Lady Elliot Island, Queensland, Australia

August 2014

Lady Elliot Island, is located 8- km north east of Bundaberg, on the Queensland Coast. The Island can only be accessed by plane, usually from Bundaberg or Harvey Bay.

The weather was not my friend. With patches of sunshine, the weather was wet, overcast and windy.

People generally come here to snorkel or dive with the abundant sealife. Known for the opportunity of swimming with manta ray I missed this, but did get to snorkel with sea turtles. 

The Island itself is only 42 Hectares and worth a walk around (it only takes approximately 45 minutes).

The Island is popular for day trippers, but if you want to stay a few nights the rates include breakfast, dinner and accommodation.

Travel by Island

We've been to a number of Islands in our travels. They also seem to be high on my wish list. And while we live on one big Island (Australia), I'm looking at places that you would typically think of when I say Island.

Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Aitutaki, Cook Islands

Mauke, Cook Islands

Wilson Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Hawaii, USA

Lord Howe Island, Australia

Rapa Nui/Easter Island

Papeete, Tahiti

Moorea, Tahiti

Sombrero Chino, Galapagos, Ecuador

White Island, New Zealand

Some of those high on my wish list?

Kangaroo Island, Australia

The Southern Ocean Lodge, Kangaroo Island

Palau

Maldives

The Anantara Kihavah Villas

Wish List: Guam and Palau

Guam and Palau are new additions to my wish list, it wasn't until there was this article in the SMH covering the two Islands that my interest really grew.

Palau is famous for the lake in which you can swim with the jellyfish at Jellyfish Lake. The jellyfish have lost their sting due to the lake being fresh water, not seawater. Palau is home to only about 20,000 people and consists of 300 Islands (only around 9 are inhabited).

Guam on the other hand is a US territory (and you generally have to fly through Guam to get to Palau), and a site teeming in WWII history. As you'll know from my previous posts I'm a big fan of food when travelling (well in general really) and the food in Guam is meant to be fantastic. Water sports are also popular, with the average water temperature being 27C all year around!

Eating in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 2012

We seemed to spend a lot of time this trip eating our way around the Island, and I took way too many photos to include in my other Rarotonga post, so here's the some of the meals we enjoyed on the Island this trip.

Sails
Located on Muri beach, we started with the Ika Mata (of course), I had the Trio of game fish for main and DH enjoyed the Strike fish on mash potatoes.

Trader Jacks
A perfect spot in town on the water. Another spot for the Ika Mata, for mains it was perch fillet and DH had the smoked marlin fish cakes.

Tamarind House
A love to have dinner here, but we tried lunch with the family this time and it was nice to be able to enjoy the stunning view. I had the Wahoo on a smoked salmon mash with Bearnaise, while DH had the fried parrot fish sandwich.

Flying Boat Fish & Chips
Great spot for fish and chips.

The Mooring
No pictures of the food here, but take my word for it the Spicy Tuna sandwich and the Mahi Mahi with lime mayo sandwich were great.

Vaima
This spot is very popular, make sure you book in advance (they have a board up if your driving past and want to make a booking). We started with the Ika Mata (surprised?), I had the seafood curry (which the only disappointment was that it contained beef, I was expecting fish) and DH enjoyed his Mahi Mahi with paw paw salsa.

Beach Pavilion Restaurant in the Sanctuary

The Ika Mata here was pretty good, with a bit of chili thrown in for a twist. We also shared the trio of game fish.

Cross Island Track, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Each time we've been to Rarotonga I've wanted to do the Cross Island track, but it's been hot and humid, or I haven't been fit enough so we've never done it. This time the weather was perfect (winter and a lovely 26C) and after the Inca Trail, I could no longer say I wasn't fit enough!

The Cross Island track is 7 km in total, from the harbour to the old Sheraton site. It's about a 40 minute, 2.25 km easy walk from the bus stop at the harbour to the car park where most people seem to start.

It's then a steep walk through the forest to the Needle. It took us about 75 minutes for 1.5 km, mainly due to the path being slippery and having to keep an eye out for tree roots and rocks.

The next stage for me was the most difficult, I am not the most sure footed person and it's a steep, but the view about 100 m is is pretty spectacular. It's a slow decent, with many steam crossings. It evens out at the end just before you get to Wigmore falls. This took us about 1 hr 45 min for 1.7 km, but we were going slow.

The final section is along the road from the falls, leading back to the main road. It was an easy 30 minutes for 1.3 km and comes out at the old Sheraton site. You can catch the bus from this point, but we took the easy 3 km walk back to the hotel (Sanctuary).

All said and done, it's a nice way to spend half a day. You spend a lot of your time eating, sleeping and swimming on Rarotonga (or we do!) so it's good to get out and do something else. Make sure you take some insect spray, water and let someone know where your going before you head out.

Mauke, Cook Islands, 2012

Mauke is one of the 15 Islands of the Cook Islands, and about a 50 minute flight from Rarotonga. There are only three flights a week so you have to plan your trip well. It's also an Island where you will find few if any other tourists. There are two main spots to stay, there are no restaurants on the Island (bring your food with you or pre-arrange with your hosts) and the local store is only open between 5 pm to 7 pm, but that's part of the appeal. You can truly get away from it all.

We visited with family, and therefore had a little bit of inside information into the Island, but our hosts at the Tiare Cottages also helped.

Stay
Tiare Cottages. We struck it lucky with the O'Kiva Cottage on the point and a bit more secluded.

 O'Kiva at The Point

 One of the cottages

 The cooking and dinning area

Eat
As I mentioned there are no restaurants, no cafes so you must bring it all with you or pre-arrange with your hosts before you arrive.

Do

• For such a small Island (18 km to travel around in the truck) there is a lot to see. 
• We actually spent a significant time just watching the waves.

• Vai Ou Caves, they were not easy to find but were easy to navigate once we got there
• We were lucky enough to see a whale at Arapaea Landing

• The view at Anaiti Cove, and I love the story of Kea, who's grave is here

• Te Oneroa is the a popular swimming beach and where I got the shot of the wave above, but it was way too rough to swim while we were there
• The Divided Church, with the spectacular colours

• The cave out to sea at Anaraura Beach
• The giant Banyan tree (not on any map)

• Sunset at "The Point" (on private land)