Monday 29 February 2016

The Island Tour

About forty miles off the eastern coast of Australia (north of Brisbane) is Lady Elliot Island.  As one day of my entire trip....I ended up on a 10-passenger Cessena and flew into the island.

First, its safe to say that it is one of those unique things that you probably will question.  I looked at the runway as we circled on approach, and kinda questioned the length.  The island is roughly a hundred acres, and I'd take a guess that the runway was no more than 2,000 feet long.  You could feel a good hard braking effort once the wheels touched the ground.  Then I kinda noted that it was all grass and a fairly bumpy landing.

The guy lets you know right off the bat that there are no snakes on the island....but ten thousand birds.

With the package deal.....you get roughly six hours on the island.  If you wanted to stay at the resort overnight....you could.  But then you'd be living life on the high-end.

You are at the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.  Turtles, sharks, etc.

If you were looking for a permanent structure on the island.....the only thing of a brick nature is the lighthouse.  Otherwise.....everything else is wood or aluminium.

Lunch?  The resort guys run a decent service and at least offer a better than average deal.

After a while, you just start viewing this as a Gilligan's Island type situation.  If I had to spend months on such an island.....I'd go nuts.  Between the bird noise and constant waves hitting shore....it'd drive me crazy.

So, if you were in Brisbane and wanted to do something unique.....I'd suggest the tour.  It is an eleven hour total package deal.....from your hotel to the island and back, and likely gives you one of those rare moments in life to ponder upon remote places.

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