Need to get away this summer holidays? Put a body of water between you and the stress of your day-to-day life on one of these island escapes. From the World Heritage–listed beauty of Lord Howe Island to the piratical wildness of Kangaroo Island, we’ve picked our top five island escapes where you can feel relaxed and ready for 2014.
Should you happen to find yourself in the Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania, you might be lucky enough to stumble upon Flinders Island (although there are more planned ways of reaching the island). Flinders is the biggest island in the Furneaux Group, a collection of islands that once formed the bridge connecting Tasmania to the mainland. This island is spectacularly beautiful, with the turquoise water and lichen-covered rocks of well-known tourist spots such as the Bay of Fires, and not as popular with visitors as you’d expect – so it’ll feel like a proper escape, especially since only mobiles on the Telstra network work on the island.
And like all good escapes, there’s plenty to do whatever your preference, whether that’s climbing the peaks in Strzelecki National Park, spending time with the friendly locals at Whitemark or taking some self-guided tours of the island.
Flinders Island also has a fascinating, if devastating, history. This can be explored at the National Trust–listed Wybalenna Historic Site at Settlement Point. Like the not-so-distant Victorian coastline, there were also numerous shipwrecks around the treacherous islands. More on these shipwrecks and the history of the islands can be seen at the Furneaux Museum.
Kangaroo Island has always been a place that people like to escape to – originally convicts and pirates trying to stay a hop, skip and a jump ahead of the law; these days it’s more likely to be tourists. And at 155km long, there’s plenty of space on Kangaroo Island in which to escape. For those who want to spend big, there’s no better place than Southern Ocean Lodge, a luxury retreat overlooking the wildly beautiful Southern Ocean. But you don’t need to spend your life savings to escape to Kangaroo Island. As the first European settlers would attest, Kangaroo Island has always welcomed a range of people, of all budgets and tastes.
The most famous point on the island is Remarkable Rocks, at the south-west end of the island. These unusually shaped rocks are the gems in the crown of Flinders Chase National Park. Once you’ve ticked them off your list of things to do, you can explore the beaches, epicurean delights, adventure activities (including four-wheeler motorbike tours), drives of the island, or choose not to do any exploring at all and just sit back and listen to the sounds of the ocean and wildlife.
Rottnest Island has become associated with one animal – and it’s not the mainland tourist, but rather the adorable quokka, which looks like some kind of a cross between a kangaroo, a possum and a rat. Once you’ve indulged in some wildlife-watching, hop on a bike and take a tour of the island. Rottnest is famously car-free, so bikes are the preferred method of travel.
For such a small island (coming in at 11km long), the main settlement on the island, Thomson Bay, is surprisingly cosmopolitan. This could be due to the number of tourists who visit Rottnest every year, entranced by the natural beauty and proximity to Perth. But you’ll have plenty of places to sit back with a drink and enjoy the views.
There are only 400 visitors allowed on Lord Howe Island at any time, and if you are one of the lucky few, you’ll find a World Heritage–listed island of almost unsurpassed beauty. A two-hour plane trip from Brisbane or Sydney, Lord Howe is far enough away that it feels like an escape, but close enough that the trip there isn’t a chore.
Take a guided walk to the top of Mt Gower – an exhilarating hike including steep drops and some rope-assisted climbs – to get a panoramic view over the island and surrounding seas. On the walk, you’ll also be able to see out to Balls Pyramid, a rock structure that rises dramatically out of the ocean around 23km from Lord Howe. The diving around this old volcano is spectacular, but perhaps the most spectacular thing about Balls Pyramid is that in 2001 a stick insect that was thought to be extinct was found there. But that’s just the sort of place Lord Howe Island is. It’s highly likely you’ll find something on the island and in the surrounding seas you weren’t expecting, and that will blow you away.
In terms of accessibility, affordability and activities, you can’t beat Moreton Island. Only a 75-minute boat ride from Brisbane, this island might not be as famous as some of Queensland’s other islands – like Fraser and the chain of islands in the Whitsundays – but it does have many of the attractions that make those islands so attractive. As the third largest sand island in the world, it’s got fantastic 4WD tracks, snorkelling (particularly around some dramatically partially submerged shipwrecks), swimming, fishing, walking, as well as some small settlements when you want a taste of modern life with your island escape.
