Mission Beach Tourism News

Australasia's leading Family Resort

Dunk Island Resort - Dunk Island Resort News Feed

Dunk Island has been nominated for the highly coveted World Travel Awards under the category of: Australasia's leading Family Resort.

Top 10 Resort for Families

Dunk Island Resort - Dunk Island Resort News Feed

Dunk Island has been listed as one of the Top 10 Resorts and Holiday Parks for Families 2009 by Holidays with Kids. In a survey sent out to over 600,000 of Holidays With Kids readers, Dunk Island appeared in the top 5 most popular resorts (4 stars and over).
 
Dunk Island - the Island of Peace and Plenty, is a beautiful rainforest island. The palm-fringed beaches and lush rainforests of this tropical island are ideal for those who want to get the most out of their holiday or simply relax and rejuvenate. The resort is located in a National Park, and lies midway between Townsville and Cairns, one of a few tropical islands that puts you within easy reach of the Great Barrier Reef.

With so many amazing activities to choose from on Dunk, it's hard to decide what to do next. Horse riding along the beach, rainforest walks, catamarans, tandem sky diving, golf, or visiting the island farm.

For a change of pace, get away from it all to a sun-soaked beach with a gourmet picnic hamper, or indulge yourself at the Spa of Peace and Plenty, with treatments designed to invigorate your mind, body and soul.

For a family holiday, there are plenty of things to do together, but when Mum and Dad want some time out, the Kids Club gives 3-12 year olds plenty to do. For couples looking for romance, nothing compares to ending the day with a cocktail in hand, watching the perfect sunset.

All 160 rooms are well-appointed with four grades of accommodation, each with beach or tropical garden views.

For the family, Dunk Island is as good as it gets!
 

Travstar visits Dunk Island

Dunk Island Resort - Dunk Island Resort News Feed

Weekend of 13th - 14th February 2010

The Travstar girls just spent a beautiful weekend at Dunk Island. Here is a run down of our experience...

Excitement began when we arrived at Hinterland Aviation for our scenic flight to Dunk Island. It's not often we get to experience a small flight, so stepping onboard a 12 seater plane was exciting plus nerve wracking at the same time!

Only a 35 minute flight, but it was well worth it. To the right we had the mountain ranges with an amazing sight of all the cloud formations drawn to the land, meanwhile to the left it was clear blue skies, beautiful blue ocean with turquoise reefs scattered throughout. We passed over the Frankland Islands before turning at Mission Beach for our smooth landing onto Dunk Island.

Greeted by a Dunk Island representative we were given a brief tour to get our bearings before heading to our rooms. The standard check in procedure is a welcome tropical cocktail in the Plantation Bar, just to get you relaxed and in the swing of island life.

Our Beachfront Rooms exceeded our expectations, fresh, white and very spacious with gorgeous photography on the walls and a modern bathroom. My room was on the ground level with direct views of the ocean. It really makes a difference to have magnificent views which tops off the experience.

After lunch we had time for a quick swim in the Cascade Pool before our pamper session at the Spa of Peace & Plenty. As soon as you arrive at the day spa a wave of relaxation takes over. Set amongst beautiful gardens and ponds, it offers an incredible escape where there is nothing else to focus on but yourself!

A 60 minute massage and facial is highly recommended and just what we needed. The tranquil surrounds and soft music added to the experience which was topped off with some lychee icecream and a cold towel for refreshment afterwards.

Dinner was a delicious 3 course table d’hôte. Following this we kicked back to some live music in the Plantation Bar.

The following morning we woke to blue skies and sunshine again, so don't believe all the weather reports you see as it had been forecasted for storms and showers all weekend! The island is one of the most beautiful I have ever visited with lush tropical gardens attracting a multitude of birds and butterflies.

We enjoyed a healthy full buffet breakfast, and I couldn't help myself the water was so clear and glassed out that I had to go for a sea kayak. You can grab kayaks or any non-motorised water sports equipment from the beach hire shop. I had a paddle up and down infront of the resort, it was great to get out there and burn off breakfast at the same time!

After another quick dip in the pool it was time for a quick lunch at the Jetty Cafe before our return scenic flight with Hinterland Aviation (this time in an 8 seater!).

Dunk Island offers a marvelous experience of beauty and relaxation, even just for a night away it is well worth the trip and we highly recommend the adventure of flying in!

