Lady Elliot Island

Lady Elliot Island is situated right at the very southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef, 80 kilometers from the mainland center of Bundaberg and around 4 hours drive from the Queensland capital of Brisbane.

Its location makes Lady Elliot a perfect base for exploring the Reef if you're on holiday in or around New South Wales and don't have time to get up into Far North Queensland, where the Reef is closest to the coast.

Being only just into the Reef, you might not expect this island to be quite as spectacular as tropical islands further to the north, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

In fact, Lady Elliot Island is famous for being one of the best diving centers in the world and the waters that immediately surround the island are some of the clearest and most spectacular to be found anywhere along the 2000 kilometers of the Great Barrier Reef, not to mention being very rich in sealife from the smallest, highly coloured tropical fish to the largest mammals on earth, whales.

It is a low-lying coral cay, around 40 hectares in size, with one continuous fine sandy beach separating the pine trees from the crystal clear reef waters.
Lady Elliot Island is just big enough to accommodate a single airstrip which gashes through the forest, stopping and starting at either side of the island. This airstrip serves flights from Bundaberg and Hervey Bay by Seair into the island.

Lady Elliot Island accommodation

With the island being the size and nature that it is, there is just one resort that offers four different styles of accommodation.

All choices are just meters from the beach making it an idyllic place to stay for a few days, or longer. The cheapest are the tent cabins which sleep up to four people. These are permanent structures so it's a bit more civilized than normal camping!

At the other end of the budget-scale, the Island Suites occupy a beachfront location and can sleep up to four. Whatever type you choose, you're still in paradise!

Getting onto the island

Lady Elliot Island is served by Seair, a small regional airline operating mainly Twin Otter aircraft that seat around 20 passengers.
You can fly into Lady Elliot from either Hervey Bay or Bundaberg airports (or the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, either side of Brisbane, if you're a bit further afield) and these in turn are served by larger carriers coming in from Brisbane or any other of the Australian capitals.

The flight time is short, around half an hour, and provides and excellent opportunity to see a perfect coral cay from above, with its panoramic fringing reef.

Lady Elliot wildlife

If you're a fan of Mother Nature, as I am, Lady Elliot Island provides an amazing opportunity to see all kinds of weird and wonderful spectacles.
Even if you can't scuba dive, or don't like to snorkel, there are plenty of other options although the best of these are seasonal events.

Obviously the immediate fringing reef is a huge attraction and snorkelling is an incredible experience, but guided reef walks and glass bottom boat trips are available and shouldn't be missed by anyone wanting to make the most of their stay on the island.

Depending on when you're there, you may be lucky enough to encounter the turtles that come up onto the beach at night to lay their eggs, or even better, the hatchlings emerging from the eggs and making the life-or-death dash down to the surf! The egg laying takes place between the months of November to February, with the hatchlings appearing February to April.

As with the waters of Hervey Bay and Fraser Island, Humpback Whales pass through during the winter months (June - October) on their way to warmer breeding waters. Whale watching trips are available and again, shouldn't be missed if you're there at the right time.

Even if you're not able to witness any of these major natural events, the island will still give you some great sights and experiences that you'll remember for a long time afterwards!

Lady Elliot Island web site.

Some of the other Great Barrier Reef Islands include:-

• Lizard Island
• Dunk Island
• Hinchinbrook Island
• Magnetic Island
• The Whitsunday Islands
• Hayman Island
• Fraser Island (not one of the Great Barrier Reef islands) but well worthy of a mention!