This is why David Attenborough loves Heron Island

Heron Island to star in BBC’s Blue Planet Live as one of the world’s most famous environmental destinations.

Heron Island Resort.

I’m tucking into the best, freshest seafood buffet I’ve had in a long time and I don’t mind admitting it’s a struggle to stay focused on what Heron Island’s new general manager, Tony Barradale, is telling me about the place.

But just as I pop another succulent, ice-cold Pacific oyster in my mouth, he points out that the world’s environment top dog, David Attenborough, has been to the little island with the big reputation about 80km off the coast of Gladstone, not once but twice.

And, just as I’m digesting that interesting morsel along with the oyster, Barradale adds that the BBC is heading back to Heron this month to film footage for Blue Planet Live.

“Heron Island, as far as this environment is concerned,” he says, waving his own emptied shell in an arc for effect, “is world-famous, and we lose sight of that.

Heron Island is located about 80km off the coast of Gladstone and is in a Marine National Park Green Zone.

“Sometimes I don’t think we appreciate it so much because the Southern Great Barrier Reef is not [seen as being] cool. But the [coral] bleaching down here is virtually non-existent and the marine life is just extraordinary.”

Over plates also piled with sweet prawns, tender bugs and lightly grilled scallops – and a bowl of mussels coaxed open by a tomato and olive, wine and cream broth – Barradale and I have been discussing Heron Island’s history and its identity today as a reborn holiday destination.

He took over as GM at the end of 2017, appointed by new owners, the Canadian-based Aldesta Hotel Group, which bought the property from US company Delaware North, which had owned it since 2004.

“Is it even a resort?” Barradale considers my question. “Well, people are paying for a Great Barrier Reef experience and it’s almost a barefoot experience. You can walk along the pristine, white beaches, you can snorkel off those beaches [and off the dive boat], you can get your dive ticket, we’re in a Marine National Park Green Zone, it’s a bird sanctuary, and seeing the turtles is, I think, one of the most humbling experiences … this is David Attenborough stuff.”

Heron Island is famous for the turtles that return to nest from October to March.

I’ve hooked up with Barradale two days into my three-day sojourn on Heron, having caught the early morning flight out of Brisbane to Gladstone and then snagged a seat on a helicopter transfer to the island – a service restarted last year, following the change of ownership.

The half-hour flight out is smooth and Heron, rendered a dark emerald speck by a large, slowly passing cloud, looms into full view, spectacularly backlit by the sun hitting the azure, reef-shallow sea behind it.

The second the chopper shuts down, I’m struck by an avian cacophony and soon discover the black noddy terns, still in breeding residence, are thick on the ground or, rather, in the trees and in the air, along with a good few gulls screeching as they marshal their brown, fluffy chicks about the place.

Darting about as well are thousands of buff-banded rails issuing high-pitched squawks as they scurry after their young or in search of titbits, and also in abundance are the white and grey herons for which the coral cay is named, except they aren’t herons, but egrets … which, to be fair to those who made the error back in the day, do look very similar to herons.

Coral bleaching virtually non-existent in the Southern Great Barrier Reef.

If you suffer from ornithophobia, Heron Island may not be for you. But if you’re a bird-lover, or just have a keen affection for nature and all things beachy and marine, notably including the turtles that return to Heron to nest from October to March and the hatchlings which, sharks and seagulls permitting, begin their life there, then you’ll feel like you’re in paradise.

Heron may be a haven for green and loggerhead turtles these days but in the 1920s the island was the site of a turtle soup factory. Not surprisingly, the life of the cannery was brief as the turtle population was quickly decimated.

It was Christian Poulsen who in the 1930s established the island as a holiday destination. It was Poulsen, too, who purchased the wreck of the historically fascinating HMAS Protector, which still sits a little way out from the jetty where the Heron Islander ferry and all the dive and other boats tie up.

The island was declared a national park in 1951 and the resort, sited on a 7ha lease, and the 3.5ha University of Queensland-run research station (the work of which is lauded by Attenborough) must abide strictly by the laws governing the Capricornia Cays National Park, which takes in seven other islands in the vicinity.

Baby turtles hatching on Heron Island.

The necessary regulatory strictures, combined with the resort having to generate its own power and drinking water (via a desal plant), and ferry in everything else, makes running it expensive, something that’s reflected in the cost of staying there, even though the accommodation and facilities are not, as Barradale readily concedes, five-star.

Barradale is overseeing the administering of some TLC so “soft refurbishment” of the accommodation is under way, as are painting and general sprucing up of common areas. But, he says, the simple style of the rooms will not change, nor will the relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere. (There is a spa on the island, though it was closed for renovations during my stay.)

The ferry schedule is set for a tweak from April 3, aimed at maximising guests’ time on the island, and the inclusion of breakfasts and dinners (à la carte or buffet) from Heron’s sole restaurant – which has a new chef – in the room rates will apply from April 1. (Snorkelling gear will also be included.)

And for those wedded to five-star experiences, Aldesta intends to reopen nearby Wilson Island midyear for glamping, taking a maximum of 20 guests in 10 platform tents.

Heron Island is touted as world-class, with 20 dive sites just 10 minutes away by boat.

“This is high-end beachcomber stuff,” Barradale says, describing the tents as luxurious and with catering to be provided by a dedicated chef from the island’s “long house”.

I spent my days snorkelling and walking the island, including an enjoyable and educational turn with one of the resort’s resident scientists, Rachael, who also led a fascinating low-tide reef walk and delivered an informative talk on the sharks that inhabit the waters around Heron.

And there are plenty of them, along with a huge array of rays and fish species, all of which can be seen in abundance as you snorkel off the beach and around the jetty and the Protector, and when you take the dive boats for snorkelling or diving a little way offshore.

I don’t dive, but the diving off Heron is touted as world-class, with 20 dive sites just 10 minutes away in the dive boat.

I also had a captivating and enlightening tour of UQ’s facility, conducted by one of the scientific officers stationed there, who, among other things, explained its current research projects, including those that so captivated Attenborough and featured in his Great Barrier Reef series.

So if you want to walk in his footsteps or are simply hankering to get yourself and your family back to and mixing it with nature, then pack your comb and get beached on Heron.

The writer travelled to Heron Island courtesy of Aldesta

The best times to visit Heron Island are October to March for the turtles and June to September for an upfront view of the humpback whales.

WHEN TO GO

October to March for turtle nesting and hatching; June to September for humpback whale watching

GETTING THERE

Heron Islander ferry from Gladstone from $64 one-way (adult), including airport transfer; Marine Helicopters from $449 return; Australia by Seaplane from $349 one-way

ACCOMMODATION

Ranges from packages for two from $347 per night, including breakfast and turtle talk, to luxury Point suites for two from $812 up to $1350 (Note: breakfasts, dinners and snorkelling gear inclusive from April 1)

heronisland.com or ph 1800 875 343