ISLAND HOLIDAYS

 Want another trip for your bucket list? Kerry van der Jagt discovers a secret island escape that’s really something special   THE WILD ISLES There are few places wilder than the remote Houtman Abrolhos Islands, an archipelago of 122 islands located 60km off Geraldton on the west coast of Western Australia. It’s a place of beauty and harshness, of light and shadows, of wonder and adventure. It is also the setting of one of the most blood-chilling stories in Australian history. Land gives way to sea as our eight-seater aircraft flies over clusters of small islands floating in a wash of aquamarine,...

Although we are a wide brown land of drought and flooding rain, we are also blessed with more than 8000 stunning islands, from the remote and rugged to the ultimate in luxury destinations. Australian Traveller helps you find the perfect island holiday.  

 Quentin Long reveals what it’s like to honeymoon in complete privacy at Australia’s most covetable romantic luxury resort, qualia on Hamilton Island. There are many theories about where the idea of the honeymoon originated. My favourite – and the least likely, in my opinion – is of Nordic origin. The legend says a honeymoon was the period when a blond hero hid his recently abducted bride from her searching tribe. When the search was abandoned, the blond hero would return to his village with his new and now well-trained wife.  Regular readers will have witnessed the Nordic part of my...

Don’t give up on summer just yet – it’s waiting for you on the Fraser Coast, writes Elisabeth Knowles The journey begins... Before I came to Fraser Island I knew just two things about the Queensland island: it’s great for 4WDing and fishing. In my mind, I suppose I’d labelled it as either a “bloke’s island” or “family adventure island”. As a 30-something single woman I’d never really thought about going there.   But then a number of my friends started visiting. They came back with stories of a World Heritage-listed beauty spot that’s on the edge of the Great Barrier...

It’s number one on our 2011 hitlist and the place every Australian needs to put on their travel wish list. Discover Kangaroo Island now – before the hordes arrive, writes Quentin Long. If you took everything that’s great about Australian travel – wilderness, wildlife, beaches, regional produce – and concentrated all those elements in just one location, you’d have Kangaroo Island. Well-heeled international guests have long visited this immaculate island off the South Australian coast, rating it among their favourite destinations. The Locals Secret: KI's Best Beaches 10 Unusual Facts About KI KI: Where to Eat & Drink The Details...

Everything you ever needed to know about Australia’s greatest natural wonder, but were too overcome by its sheer size and scope to ask. By Fiona Harper   Welcome to the Ultimate Guide to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, an extraordinary ecosystem comprising more than 3000 individual reefs, as well as 900 coral cays and continental islands. Some, like Morris Island in the far north, are little more than a strip of finely crushed coral sand, grimly bound together by the roots of a solitary palm tree. Others, like vast Hinchinbrook Island, a lofty 1100m above the mangroves, could easily...

Sydney has one of the worlds premier harbours, but did you know there's eight islands on the harbour waiting for you to explore? Harbour Island Life    Steeped in history, the tiny islands within one of the world’s premier harbours are spectacularly undervalued and largely ignored. But Xavier Jefferson has found that the Sydney Harbour Islands are about to experience a renaissance.   Steeped in history, the tiny islands within one of the world’s premier harbours are spectacularly undervalued and largely ignored. But Xavier Jefferson has found that the Sydney Harbour Islands are about to experience a renaissance. Eight islands...

Bederra Island is an exlcusive and reclusive Queensland resort frequented by luxury seekers In the nicest possible way, Bedarra Island is all about decadence and indulgence. It boasts an open bar (and it truly is open – you can get a drink at three in the morning if you want) with endless supplies of Bollinger and no fewer than twenty varieties of Scottish, American and Irish whisky (and whiskey). It prides itself in the quality of the food and drinks. And most visitors seem to find lying around the pool or on the two easily accessible beaches to be about...

These four island resorts are the very pinnacle of the luxury island experience. Some are well known, others less so. But, as Tom Barclay discovers, all are right here in Australian waters . . . If John Dunne was right and no man is an island, we all sure as hell want to be on one. In terms of pure holiday brag factor, the luxury island resort holiday is the pinnacle, any mention of which immediately conjures up images of swaying trees, empty stretches of sand, crystal lagoons and so much more. As conversational topics go, a luxury island resort...

No crowds, no high-end hotels, no advanced technology; just pure unadulterated nature. AT shows you how to get away from it all on these remote Aussie islands. There’s one sure way to avoid the crowds at popular holiday destinations around the country. Just cast yourself away. Avoiding luxury at all costs, Fiona Harper goes island hopping with one object in mind: to get herself marooned. In a world becoming ever more technical and complicated, it’s more important now than ever before to occasionally find a simple piece of paradise, slow down and actually smell the roses. Or, more accurately, sniff...

Just off the northern tip of Australia, AT discovers a way of life as far removed from the city as possible. AT visits Poruma Island, a tiny rock just off the tip of northern Australia, to discover a way of life as far removed from city life as it’s possible to be . . . At a meeting point between the Arafura and Coral Seas, midway between Papua New Guinea and Cape York Peninsula, lies Poruma Island. Only two kilometres long and less than half a kilometre wide, there’s just enough room on this tiny dot in the ocean for...

See what the Gold Coast might once have been like an hour’s drive from the buzzing metropolis, where North Stradbroke Island delivers a dreamy trip back to the beach holidays of yesteryear.   The Old Coast By Tim Baker If you’d like to see what the Gold Coast might once have been like, the good news is - you still can. An hour’s drive and a 45-minute ferry ride from the Gold Coast delivers you to North Stradbroke Island, a dreamy trip back to the beach holidays of yesteryear. If you were to stage a contest to find the best-located...

How many places in Australia let you inhabit an island all to yourself? Whether it’s diving, fishing, turtle watching, bird watching or just plain relaxing, the Mackerel Islands in WA’s far north are an ideal destination for the adventurous or the weary. “WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF THIS? IT SOUNDS AMAZING!” – Michelle Of the ten islands that make up the Mackerel group, two provide lodgings: Thevenard Island and Direction Island. Direction is a small island with its own reef and just one cabin, allowing you to live out your wildest Robinson Crusoe dream, but with friends and family....