I’ve spent my entire life on Islands large and small. But only if you count Australia! Some say it’s the world’s biggest island, some the smallest continent, others don’t actually care …

But me? Of COURSE it’s an island! Anything to add more bragging rights another world class experience to my loud, proud Aussie portfolio!

So narrow the field even further and follow me around OZ for my Idiosyncratic Individualised 5-Island Introduction!

1.  For … ‘Idyllic‘, try Magnetic Island, Far North Queensland!

So much more than the twanging tourists and wandering wildlife I’ve previously described (see below), Magnetic Island perfectly combines natural attractions with niceties; charm with convenience; and laid back lifestyle with luxury.

Only 8 km offshore from Townsville, it’s easy to get to Magnetic Island by ferry, and even easier to stay … National parks, beaches and bays, a variety of accommodation and dining options (yes! a bakery!) and its own public transport system make this island an archetypal idyllic tropical paradise!

2.  For ‘Incomparable‘, try Lord Howe Island, New South Wales!

The high incidence of world class attractions ensures this small island 600 km off the New South Wales coast a steady stream of visitors and makes it one of my all time favourite Australian travel destinations. It’s also the scene of my one and only triathlon attempt … but that’s another story (see link below)!

Lord Howe Island’s well deserved world heritage status manifested in staggering scenery, numerous endemics and fascinating history is best experienced over as lengthy a period of time as you can afford. Add to that (arguably) the most scenic public toilet in Australia AND a bakery, and you’d be ill-advised to ignore this incomparable island!

3.  For ‘Incredible‘, try Griffiths Island, Victoria!

Migrating muttonbirds (Short-tailed Shearwater) manage the 15,000 km flight from their home in the Aleutian Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula so as to arrive at their nesting grounds on Griffiths Island within 3 days of 22^nd September every year!! Incredible!

As is the engineering feat that combined two islands into one at the mouth of Port Fairy’s Moyne River, and the island’s interesting history and glorious scenery. Every day at sundown, the muttonbirds return from the sea to roost and feed their chicks in their nesting burrows – an incredible sight which one day we’ll get to see!

4.  For ‘Intriguing‘, try Kangaroo Island, South Australia!

Australia’s 3^rd largest island, this eclectic mixture of unspoiled beaches, Remarkable Rocks (their actual name!), seal colonies, lighthouses, sand dunes, national parks and the purest strain of Ligurian bees in the world is one of South Australia’s premier attractions.

With a number of settlements, a strong eco-tourism presence and a plethora of natural attractions (a study once named Vivonne Bay the top beach in Australia) ‘KI’, as it is known downunder, is South Australia’s answer to the northern tropics!

5.  For ‘Infamous‘, try the Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia!

If mutiny and shipwreck, with theft, murder, rape, a psychopathic anti-hero and the general breakdown of civilisation in the 106 days before rescue sounds a little too much like ‘Extreme Survivor’, then you probably don’t want to read the sensational true story of the Batavia, wrecked off the Western Australian coast on the Albrohos islands in 1629!

This compelling tale of degeneration, dastardly deeds and despair on the islands has been the subject of many studies, novels, films and TV series, but it’s probably too melodramatic to say I’m dying to visit one day!!

Happily, Perth Daily Photo supplied these pictures from her friend and mentor Bill, whose excellent Bill’s Diving Blog has even more photos of these infamous islands, now home to much less sensational ecotourism pursuits!

Yes, I know.

It’s all too beautiful, isn’t it?

And you want to see it for yourself, right??

So what are you waiting for?

Enjoy!

The post Aussie ABC – I is for Islands! appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

Apart from the snake on the beach, our island circumnavigation stroll was pleasant, albeit uneventful.

But a frisson of danger changes everything – and an element of uncertainty elevates the ordinary, or even just plain old pleasant, into something more remarkable, doesn’t it?

Or is that just me?

Whether Griffiths Island, at the mouth of Port Fairy’s Moyne River on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road, is a miracle of engineering or a fine example of ecological vandalism depends on whether you’re a colonialist or an environmentalist.

But the amalgamation of Griffiths and Rabbit islands in the mid-1800s via a breakwater, causeways, retaining walls and riverbed silt today provides a breeding haven for Short-tailed Shearwater (Puffinus tenuirostris), commonly known as mutton birds – an imaginative name bestowed by early settlers in honour of the main use to which they were put.

The mutton bird bodies littering the roadside aren’t due to hunters and gatherers these days, however. After flying 15,000 km from their Aleutian Islands/Kamchatka Peninsula winter home, the central Pacific’s buffeting south east winds claim many victims. But despite the huge distances, locals advise that the birds arrive in Port Fairy within three days of 22^ndSeptember EVERY YEAR!

A ‘lifer’* for keen twitcher** Pilchard, our October 2011 visit was ideal timing – the birds had arrived, but had not yet returned to the sea for their post-mating two week ‘honeymoon’!   According to the Natural Resources and Environment pamphlet ‘Griffiths Island Shearwater Colony’ to which I’m indebted for much of the information in this post, anyway!

And to a dedicated twitcher, sighting a dead bird doesn’t count …

But Griffiths Island isn’t just about birds. While no evidence remains of the whaling station, unsuccessful mission and lighthouse keepers’ cottages of yesteryear, the 3km interpretive walking trail passes the shearwater viewing platform and lighthouse before detouring onto the beach.

And the snake.

I would have taken a photo if the uncharacteristically balletic wings of ‘flight’ hadn’t somehow shifted me several metres away, shrieking like a girl, within a split second!

And Pilchard would have identified the snake if only it had uncoiled while he was standing right beside it … despite my reassurance that ‘snake’ was specific enough for me!!

Enough to send us scuttling back to one of Port Fairy’s two bakeries for a restorative snack!  Although you’re right … it wouldn’t take much!!

On the cusp of the Kanawinka Global Geopark area of volcanic diversity, largest of its kind in the world, and the Bonney Upwelling*** where nutrient-rich water from Antarctica flows onto the continental shelf in certain conditions, Griffiths Island, Port Fairy and surrounds form a unique region of amazing natural phenomena well worth another visit.

And with any luck next time the snakes will stay away!

* Lifer = bird never sighted before

** Twitcher = birdwatcher – yes, the feathered variety …

*** Cool names, huh?!

Want MORE?

• Griffiths Island and Shearwater Colony
• Port Fairy
• Great Ocean Road
• Short-tailed Shearwater
• Kanawinka Global Geopark
• Bonney Upwelling
• Brave Andrew Highriser’s Snake Pic!!!

The post OZ Top Spot #11 – Griffiths Island, Port Fairy, Victoria appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.