Kate Webster Lady Elliot Island, a coral cay located at the southern tip of the World Heritage Listed Great Barrier Reef, is situated within a highly protected ’Green Zone’.
The island is a sanctuary for over 1,200 species of marine life and is known for its abundance of manta rays, turtles, amazing array of spectacular marine life and unspoilt coral reef.
The Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort is a family run and operated eco-tourism business. Peter Gash, family and several partners have held the lease from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to operate the resort since 2005.
The resort has had a refresh over the past months and in addition to the glamping tents that are a very popular choice for ultimate eco-style camping, are the new eco-cabins. In keeping with the natural, eco-friendly practices there are no telephones, television, radios or Wi-Fi available in the rooms and only limited Wi-fi is available in the restaurant.
Go for the day
Day trips to Lady Elliot Island offer a great opportunity for people with limited time to explore Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Although you really need much longer than a day to truly experience this unique Island paradise, the day trips can be packed full with adventures and things to do.
Day trips to Lady Elliot Island include return scenic flights to the Island, orientation tour, a glass bottom boat/guided snorkelling tour, snorkel equipment (mask, snorkel & fins), full use of day guest facilities, lunch available at the cafe and an afternoon of snorkelling, leisure or joining our experienced guides for a guided activity/tour.
Departures for the day trips leave from Bundaberg, Hervey Bay/Fraser Coast, Brisbane (Redcliffe) or the Gold Coast
Stay a little longer
Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort offers a range of comfortable accommodation options, with each Unit, Tent and Cabin designed to minimise impact on the Island while enriching the overall guest experience of the environment and seasonal wildlife. All accommodation options include full buffet dinner and breakfast, use of snorkel equipment (mask, snorkel & fins) & snorkel lesson if required, glass bottom boat/guided snorkel tour (one per person/stay), range of guided tours and activities and the Environmental Management Charge.
To really enjoy the island, you need a few days to relax into island mode where there are no distractions from the outside world. Then add a few more days to make sure you get to explore as much of the island from above and below the water. Weather conditions will bring different ways to enjoy the island’s beauty.
Virtual dive at Lady Elliot Island
Google has given travellers goggles, as the street view goes off road and underwater mapping parts of the Great Barrier Reef off Lady Elliot Island.
You can dive parts of this World Heritage-listed marine park from your desk at work thanks to a team of scientists who have created a specially designed underwater camera capable of capturing 360-degree images of the reef.
The project to map the reef is part of the Catlin Seaview Survey, launched at Monterey, California, and scientists will spend the next three years compiling a visual record of the worlds reefs that will be explorable by everyone via Google Maps.
With 99.95 percent of people unable to scuba dive, it allows so many people to access the oceans for the very first time. Project founder and director Richard Vevers said the images would open up the reef to the world.
Lady Elliot Island is just one of three sections around the Great Barrier Reef, including Heron and Wilson Islands, that have been mapped so far, but by the end of December scientists will have completed surveys on 20 sections of the 2300km long reef.
“It’s very much a critical time for reefs and we want to cover as much as we can in the next two to three years to create a global record,” Vevers said.
Vevers said there was already massive world wide interest with more than 1.4 million people following the project via Google Plus.
Get your Google goggles on, dive in and explore the reef off Lady Elliot Island here http://goo.gl/kDcLN
For more on lady Elliot Island visit http://www.ladyelliot.com.au/
