sign in sign up
<<
Home , Cairns, Cape York Peninsula, Daintree National Park, Keppel Bay, Lady Elliot Island, Lizard Island

Your

A masterpiece should be on display but this one hides its splendour under a tropical sea. Here’s how to really immerse yourself in one of the seven wonders of the world. Yep, you’re going to get wet. southern side; and Little Pumpkin looking over its big brother’s shoulder from the east. The solar panels, wind turbines and rainwater tanks that power and quench this island are hidden from view. And the beach shacks are illusory, for though Pumpkin Island has been used by families and fishermen since 1964, it has been recently reimagined by managers Wayne and Laureth Rumble as a stylish, eco- conscious island escape. The couple has incorporated all the elements of a casual beach holiday – troughs in which to rinse your sandy feet, barbecues on which to grill freshly caught fish and shucking knives for easy dislodgement of oysters from the nearby rocks – without sacrificing any modern comforts. Pumpkin Island’s seven self-catering cottages and bungalows (accommodating up to six people) are distinguished from one another by unique decorative touches: candy-striped deckchairs slung from hooks on a distressed weatherboard wall; linen bedclothes in this cottage, waffle-weave in that; mint-green accents here, blue over there. A pair of legs dangles from one (Clockwise from top left) Book The theme is expanded with – someone has fallen into a deep Pebble Point cottage for the unobtrusively elegant touches, afternoon sleep. private deck pool; “self-catering” such as the driftwood towel rails The island’s accommodation courtesy of The Waterline and the pottery water filters in is self-catering so we arrive restaurant; accommodations Pumpkin Island In summer the caterpillars Feel like you’re marooned on an just the right shade of blue. with enough food for an army: are bespoke; harvest and shuck pumpkinisland.com.au nibble pockmarks into the island hideaway (above); hosts Hammocks and swing chairs supplies pre-ordered from your own oysters island’s tropical foliage; later in Wayne and Laureth Rumble share hang temptingly from trees, award-winning restaurant Secret You’ll find no pumpkins in the season they retreat into their their slice of paradise with guests the tideline just beyond reach. The Waterline at the waters off in the cocoons, hanging like tiny white Marina and packaged by request. Southern Great Barrier Reef, just sausages from the trees; and in Inside the cold boxes we a low-slung wedge of land that’s early autumn – when the breeze discover fresh prawns, tropical From here we could launch shaped like a butternut cut in half blows warm and soothing across fruit, meze platters, salads, ourselves off the island in a Islands and laid out horizontally upon the the bay – butterflies emerge in scones, jam and cream, along Perspex kayak, exploring the sea. But this impersonator is in their thousands, decorating the with fat steaks that come reefs at a thin remove. We Want to truly unwind, far from civilisation? fact Little Pumpkin, a rotund island like confetti. straight from Banana Station, a could snorkel or paddleboard, For the ultimate escape, maroon yourself on one hillock tethered to Pumpkin It’s a 45-minute cruise from renowned Central go fishing or oyster harvesting of these little-known islands dotted off the Island itself by a ribbon of sand, Yeppoon’s Keppel Bay Marina beef exporter that permits just or follow the boardwalk to the coast of Queensland, suggests Catherine Marshall. which appears only during the across a choppy ocean and into one Australian outlet to serve Sunset Lounge, which sits on lowest tides. the calm embrace of Pumpkin its produce: The Waterline. the west-facing beach, ready The main island snakes squat Reef. It’s an unassuming view We’re staying in the most to capture those exceptional and narrow – just 150 metres at from the water: a scattering luxurious of the cottages, tropical sunsets. Or we could its widest point and 450 metres of beach shacks peeping out Pebble Point, which is located loll in the plunge pool on our at its longest – into the Keppel from behind the palm trees; in a secluded spot over the rise private deck, wondering how Islands region of the southern a headland rising in rocky, from the main beach with on earth this paradise was Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. volcanic aggregations on the a view of North Keppel Island. kept secret for so long. a stretch of sand-and- beach. treatment on the mainland. It’s a Baitfish cast dark shadows along reminder of the impact of human Smooth, timeworn boulders guide the waterline; stalking them habitation on the region and the the way to Nudey Beach (below) from the shallows are swallow- role that tourism plays in funding tailed dart fish, scissortail such conservation programs. sergeants and fusiliers with Here we meet Ella, a green butter-yellow tails. sea turtle named after the boat Guests kayak, paddleboard that lacerated his shell with and snorkel on the reef; they its propeller. “We call her Ella hike to the lighthouse or sip the fella because she’s a boy,” cocktails at the swim-up pool says volunteer Barbara Bartlett, bar; and at night they dine on invoking the feminine pronoun. beautiful dishes – seafood “Look how fat she is – she’s broth with crocodile tortellini, the most spoilt little diva paperbark-smoked swordfish on the planet!” and seafood platters – flavoured It has taken three years with native Australian plants for Ella’s shell to heal; in a few such as muntrie berries, weeks’ time the turtle will quandong and lemon myrtle. be released onto Flynn Reef, A short walk north of the 50 kilometres from here. It’s resort is the Turtle as beautiful as Fitzroy, Bartlett Rehabilitation Centre, where says, with pristine waters and sick and injured turtles are turtles aplenty. “We’ll cry happy dispatched after receiving initial tears when Ella finally leaves.”

