The family-friendly guide to K'gari (formerly Fraser Island)

You could take the kids fishing along K'gari's rustic jetty where the barramundi are said to be as big as one metre. Or, in the unlikely event the barra aren’t biting, you could walk to the nearby Sand Bar and order battered flathead fillets with fries from the Kid’s Menu with all the usual suspects of burgers and the like.

There’s plenty of options from which to feed the family on K'gari from the more casual Sand Bar to the more upmarket Sand & Wood, both with similar kid’s Menus, at Kingfisher Bay Resort. Mums, dads and older kids will love the slow-cooked beef cheeks and pork belly at Sand & Wood. Save space for the Fraser Coffee Rock dessert which pays homage to the Coffee Rock formations on the island (but does contain a dash of liqueur).

Over at its sister property K’gari Beach Resort, there’s a new pizza menu the kids will love, plus a bakery for treats. For a relaxed resort restaurant, head to Eurong’s McKenzie’s on 75 for burgers, ribs, shanks and steaks.

If educational eating is more your thing, treat the family to Kingfisher’s Bush Tucker Talk and Taste and learn how K’gari’s Butchulla people utilised its abundant flora for food and medicine. Adventurous eaters will adore tasting Indigenous ingredients plucked from nature and matched with Australian native bites such as kangaroo, crocodile and emu.

The Maheno Bar boasts an impressive cocktail menu for older family members. Ask the staff for the native ingredient cocktails infused with lemon myrtle.

The whole family will enjoy sunset at the aptly-named Sunset Bar near the jetty and where the kids can play on the beach, for its cool vibes, cold drinks and spectacular sky.

Play

Meet Head Ranger Annie Bauer during school holidays for the Junior Ranger program where Annie and her crew take kids over five on adventures such as campfires where they can learn the story of the white spirit who became K’gari.  

Join these passionate rangers on night walks where you can see glowing scorpions under fluorescent lamps or hear a chorus of frogs. There’s craft activities too, but not as you know it. In these classes, kids are taken down to the beach to hunt for dingo footprints, and given plaster casts from which they can capture their own footprints to take home.

Kingfisher Bay Resort’s Beauty Spots tour is fun for all the family. This all-day tour will have you bouncing along the island’s sandy 4WD tracks, driving along 75 mile beach, floating down crisp Eli Creek in a tyre tube, gazing up at the gigantic satinay trees, and swimming in beautiful blue Lake McKenzie.

To learn all about the animal and plant life on the island, as well as its history and culture, swing by the new K’gari Heritage Discovery Centre.

Older kids will love the resort’s Segway and Canoe tours which leave from the front beach and the new Sea Explorer West Coast Cruise which includes swimming at one of two sublime spots.

Oh, and don’t forget to build at least one sand castle; you are on the world’s largest sand island, after all.

Stay

While there’s an abundance of amazing camping to be had on K'gari, for those who wish to connect with nature while keeping their creature comforts, there’s plenty of other accommodation options too.

Surrounded by secure dingo-fencing, both Kingfisher Bay Resort and Eurong Beach Resort boast myriad options for families.

Check out Kingfisher Bay Resort’s inter-connecting hotel rooms, plus its range of two and three-bedroom self-contained villas with spacious living areas, private decks, and kitchens.

The more budget friendly Eurong Beach Resort, only accessible by 4WD, has everything from resort hotel rooms to two-bedroom apartments.

Best of all, both resorts boast large lagoon pools.

Need to know

Getting to K'gari from Brisbane is seamless. Take the 4-4.5 hour drive north from Brisbane to River Heads, near Hervey Bay, and you can check in for Kingfisher Bay Resort on the mainland. There’s secure parking (for a fee) here, a free bus transfer to the barge, and then it’s a cruisy 45-minute journey across the Great Sandy Strait. Once on island, you’ll be transferred to your accommodation reception.

The 4WD-only Eurong Beach Resort can be accessed with transfers available from Hervey Bay or Rainbow Beach or K'gari taxis. But you will need a 4WD should you wish to explore the island once here.

Air Fraser also offers daily transfers from Hervey Bay or the Sunshine Coast.

Dingo safety

K'gari is home to the only pure bred dingoes in Australia with a population of around 200 on the island. While these are wild animals, they should be respected, not feared. Visitors are reminded not to feed the dingoes and should you encounter one in the wild, don’t run away, but stand still, look it in the eyes, and it will walk away.