Bob Irwin fights for cassowary

TRAVSTAR NEWS - Mission Beach News Feed

BOB Irwin is the face of Australia’s koala and hairy-nose wombat conservation campaigns, and now he is fighting to save the endangered cassowary.

The father of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin won hearts when he made a special trip to the Far North this week to nationally launch a land buyback scheme for Mission Beach, south of Cairns.

Mr Irwin is urging Australians to donate money to Rainforest Rescue for voluntary rainforest block buybacks, and he has called on the State and Federal governments to match whatever money is raised.

“The best estimate is we have 1000 cassowaries left in North Queensland … and in Mission Beach the population may now be as low as 40,” he told a crowd of supporters yesterday.

“These birds are in danger of extinction and we need to act right now to preserve their habitat. We want every single (rainforest) block that can be purchased by the public and government.”

Rainforest Rescue’s Kelvin Davies said his not-for-profit organisation had previously sunk $600,000 worth of donations into land purchases for nature refuges in the Daintree.

“We can keep writing letters to politicians but we can also take a lead for the government to follow,” he told the crowd of his joint campaign with Mr Irwin and Mission Beach conservation group C4.

The local organisation has estimated about 40 per cent of its town’s essential cassowary habitat remains unprotected. Mr Davies said valuable land was already on the market.

“We won’t be coercing anyone to sell,” he said. “But we are on the lookout for rainforest properties and while one or two properties won’t solve the problem we do hope it will demonstrate to all levels of government that people want this.”

Donations were already trickling in after a launch on the group’s website late on Wednesday, he said.

Celebrate this Christmas in Paradise!

Lizard Island Resort - Lizard Island Resort News Feed

Celebrate this festive season in paradise...

Wake up on Christmas Day to the sun rising over the azure waters of the Great Barrier Reef, the white sand glowing and a relaxing day of Christmas festivities ahead. The multi-award winning Lizard Island is Australia’s northernmost resort, 240km north of Cairns and 27km off the coast near Cape Flattery, right on the spectacular Great Barrier Reef, fringed with colourful coral reefs and postcard perfect beaches.

Each one of the 40 villas on Lizard Island is elegant and spacious, with either ocean or beach views.

Lizard Island is pleased to be able to offer the following tantalising festive activities to enjoy this coming holiday season:

25th December - Christmas Day Dinner
Come and celebrate this special day with a Seafood Christmas Buffet & BBQ with freshly shucked oysters served from the Oyster Bar, a selection of local seafood, Black Angus Beef fi llet, chicken fi llet, followed by Australian cheeses and tropical fruits. Ospreys Restaurant is the idyllic setting to take full advantage of the views along the seascape whilst enjoying the Christmas festivities.

31st December – New Year’s Eve
As the sun sets on another year and heralds the start of a new one, toast each other’s good fortunes with Sunset Drinks on the beach, looking out over the Great Barrier Reef. The menu features Yellowfi n tuna tartare, North Queensland crayfi sh ravioli, pan roasted lamb rack and a selection of delectable desserts.

Welcome the New Year with midnight Champagne toasts whilst enjoying contemporary lounge music from a live band.

Note: menus are subject to change without notice at any time.

Mission Beach Film Festival

TRAVSTAR NEWS - Mission Beach News Feed

World’s First Sustainability Film Festival in Mission Beach

Mission Beach in Far North Queensland, located between Cairns and Townsville, the Great Barrier Reef and World Heritage Rainforest, is mounting
what organizers believe is the first Film Festival dedicated to the theme of sustainability.

With professional screening facilities located hours away, festival organizers have had to create a bespoke event, including an outdoor screening venue that can smoothly adapt to a wet weather contingency, sourcing state of the art screening and projection equipment including a 6 metre wide inflatable screen and a program of films that will engage and entertain audiences across all age groups.

The culmination of 12 months of planning and coordination sees the inaugural Festival commencing on Friday 6th November with 4 screenings across 3 beachfront venues.

An ‘Under the Stars’ screening and fiesta at Castaways Resort and Spa features ‘The Age of Stupid’ which premiered across the globe only last month and was reviewed by The Guardian as “the first successful dramatisation of climate change to reach the big screen”. The Festival’s off-shore venue Dunk Island presents the sublime family feature film ‘The Fox and The Child’ the story of a magical, life-changing encounter between a wild fox a young girl and their impossible friendship followed by ‘Big River Man’ a rollicking thrill ride that works as both a humorous character study and an enlightening environmental message.