Barbara Bartlett with her injured Fitzroy Island The beachgoers are wearing Peak hour on Fitzroy Island (above); entirely of “sea bones” – coral for guests staying on Fitzroy charge, “Ella the fella”, at Cairns fitzroyisland.com modest stinger suits when we Nudey Beach’s “sea bones” are and shells warped and twisted Island; from here it’s just a Turtle Rehabilitation Centre visit (although unlikely, box a beachcomber’s delight by the churning ocean and the 45-minute trip by catamaran. (above); the reef is teeming with Nudey Beach is not a nude jellyfish and Irukandji jellyfish passing of time. Finally lifting Once a backpacker swallow-tailed dart fish (left) beach, warns the skipper on the can occur in the area and the our eyes from this mesmerising destination, the island was Fast Cat ferrying us from Cairns resort recommends wearing the collection, we see crystalline relaunched six years ago with to Fitzroy Island. We’ve rounded suits from November to May). waters framed by those boulders the construction of Fitzroy the volcanic headland south-east To get to Nudey, we must and, behind them, a soaring, Island Resort. Understated and of Cairns with its splintered walk for 20 minutes through -lipped rainforest. family-friendly, the - rock face and livid-red striations a tunnel of rainforest, climb up Fitzroy Island has long hidden style suites have a view of the and have caught sight of Fitzroy and down moss-slicked rocks, in plain sight from travellers beach and smaller rooms face Island, a green “sponge” bobbing skirt waterfalls that trickle passing through Tropical North the rainforest-clad mountainside. on the sea. We can spy the spontaneously through the Queensland’s gateway city of It’s compact, too; the resort’s island’s cherished beach curving undergrowth and pass through Cairns. Though just a 45-minute footprint takes up just five per around its south-western rim. a channel delineated by boat ride from the mainland, cent of this rainforest reserve, “Please do visit Nudey Beach,” beautiful, timeworn boulders. it’s tucked secretively below the carving an inconspicuous wedge the skipper continues. “And wear And then it opens up before Cairns headland. But the trip to from the forest’s base, where appropriate swimwear.” us: a beach composed almost the outer reef is foreshortened it spills down the hill and onto Haggerstone Island haggerstoneisland.com.au

Picture Haggerstone Island from above: it sits beneath a white-hot sky, an emerald droplet floating on a tie-dyed pool of milky white, translucent turquoise and cobalt blue. It appears below us like a trophy as we approach it in our tiny plane. The effort it takes to reach Haggerstone Island – a charter flight from or Cairns or, for the adventurous, a two-day journey by boat – is rewarded before we’ve even landed on the airstrip on nearby Hicks Island. Haggerstone Island is legendary among the few people who’ve heard of it. Located off the in Tropical , it is the quintessential desert-island fantasy, a speck of paradise inhabited by just a handful of people – those intrepid enough to set forth into the unknown, to leave the world far behind them. The visitors who’ve found their way here have in turn been inspired by the creators of this retreat, Roy and Anna Turner, who moved here 30 years ago and have managed to thrive on an island that seems to teeter Island life: Roy and Anna Turner on the very edge of the world. have raised a family and a resort In the years since they here (below); the two-day boat were dropped off here by barge, journey to Haggerstone Island the Turners have made small (right) ends here (above) incursions into the native foliage that strangulates the island, constructing their own range free; a wild pig fattens The two-bedroom House Mawu accommodation as well as himself on coconuts and other is the most luxurious villa on four unique huts for use by up nutritious cast-offs. the island (left); freshly caught to 12 visitors in total. Ours is And the infinite ocean, which seafood is served at sea (above) the newest, House Mawu, a ever so gently cups Haggerstone polished-concrete structure built Island, can always be