sure to follow the website’s newsletter, Instagram and Facebook to be the first to know about it! 🙂

How did I get back to the world’s largest sand island? 

Flash forward to 2021. In February, I stopped working on King Island to travel around Australia for the second time. Because of the ongoing pandemic, I did not stay four months on King Island as intended but ended up living there for 14 months. I continued my travels through Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory. But it was time for a change. After spending over two years in Australia, I felt it. I needed something else. I did all the required work to stay a third year in Australia but figured that that would be more pleasurable if I could travel somewhere else first. My only option was New Zealand, and I was pleased to continue my trip there.

2021 was not 2019, unfortunately. With Avalon’s great help, I already had jobs lined up in New Zealand. I also applied for a working visa and ended my second year in Australia with a goodbye party and concert in my second home, King Island. But, when it got close to the end of my Australian visa, I started to get desperate. My New Zealand visa wasn’t approved yet. So, I called the immigration office for more information, and they told me that it was implausible to happen within the following months. With less than a week left in Australia, that meant only one thing; Travelling to New Zealand. Looking back at it now, it probably was for the better. A couple of days later, the borders between Australia and New Zealand shut again. I would have flown straight into a lockdown, or my flight would have been cancelled.

At the time, it felt like going back to zero. I went from having the year planned out in New Zealand to having no plan in Australia over a 50 seconds phone call. I flew back to Melbourne from King Island and applied to stay for that third year in Australia. After that, there wasn’t a plan. I had no work, and many places I wanted to go were in lockdown. For the first time in two and a half-year, I considered returning to Belgium. Not that going to Belgium would be wrong; I would love to see my friends and family! It’s just that I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished everything I left for in the first place!

I have survived on the other side of the world for almost three years. That includes when I only had 35 AUD left to my name. I experienced the highest highs in my life. But I also came across some of my deepest lows. The mental journey has been enormous, and I wasn’t ready to give up what I had built for myself. I came this far, and I couldn’t stop everything in the middle of it. I went job searching like crazy and wrote out all the possible things I could do. Somewhere on my list, I found the answer. Revisiting Fraser Island, I remembered that they were looking for volunteers when I did my tour when I wrote that down. I rang them, and they had a spot available, and the next day I was on the plane to volunteer on the world’s largest sand island!

Island time!

When I flew from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast, it was already the end of June. I wasn’t only going to live in a place known as paradise. I was also escaping the winter. It was amazing getting out of the plane in a hot climate. At the airport, I got picked up by Doug, one of the team members. It was a two-hour drive to Inskip Point, where the ferry leaves. But, it was a drive that welcomed me immediately into the K’gari adventures team. K’gari Adventures is a family-owned business offering tours and accommodations on the island. It is owned by the most lovely people with the biggest heart for K’gari, Hana and Mark. I was first acquainted with the island through K’gari’s adventures, and it was fantastic! (If you are reading this, Hana or Mark, it was an absolute pleasure to come and volunteer for you).

This time, I was on the other end of the experience. With two lovely colleagues, Kato and Marta, we had to ensure our guests had a great time! The deal? Doing household, gardening and cooking for about 3 or 4 hours a day, and in return, a car to explore the island, accommodation and food! Not bad for living in the middle of the world’s largest sand island! We filled our island time with the most impressive sights on K’gari. Almost every day, we took the car to drive along 75 Mile Beach, swim in Lake Mckenzie, explore the Maheno Shipwreck or go for walks through the rainforests. On top of that, we could spend time every night around the campfire, the pizza oven, or just watching the milky-way by ourselves. My time on K’gari with K’gari adventures was just simply amazing!

The world’s largest sand island got me back on track.

Living two months on K’gari, within island time, was probably everything I needed at the right moment. It gave me time to sort items out and get things back on track. The opportunity to revisit Fraser Island this way taught me to enjoy things again without stressing about how I would spend the rest of my time in Australia. Besides, it was the quintessential trip I needed: good weather, beaches, nature and free time. It was good to live in another place for a while. In addition, I was surrounded by the most charming people, whether locals, guests or team members! It was also the start of re-branding this website, as explained in my latest post, which reviews the whole year 2021. New Zealand? I guess that’s for 2022! Make sure to follow, and keep up to date with all the adventures! 🙂

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