Back on the mainland, the C4 – Communities for Cassowary and Coastal Conservation – Theatrette screens the multi-award winning documentary ‘The Cove’ which scooped Audience Awards for Best Documentary at this year’s Sundance, Sydney and Hot Docs (Canada) Film Festivals.

Saturday programming is largely family friendly with screenings at Castaways Resort and Spa kicking off with ‘Wall-E’, ‘Hoot’ and an early evening family screening of ‘The Fox and The Child’ followed by the engagingly eccentric ‘Big River Man’.

Feature Documentaries fill the program at the C4 throughout Saturday with the cinematically stunning ‘Travelling Birds’ followed by ‘Garbage Warrior’ the story of a renegade architect and his vision of self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities and culminates with the inspirational documentary ‘The Burning Season’ which follows young Australian entrepreneur Dorjee Sun, who believes there's money to be made from protecting rainforests in Indonesia, saving the orangutan from extinction and making a real impact on climate change.

Dunk Island offers another opportunity to see ‘The Age of Stupid’ on Saturday night and ‘The Cove’ on Sunday 8th November.

The Mission Beach Film Festival is an inaugural community event with a view to establish an annual iconic cultural and environmental fixture in the local Cassowary Coast region. It is an opportunity to highlight Mission Beach and environs as a destination of unique ecological importance.

Mission Beach Film Festival program details, film synopsis and ratings and information regarding the Cassowary Coast Short Film Competition and Stills Photography Exhibition is available at www.missionbeachfilmfestival.com.au

Tickets are available from the Mission Beach Visitor Information Centre on Porter Promenade, Mission Beach or call 07 4068 7099.

Lizard Island Review

Lizard Island Resort - Lizard Island Resort News Feed

Lizard Island Resort is Paradise on the Great Barrier Reef!!

Located within a pristine snorkelling and diving environment 1 hour flying time from Cairns. If you have limited time and want to experience the best of Australia's Great Barrier Reef go to Lizard Island. 

There is brilliant snorkelling from the island and also access to the famous Cod Hole which is home to an extraordinary variety of beautiful, many, and varied tropical fish.  This is a daytrip available from the resort at an additional cost. 

The Blue Lagoon is also a brilliant spot for kite surfing enthusiasts.  We are told that the wind here is consistently great for kite surfers.  It certainly was a perfect time to visit in late September, early October.

Kayaking up the Hinchinbrook Coast

Coral Sea Kayaking - 3 Day Island Sea Kayaking News Feed

Tourism Queensland’s Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef, Ben Southall, has enjoyed action-packed adventures sea kayaking along the Hinchinbrook Island coast...

Ben's Diary: 15th September 2009

Andy from ‘Calypso Spirit’ meets us at the jetty, armed with his 42 foot sports fishing boat fuelled and ready to whisk us up the coast towards Hinchinbrook Island to meet the team from ‘Coral Sea Kayaking’ who are already two days into their expedition. My experience is only going to be a taster of what’s actually on offer, normally the trip runs for seven days and travels up the eastern side of Hinchinbrook taking in the spectacular views that this very unique island has to offer.

On the way we stopped off at Zoe Bay, a sandy little cove with a freshwater creek running into it – almost the perfect place to dive in the water and wash off the heat of the day…apart from the fact that there’s saltwater crocodiles in this part of the world. Tropical North Queensland promises a little extra excitement but this is one you don’t want to be messing with.

Hinchinbrook has a number of bush-walking trails across it and with limited numbers of people allowed on the island at any one time you can trek along them without seeing another soul all day. Our short hike took us up the rocks to Zoe Falls, a trickling stream running across granite rock dropping 65 metres into a freshwater pool below. At this time of year there’s hardly any water coming down but in the wet season this thing must seriously rage! Time was racing away and after a quick swim we headed back down the track to the boat.

After an hour cruising up the coast we drop anchor 300 metres offshore and spot six kayaks halfway up the Black Sands beach…this is what we’ve been looking for. As we’ve come up the coast of the island the scenery has been totally awesome and very, very different from any other I’ve visited so far – think Lord of the Rings, green forests leading up sheer sided mountains, rocky granite outcrops and then throw in a few sandy beaches along the way just to break it all up, it really is one of the most picturesque places I’ve been to so far!

