Christmas Island occupies a peculiar position in the imagination of most Australians. They know the name — it comes up in refugee and immigration contexts regularly enough — but almost none of them have been there, and fewer still know…
The question I get asked most often by people planning their first Great Barrier Reef trip is some version of: “Which island should I stay on?” And my honest answer, every time, is that the island question is the wrong…
Most Australians have never heard of the Coral Sea Islands Territory, which is understandable — it has no permanent population, no tourist infrastructure, no accommodation, and no way to visit it except on a liveaboard or a vessel capable of…
Lord Howe Island is the sort of place that makes you reconsider everything you thought you knew about island destinations. I arrived expecting good snorkelling and ended up rethinking my entire understanding of what a pristine ocean environment looks like.…
Evenings on small reef islands arrive almost unnoticed. The transition from afternoon to sunset happens gradually, often beginning with a subtle change in the light reflecting across the lagoon. During the middle of the day the sun stands high above…
Lizard Island is the northernmost island resort on the Great Barrier Reef, 240 kilometres north of Cairns, and it occupies a position in Australian reef travel that is difficult to categorise accurately. It’s a luxury resort — unambiguously, unapologetically upmarket,…
There are places that require some effort to reach, and then there are places that require the kind of effort that filters out everyone who isn’t genuinely committed. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are the second type. Two and a half…
Lady Elliot Island sits at the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef, eighty kilometres off the coast of Bundaberg, and it is the only place I have ever arrived by plane and been in the water within twenty minutes…