relied upon in the manner of an African for its largesse. Roy aims his jet compound and set upon a rise. boat into the blue and teaches us Later, we moor near one of The giant swamp paperbark how to catch our lunch: painted the Sir Charles Hardy Islands, that anchors the dining pavilion crayfish and coral trout with which is circled by and in the house has its own story he says. “And the chance of years later – is accustomed to pale-blue polka dots freckling slick with guano. Beneath the to tell: Roy saw the tree trunk, me coming along and saying, living off the gifts of the land apricot skin. water’s surface we discover with its root ball still attached, ‘That’s a nice tree,’ and then and sea. An orchard garden Right there on the boat, a world so exquisite it can’t be embedded in a cay 20 years ago; designing a house that the tree flourishes behind the main Tasha poaches the trout in white true: a bright garden of coral; in 1999 he dug it out and towed would fit into, were zilch.” dining pavilion, supplying most wine, lemon, ginger, garlic and damsels, sweetlips and fusiliers; it back to Haggerstone Island. But the family – which grew of the island’s fruit and vegetable chilli. Sam offers us crayfish and sardines, in their hundreds “The chance of it being there, with the arrival of son Sam in needs; rainwater tanks store the sashimi that’s so fresh we’re now of thousands, surging through on that cay, were a billion to one,” 1994 and daughter Tasha three monsoon’s bounty; chickens spoiled for life. a rocky flue. Double Island is implementing a multimillion The neoclassical structures doubleisland.com.au dollar refurbishment project. stand empty now but their solid It takes little more than five bones and airy proportions offer It’s felicitous that Double Island minutes to reach Double Island the restorers a sound template – a twin-peaked fragment of from Palm Cove’s jetty – it’s from which to work. land moored just off the coast the closest island to Tropical The rebranded resort will of Palm Cove, north of Cairns – North Queensland’s coast – yet feature 24 villas sleeping should have been named in 1848 a stroll up the pontoon and onto 48 guests; some of them will by the captain of a ship called the 19-hectare spread takes us contain their own plunge pools. HMS Rattlesnake, for there were back generations. It was here A licenced restaurant, to be built Indigenous people who believed that Captain Owen Stanley, the beside a sundeck overlooking the it to be the resting place of the man who named Double Island island’s sinuous, coral-flecked mythical Rainbow Serpent. while charting the inner barrier beach, will offer relaxed lunches, We realise the island’s reef, established a survey centre à la carte dinners and themed original inhabitants are long in the 19th century. It was later barbecues. Solar panels are gone – and the snakes, too, commandeered as a retreat already in place and will provide it seems – as we pick our way for wealthy miners before 100 per cent of the island’s around the island, searching for passing through private hands, energy requirements. Reef at Horseshoe Bay on Keswick signs of the lives that once lived including those of the late Locals will be able to come Island (left); whales off the coast here, listening out for ghosts. Australian billionaire Robert across in their tinnies and enjoy of Yeppoon (above); an aerial Just two souls live on Double Holmes à Court. the island’s amenities – water- view of Island now: a caretaker named And herein lies another based activities such as fishing Jack and a dog named Gypsy. pertinent connection, for the and snorkelling, beach volleyball But their peaceful idyll will be luxury villas built for Holmes and hiking – alongside paying short-lived, for plans are afoot to à Court were the handiwork of guests. The company hopes to bring the almost-deserted island Haggerstone Island’s Roy Turner commence half-day tours in back to life – Cairns-based when he was moonlighting as Double Island’s population of late June and to open the resort Fortune Island Holding Co Ltd a builder in the 1980s. two is set to explode before Christmas this year.

