Guide to Heron Island Queensland Australia

Heron Island is a small coral cay on the southern Great Barrier Reef, about 80 kilometres north-east of Gladstone. Unlike most reef resorts it sits right on the reef itself, so you step off the sand and are snorkelling over coral within a minute. The island is shared between a low-key resort, a University of Queensland research station and a national park.

Known For

• Snorkelling and diving straight from the island
• Turtle nesting and hatching in summer
• Tens of thousands of nesting seabirds

The cay is about 800 metres long and you can walk around it in half an hour. A pisonia forest fills the middle, and a large reef flat surrounds it. There are no day trips and no day visitors, which keeps numbers low. There is also little mobile coverage and no television in the rooms, and most guests count that as a feature.

Things To Do in Heron Island

Snorkelling

Snorkel off the beach at high tide, around the old shipwreck at the harbour entrance, or join a boat trip to the reef edge. Turtles, reef sharks, rays and big schools of fish are everyday sights.

Diving

More than 20 dive sites lie within a short boat ride, most of them only minutes away. Heron Bommie is the best known, a cluster of coral heads visited by manta rays, turtles and sharks.

Turtles

Green and loggerhead turtles come ashore to nest from about November to March, and hatchlings run for the sea from January into April or May. You can watch from the beach at night and early morning; follow the guidelines on lights and distance.

Birds

From about October to April the island is loud and crowded with black noddies in the trees and wedge-tailed shearwaters in burrows under them. Bring a hat, and earplugs if you are a light sleeper.

Reef walks and the research station

Guided walks on the reef flat at low tide show clams, sea cucumbers and small sharks in the pools. Tours of the research station run on some days, and there are semi-submersible trips for those who would rather stay dry.

Where To Stay

Heron Island Resort is the only accommodation, with about a hundred rooms ranging from simple garden rooms to beachfront suites and a beach house. There is no camping.

For something smaller still, tiny Wilson Island, a short boat ride north, has a handful of safari tents and is booked through the same operator.

Eat & Drink

Meals are taken in the resort restaurant, and Baillie’s Bar looks out over the reef flat for a sunset drink. There are no shops beyond the resort boutique, so bring anything particular that you need.

History

The cay is part of the sea country of the Bailai, Gooreng Gooreng, Gurang and Taribelang Bunda peoples. It was named in 1843 by the crew of HMS Fly for the reef egrets they took for herons. A turtle soup cannery operated here in the 1920s; when it failed, the buildings became the first resort in the 1930s. The island was declared a national park in 1943, and the research station followed in the 1950s. The rusting hull at the harbour mouth is HMCS Protector, a colonial gunboat placed there as a breakwater.

Getting to Heron Island

The resort’s ferry leaves Gladstone Marina on most days of the week, though not every day, and takes about two hours. Helicopter and seaplane transfers from Gladstone take around half an hour. Gladstone has flights from Brisbane and is on the main north coast railway. Check the current ferry days before you book flights.