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The Heart of the Southern Great Barrier Reef
The Heart
of the southern great barrier reef
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Heron Island
Heron Island offers a unique experience where you can truly immerse yourself in the beauty of nature. Among the music of seabirds, tracks of turtles and clouds of multi-coloured fish, the feeling that you’re a guest of nature itself is inescapable. Surrounded by 24 square kilometres of reef, the island is home to a resident population of over 5,000 green and loggerhead turtles – with many more returning each year during breeding season. There is one resort on the island, Heron Island Resort, which offers several standards of accommodation designed to suit all tastes and budgets.
Access: Guests of Heron Island Resort can access the island via boat transfer, which regularly departs from the Gladstone Marina. Alternatively begin your holiday with a scenic helicopter flight between Gladstone Airport and Heron Island.
wilson Island
This natural coral cay is both part of the Great Barrier Reef and surrounded by it. Its pristine waters host an unimaginable variety of marine life – in fact some of the best snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef is right off the beach at Wilson Island. Covering just 5.24 acres, Wilson Island is the ultimate island castaway experience, offering seclusion in a setting of unrivalled natural beauty and playing host to just 18 guests at any one time. Enjoy a one-of-a-kind getaway in tents. With just nine sites available you will wake up in the morning to the sounds of the ocean from the comfort of your king size bed.
Access: Access to Wilson Island is via Heron Island which is a 40-minute boat ride away. Transfer times between Heron and Wilson Islands are subject to tide and weather conditions and may vary accordingly.
Lady Musgrave Island
Lady Musgrave Island is the only coral island on the Great Barrier Reef with a navigable lagoon. Over eight nautical miles in circumference, this unique cay truly has it all – reef, island, beautifully coloured corals, marine life, flora, fauna, and of course, turtles. Day trips to the island provide visitors the chance to experience the warm tropical waters of Lady Musgrave Island – perfect any time of year for diving, swimming and snorkelling. For those who wish to stay a little longer, camping is also permitted on the island, however a permit is required and National Park restrictions do apply.
Access: Day trips depart regularly from Town of 1770, the closest access point to Lady Musgrave Island.
THREE WAYS TO STAY & PLAY
1. Reef island camping 2. Island resorts
3. Day trips from the mainland
FOR MORE INSPIRATION, SCAN HERE OR VISIT
gladstoneregion.info /southern-great-barrier-reef
Curtis Island offers stunning unspoilt beaches, intimate north-facing bays, sparkling ocean, the Great Barrier Reef and wetlands as well as an outback-style cattle station. It is this combination of these diverse attributes and natural beauty which make Curtis Island unique in Australia and perhaps even the world. With various camping options available, this is a 4WD lover’s paradise!
If self-sufficient camping is more your style, nearby Facing Island offers visitors a choice of 35 unpowered sites where your only worry is where you’re going to wet a line the next day.
Access: All three islands are accessible by private boat. A barge service with Curtis Ferry Services is also available to access Curtis and Facing Islands.
Heron Island Wilson Island
North West Island
This hidden gem of the Southern Great Barrier Reef welcomes self-sufficient campers to enjoy an untouched paradise. As the second largest coral cay in the Great Barrier Reef, the island offers opportunities for bushwalking, nature study, reef walking, diving and snorkelling. Fishing is also quite popular on the island, but visitors are requested to limit their fishing and to abide by authorised fishing zones. Your remote island adventure is only a permit away from reality.
Access: The island is accessible by private boat. Alternatively the barge service with Curtis Ferry Services offers regular island transfers. Barge transfers depart from the Gladstone Marina and deliver you right to your beach campsite on North West Island.
lady elliot island
Lady Elliot Island is the southern-most island and gateway to the Southern Great Barrier Reef. This stunning coral cay is a sanctuary for over 1,200 species of marine life and is known for its abundance of manta rays, turtles, amazing array of marine life and unspoilt coral reef.
The Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort is a family run and operated eco-tourism business. Enormous strides have been made to introduce sustainable initiatives to convert the resort to renewable energy.
Access: Access to Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort is a 25-minute flight via a small aircraft chartered from Seair Pacific from Agnes Water. Additional departure points include Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