Humpy Island reserve with a navigable lagoon. from the mainland and Hide It’s an effort to get to Humpy Daytrips launch from the towns accessible by barge or private Island off the coast of Yeppoon. of 1770 and and boat, it will appeal most to Visitors must hire a boat (or take visitors can expect to see plenty those with a taste for outdoor & seek their own) and should bring of turtles and nesting birds in activities: fishing, surfing, fresh water and supplies if this national park and World four-wheel driving and camping. Four more secret islands camping. But it’s well worth it: Heritage zone. Camping is to experience in the walking tracks that lead through permitted, although campers Keswick Island Sunshine State. a variety of island habitats, must bring along fresh water Keswick Island hides a sweet spectacular views from the and other supplies. secret: a colony of purebred island’s summits and possible Caucasian bees that produce sightings of whales and dolphins Facing Island a rich, dark-red honey unlike any in the surrounding waters. This wedge of land curves across found on the mainland. Located the waters off the coast of off the coast of Mackay, the Lady Musgrave Island Gladstone in the Capricorn island is encircled by shipwrecks, Dangling like a gem at the very region of , reefs and a rich marine life. end of the Southern Great tempting visitors with its Accommodation options include Barrier Reef, Lady Musgrave elongated beaches and unspoiled camping, glamping, cottages is the only coral island in the bushland. Just 12 kilometres and Airbnb. giants of the sea – and you’ll be Snorkel in style on outer reef. Within easy reach of swimming with them. a remote island idyll the resort is the Clam Gardens in That’s not all you’ll experience To get to you board Watsons Bay, where giant clams at this family-friendly island, a 19-seat charter flight in Cairns measuring up to two metres long which has more than 1200 and fly 240 kilometres across live among hard and soft . species of marine life. It’s one translucent blue-green ocean Or ask to be dropped off at one of the first islands in the region to one of the most remote spots of the island’s 24 powdery, white to be named a “Green Zone” on the Great Barrier Reef. private beaches with a gourmet (which means there is a strict On the north-western side picnic and spend an afternoon no-fishing policy) and visitors of the 1012-hectare island (which spotting iridescent fish amid to Lady Elliot can reasonably is also a national park) you’ll find a forest of bright coral and expect to see turtles, dolphins, the 40-room Lizard Island resort pulsating sea anemone. giant clams and parrot fish, as (lizardisland.com.au). Described Back on land, you could visit well as whales that pass by on as a “red carpet meets palm tree” the island’s research station their annual winter migration. experience, the resort was given where scientists from the You may even spot one of the a $50-million makeover after Best of all, though, you can Lizard Island is the most northern study the astonishing epaulette sharks it was damaged by cyclones in literally wade into the water resort in reef. Or order a glass of crisp – a type of carpet shark that 2014. One of the first resorts from the beach directly in front (above left); take your pick from white wine and watch the large grows up to one metre long and in the world to be certified an of the resort and in minutes be the island’s 24 secluded beaches monitor lizards that give the can use its fins as muscular feet eco-lodge, the luxury resort is snorkelling above one of the island its name make their slow to walk on land. understated but stylish. most remarkable parts of the passage across the resort’s lawn. Bird-lovers will also be transfixed by the vast number of species on the island, including crested terns, black-naped terns, buff-banded rails, eastern reef egrets, oystercatchers, plovers and godwits. All of this makes it the perfect spot to take children who are keen to learn more about their natural environment. Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort is an eco-resort in the truest sense, with simple, flat-roofed prefabricated cottages – many with bunk beds – and safari-style tents on the edge of the sand. Without the distraction of TV or their mobiles, kids will be focused on snorkelling in the safe lagoon, searching for nesting turtles and beachcombing.