Arriving on the sandy beach Dave, Craig and Michelle from Coral Sea Kayaking came down to meet us at the water’s edge, formalities out of the way it was time to work….no luxury five-star accommodation here, better than that we we’re in tents tonight and I can’t tell you how happy that makes me! After spending all of last year living in my tent as I travelled round Africa the feeling of waking up with the view through a tent’s window can’t be beaten. It was back to basics.

As the evening drew in the smell from the busy kitchen started to percolate through the gum trees signalling dinner was ready and what a spread it was too…Moroccan lamb, cous cous and tabouli. Superb! Bush recipes, bush stories and bush flies gave me a taste of just how fantastic it is to be out in the wilds of Australia and, minus the bites, became the perfect end to another perfect day in paradise.

Spending the night under canvas means one thing, waking up with the sunrise and the very start of a new day. A dash down the cool sand to the edge of the ocean, a sharp intake of breath and a dive into the glassy, clear water – now that’s the way to wake up!

The kayaks are four metre ocean-going two-man expedition boats complete with storage lockers and a wide base providing masses of stability for even the least balanced paddler, I’ve used similar types in the UK but as they were only half the width wobbled all over the place leaving me fearful I’d stay dry. These are balanced and great fun.

We continued the paddle north making surprisingly good progress averaging nearly 6km/h and two hours later the call came from Dave that we’d arrived at our lunchtime stopover…or at least I thought it was just a stop for lunch but no, that was it for the day…how disappointing I thought we’d at least power on through the afternoon until our shoulders were burning.

After another great night’s entertainment and sleep it was back to the journey and paddling towards our final destination for this adventure, Cape Richards on the north western tip of Hinchinbrook. As we rounded the end of the bay I wished we could go on forever, slowly making our way along pristine coastline discovering new places to hop off and explore, but this chapter was done…..for now.

Kayaking has ignited the desire to do more in the future, much more. Once this crazy Best Job adventure is over my next project will involve more paddling (lots of it) and the Great Barrier Reef once more. Watch this space for developments.

If you enjoy the great outdoors, sleeping night’s under the stars and getting back to basics then you have to try this out. It rates up there with learning to sail as my best experience so far as the Island Caretaker!

Ben's Island Caretaker Blog courtesy of Tourism Queensland: www.islandreefjob.com.au

Hinchinbrook Island visit

Hinchinbrook Island Resort - Hinchinbrook Is Resort News Feed

The Wilderness Lodge is now closed from an accommodation point of view, and will reopen June 2010.

The Main Lodge Bar and pool area remains open for day guest visitors on our day tour cruise which we continue to operate from Port Hinchinbrook. Our cruise is one of Queensland’s best!

PERFECT PEACEFUL PRIVATE PARADISE. Far from just a ferry ride, Hinchinbrook Resorts and Cruises offer a spectacular scenic wilderness experience. You can visit just for a day, or stay a night or a week at the mainland waterside location of Port Hinchinbrook Resort and Marina.

Hinchinbrook Island is part of a largely-undisturbed stretch of Queenslands’ coastline, a National Park and World Heritage listings have ensured that the island remains one of the great wilderness areas left on the Australian coast.

The Day Cruise takes you to several unique locations on this magnificent island national park. Throughout the full day tour (9am-5pm) the Skipper and crew make special effort to provide informative commentary about the ecology and history of this very special island.

Dunk Island Top Ten Family-Friendly

Dunk Island Resort - Dunk Island Resort News Feed

Dunk Island has been named one of Australia's Top Ten Family-Friendly Resorts in the 4-stars and over category by Holidays with Kids Magazine - an Australian family travel website and magazine.

Votes were received from over 600,000 parents and 40,000 online members who nominated Voyages Dunk Island for outstanding holiday appeal and facilities for families. Readers were invited to rank their nominations on categories including activities and facilities for kids, childcare and babysitting services, staff hospitality, standard of accommodation, location, accessibility, safety, fun for the entire family, value for money and overall experience.

• August 2010 (1)
• February 2010 (2)
• December 2009 (1)
• October 2009 (3)
• September 2009 (2)
• August 2009 (1)
• May 2009 (1)
• February 2009 (3)
• December 2008 (2)
• October 2008 (1)
• April 2008 (3)
• January 2008 (1)