When Peter Meyer relocated for a job on Queensland's K'gari 25 years ago he says he never dreamed it would lead to a new island life and a creative career.
K'gari, or Fraser Island, lives up to the English translation of its name given to it by the traditional owners, the Butchulla people — paradise.
The world's largest sand island is World Heritage Listed, contains rainforests rising from sand dunes, hosts ancient clear freshwater lakes, and it is where Mr Meyer calls home.
He had been studying ecology while living in Brisbane and heard of a resort on the island looking to employ a tour guide, so he decided he would make the move and give it a try.
By chance, Mr Meyer was gifted a camera by his brother-in-law and he began photographing some of the island's fascinating wildlife and environment.
"I spent a lot of time bushwalking and giving tours," he said.
"I never really intended to be a photographer but it developed into a business, and now I have a gallery.
"I'm digging the photography. It's another way of showing unique aspects of the environment and nature."
Plenty of others are "digging" Mr Meyer's photography as well, with his surreal photos featured in a new ABC documentary Australia's Ocean Odyssey: A Journey Down the East Australian Current.
Capturing a unique landscape
Photographing the islands unique sand dunes, known as 'sand blows', has been a highlight for Mr Meyers.
"There are 36 of these sand blows on Fraser Island," he said.
"Some of them have walking tracks to them, but most don't. You have to do some bush bashing to get to them.
"I've found a couple with dead trees, they have these petrified forests that add to the image and I don't think I have ever seen any photo like it."
At around 100 metres above sea level, the island's freshwater lakes defy science with the water in the 'perched dune lakes' not draining through the sand.
These ancient lakes only exist, explained Mr Meyer, due to the age of the island.
"Fraser has over half of the world's perched dunes lakes. You get vegetation dying and decomposing and that seals the sand, that creates a hard layer impervious to water," he said.
"The only way they get water is through rainfall, and the only way they lose water is evaporation."
A similar process involving decomposing plant matter, fungus, and the high rainfall the region receives, led to rainforests forming — another favourite photo topic for Mr Meyers.
Even with decades on the island, Mr Meyers still believes there are places he has not discovered.
He continues to explore the 1,840 square kilometres of the island.
"I go off-track a little bit now and then," he said.
"There is a place on the west coast called Coongul Creek, It's got a flooded forest there, it gets flooded at high tide.
"On my next days off I plan on going there."
After spending the majority of his adult life on the island, Mr Meyers has no plans on leaving anytime soon.
"It's certainly gone quick," he said.
"I feel lucky. I've got a pretty good life, exploring the island, telling people about it, showing them through my photographs.
"I've got a pretty good gig."