Explore an aquatic wonderland There’s a reason Lady Elliot Into the Island (ladyelliot.com.au), a 40-hectare cay ringed by coral on the Southern Great Barrier Reef, is sometimes known as “manta heaven”. Researchers blue have spotted more of the winged creatures here than just about There’s more than one way to dive into anywhere else on earth. Up the Great Barrier Reef. Lauren Quaintance to seven metres across and Swim with magnificant manta rays discovers five unique experiences. weighing up to two tonnes, (above left) and other aquatic life manta rays are the graceful in the waters off Lady Elliot Island Picnic on your own private island This low sandy island is one of a number of cays that slowly reveal themselves at low tide on the Great Barrier Reef. From the air, Vlasoff Cay looks like a streak of snow-white sand suspended on azure water. You might spend your time here with your significant other combing for seashells on the beach or donning snorkel and fins and slipping into the pellucid water. Or you might simply sit back under an umbrella together and feast on a gourmet picnic with wine glasses in hand. To get to Vlasoff Cay, you could spend a leisurely morning cruising aboard a 22-metre Kayak where the motor yacht (aroonaluxuryboat ancient rainforest charters.com.au) with no more meets the reef than a dozen fellow passengers; One of the oldest rainforests or opt for an overnight stay on in the world, the Daintree is board so you can spend more an Australian treasure. The time at this remarkable spot. 2600-square-kilometre forest Or you might choose to take contains more than half of a 30-minute helicopter flight Commune with whales Memorable diving with dwarf the country’s bat and butterfly from Cairns (nautilusaviation. in pristine waters minke whales (above); hike among species, plus mammals and com.au). You’ll skim across the You may have swum with Licuala fan palms in Daintree birds – such as the colourful reef and touch down on the sand dolphins or sea turtles but National Park (above right) southern cassowary and the in time for brunch. swimming with dwarf minke portly Bennett’s tree While you’re snorkelling whales – the gentle giants of – that are found nowhere else among schools of shimmering the sea – is a truly extraordinary on the planet. fish, your pilot will have laid experience. Despite the name, You could walk through the out a picnic rug and cushions dwarf minke whales grow up forest, of course, or you could and a lunch hamper with chilled to eight metres and weigh glide alongside it in a kayak at sparkling wine and beer. This is as several tonnes – but their grace the point where the rainforest close to perfection as a day gets. underwater defies their size. certain to find yourself floating meets the sea. As you skirt the is home to Pods of up to two dozen of these among these graceful creatures. coastline you can expect to see the elusive southern cassowary unique whales pass through the Each passenger can also take turtles, dugongs, sea eagles and warm waters at the northern part in minke whale research, the occasional whale. When you end of the Great Barrier Reef attend lectures on the ecology tire of paddling, land your kayak for a few weeks each winter. of the reef and quiz onboard at empty beaches or trek inland Exceptionally inquisitive, small research volunteers. to remote watering holes. groups are often happy to swim Another operation, Eye to Paddletrek Kayak Adventures alongside humans for up to Eye Marine Encounters (marine (capetribpaddletrek.com.au) an hour. encounters.com.au), is run by offers trips suitable for everyone, Australian diving legend a former commercial fisherman from beginners to experienced Mike Ball’s eponymous company and offers four- to eight-day kayakers, with half-day tours out two kilometres off the coast. (mikeball.com) has been leading dive trips with just seven guests of Cape Tribulation, around 90 There are several small beaches expeditions to the Outer Barrier on a luxury motor yacht. It has minutes north of . and a small but perfectly formed Reef to swim with minke whales a licence that allows it to have For something more reef that is great for snorkelling, since 1996. The voyages range no fixed itinerary, which means it adventurous, book an overnight with bright coral and even from three to seven nights on his can adapt to weather conditions tour with Daintree’s Crocodylus brighter fish. With a limit of 30-metre vessel. With success and follow whale sightings. Village (daintreecrocodylus.com. six people per camping site, rates on these live-aboard trips It also includes night dives and au) and sleep in a tent on the it’s just like being marooned hitting 98 per cent, you’re almost educational talks. lush, uninhabited Snapper Island, on your very own