Residents selling up and moving off Fraser Island as price of living in paradise takes toll DESERTED ISLAND: The population on Fraser Island has almost halved in the past five years. THEY call it paradise but the trials of owning property on Fraser Island - no sealed roads, shops, banks, medical centre, mains power or water - can become too much. About one in six of the island's 287 dwellings are on the market as investors and homeowners bail. Twenty-two properties are listed with main agent Wal Pavey, of Maryborough, and another 25 are divided between other agents. You could pick up a bargain. Two-bedroom, fully furnished villas at Kingfisher Bay Resort, on the sheltered west coast, are listed at $190,000. A four-bedroom beachfront pole house at Happy Valley on the east coast is calling for offers more than $1.8 million. The number of people who classed Fraser Island as their "usual residence" almost halved from 360 in 2006 to 194 in 2011, a comparison of census data shows. About 80 per cent of dwellings are unoccupied, according to the 2011 census data, and would be holiday rentals. Only 56 private homes are lived in. Agents are blaming economic times but some holiday-home owners are also disposing of their assets as they move into retirement. Living in paradise comes with a price. To stock up on groceries, residents catch a barge to the mainland, which can add $100 to the shopping bill and take the whole day. There is no electricity, so watching TV is a luxury and turning on the washing machine has to be carefully timed. Every house needs to be fitted with solar panels and a back-up generator and water is pumped from underground. Building a house on the island can cost double once you truck over the materials and labour and fly in inspectors to tick off the certificates. After eight years on the island, Judi Daniel, 62, plans to leave. Her 60 per cent share of a timber A-frame house on the beach at Eurong is on the market for $570,000. Mrs Daniel said Fraser was a "magical place" but the isolation had become too much. "The only drawback is being isolated," she said. Mrs Daniel had to learn to operate a generator and water pump, drive on the beach and sand tracks and limit her use of electrical appliances. You have to be very organised for your monthly grocery shop ... You have to buy everything -- fuel, food, hardware, absolutely anything you would need," she said. Island resident Lisa Walker, who runs the taxi service and handles property management, said Fraser was "not for everyone." There's no bank, no post office, no medical centre, no chemist, no doctor, no hospital, no newsagents, no hairdresser, no school. But she said it was also a "beautiful place to live," where you could marvel at the sunrise and sunset over the ocean. It makes you appreciate life much more, rather than all the 'stuff'.