Day 83 - K’gari, 18th September 2025

We set the alarm this morning for another huge day!! First stop though - coffee from kingfisher bay!

The plan this morning was to head out to 75 Mile Beach and then head north. The beach did not disappoint - it was spectacular!! And to top it off as we were driving along the sand highway I spotted some whales frolicking not far from shore.

Driving along the beach doing 80 kilometres an hour is a pretty cool experience. Not far up we came to the SS Maheno. Built in 1905 the ship was initially a Trans-Tasman liner and then used as a hospital ship during the First World War. In 1935 it was on its way to Japan after being sold for scrap when it ran aground during a cyclone and has remained there ever since.

Seeing dingoes on the beach is pretty amazing.

We headed further north on our way to Champagne Pools. We saw one car bogged in the soft sand and as there seemed to be lots of people already helping, we decided to go around.  Bad decision lol! 

Repeated attempts to dig the car out failed. Luckily for us,  some people stopped to help and pulled us back out of the sand. After letting the tyres down a bit more, and taking a bigger run up, we gave it another shot and made it to the other side.

A little further north and we made it to Champagne Pools. It was a beautiful walk down the boardwalk…

..to reach the pools.

As the only place on the island where you can swim in salt water, we thought we’d better make the most of it. 

As it is quite restricted as to where you can eat (because of the dingoes), we had our lunch in the car on the way back. It was a very rough and bumpy trip. We had to get our speed up to get momentum up the hill but as we got to the top there were two cars bogged and two cars coming up on the wrong side to go around them. Ian didn’t back off and we made it safely back to the beach.

 Back down the beach highway on our way to Eli Creek, the largest creek on the eastern beach that pumps over four million litres of clear, fresh water into the ocean ever hour. We took our pool noodles but the water probably wasn’t deep enough for noodles. It was crystal clear and an excellent way to wash off all the salt and sand.

We saw this little guy wandering along the beach all by himself. 

After a couple of false starts (again), we finally found the track to Lake Wabby. Located at the base of the Hamnerstone Sandblow, this emerald green lake will one day be engulfed by the island’s slowly shifting sands. It was the longest 900 metre walk I have ever done! The view was pretty impressive.

It was a very steep descent down to the lake.

The water wasn’t too cold but it didn’t look overly inviting and it was getting late so we refrained from swimming.

Of course then we had to go back up the dune!

And then back up the hill to the car. I had to stop for a selfie just so I could have a rest. 

We had another bumpy ride home on the dirt track, luckily not meeting too many cars coming the other way. Stopped at the car wash to get the salt and sand off and back to the villa for showers.

We had a couple of drinks and then Rach, Shaun and I headed down to the receptionist for the Illumina Light Show.   There were some pretty lights but we were all thinking we were missing something.

At the end we were told there was an issue with the lasers not working properly so we got a refund.

Back to the villa for a couple of drinks and some more cards - the trophy is once again mine! 😢