desert island. Coming in to land at Vlasoff Cay Best for teenagers Four other experiences for kids on the Great Heron Island Barrier Reef Some people go on a holiday 1. near the reef and others are Discover one of the largest lucky enough to spend their populations of nesting marine holiday on the reef. When you turtles on the continent at the visit Heron Island, a perfect coral coastal town of Mon Repos, cay 89 kilometres off the coast near Bundaberg. on the Southern Great Barrier mantabargara.com.au/ Reef, you can snorkel over vivid turtles.html coral gardens directly in front of the main beach or choose from 2. more than 20 dive sites. Climb aboard a bright-pink The 80-year-old Heron amphibious vehicle and learn Island Resort (heronisland.com) about the rich history of has 109 guest rooms, including Best for tweens Queensland’s birthplace, comfortable, family-friendly the town of 1770. suites and the stand-alone 1770larctours.com.au Beach House on the sand’s edge. Hard-to-please teenagers will Island holidays with older kids are 3. be occupied with diving and a delicate balance. While parents Visit the world’s largest snorkelling or exploring the might dream about being cast living coral reef aquarium reef in glass-bottom kayaks away on a remote island, kids in and or a semi-submersible boat. need to be entertained. Just off see 150 fish species. In the summer months Child’s the coast of Townsville, Magnetic reefhq.com.au they might spot newly hatched Island, or “Maggie” as the locals loggerhead and green turtles call her, is idyllic enough to appeal 4. waddling along the beach, as to adults but has plenty of Get close to baby bamboo well as migratory birds that natural and man-made activities sharks and other creatures in have travelled from as far away play to keep kids occupied for days. a man-made coral reef lagoon as Siberia, China and Alaska The mountainous island is on Daydream Island. to spend the warmer months thick with eucalypts and hoop daydreamisland.com on the island. There’s no shortage of heavenly islands on pines and is surrounded by The more inquisitive will also the Great Barrier Reef. But with the family crystalline water. Over two- enjoy an hour-long tour of the in tow, it’s important to choose the right one, thirds of the island is national University of Queensland marine writes Lauren Quaintance. park and more koalas live in the Koala sightings are assured research station on the south wild here than anywhere else in on Magnetic Island (above); side of the eight-hectare island, northern so a sighting snorkelling on Heron Island only available to resort guests. is almost guaranteed. Check Best for babies been deliberately reimagined with a nanny. There are also in at Peppers waterfront resort and toddlers to appeal to families, too. one- and two-bedroom suites at Nelly Bay (peppers.com.au/ There’s the new infinity- with interconnecting rooms, blue-on-blue), grab a Mini Moke edge pool, called “Aquazure”, along with penthouses that and explore the island’s 23 bays One&Only with a gently sloping entry and sleep up to six people. and beaches. Hayman Island an artificial beach that’s perfect Take small kids on a tour of Beyond bush and beach When corporate legend Sir for babies and toddlers. There’s the sand flats directly in front there’s plenty for tweens to do, Reginald Ansett built a luxury also a new kids’ club for children of the resort, where they’ll find including riding at the skate resort on a 294-hectare idyll aged four to 11 with a picture- crabs, turtles and sea worms. park, visiting night markets and in The Whitsundays in 1950, perfect cubbyhouse. (Under- Or just admire the luminous spotting rare giant clams at the he probably didn’t have children fours are permitted to attend blue tiger butterflies that linger aquarium. The family-friendly in mind as guests. with an adult or babysitter.) in the gardens. races at the Arcadia In the past, Hayman was All the resort’s guestrooms Harried parents, meanwhile, Village Hotel on Wednesday synonymous with adult excess. have been doubled in size and might escape for an hour to nights (where winners kiss their But with its recent $80-million there are plenty of options for enjoy a massage on a bed that is toads before collecting their revamp by Dubai-based families, including beach villas literally floating in the green-blue prize) are typical of the laid-back luxury resort group One&Only with an adjacent retreat room sea or under the shade of a thick style of entertainment on this (oneandonlyresorts.com), it has that would suit those travelling The KidsOnly facilities at One&Only Hayman Island rainforest canopy. island gem. For the Great Barrier Reef’s best adrenaline-pumping experiences and most romantic destinations, go to travelinsider.qantas.com.au.