Caught hook, line 'n' sinker on Mackerel Islands

CHRIS Pritchard discovers a stunning hideaway off the West Australian coast where you can snorkel through coral reefs among colourful schools of tropical fish.

WESTERN Australia's islands are among the least known in the country. Just how obscure becomes clear when I tell friends I am headed to the Mackerel Islands.

"Where's that?" they ask, never having heard the name but deciding it suggests I'm involved in something fishy.

That said, "the Mackerels" - as locals call them - are a superb hideaway. About 1400km north of Perth, the islands are 10 Indian Ocean pinpricks clustered off Onslow - coral atolls protected by reefs where you can snorkel among vast schools of multi-hued tropical fish.

I step ashore on to a white-sand beach seemingly custom-made for lazing. The islands, almost flat against the sea, are off the continent's western edge.

Thevenard Island, largest in the group, stretches for 6km but is only 1.2km at its widest. The only inhabited island, it is home to the archipelago's solitary holiday option - Mackerel Islands Resort.

Guests have the run of the island and the resort also leases a small part of otherwise uninhabited Direction Island, a 20-minute boat ride away. A lone A-frame house on Direction Island was rented to holidaymakers but it is no longer available because a more luxurious replacement is under construction.

All land, except for the resort's leases and an oil company's Thevenard base, is national parkland where human habitation is taboo.

Mackerel Islands Resort prides itself on its easygoing atmosphere.

"People want to unwind - they don't want to follow a long set of dress rules," said wheat farmer Graham Shields, part-owner of the resort.

So don't expect a health club with indulgent massages, a cocktail bar offering deep couches or a fancy restaurant serving complicated dishes.

The bar is basic, decorated by photos in which people proudly display their catch of the day. The restaurant serves heaped platters of delicious down-home tucker - including just-caught fish.

"Just call me the cook, mate," pleaded Harold Booth, creator of brilliant-but-simple fare. Accommodation is in 11 cabins next to a beach. Externally unprepossessing, they are internally spacious and furnished to four-star motel standard.

More modest lodgings are nearby, in a 30-room demountable motel wing that served elsewhere as miners' quarters. Bathrooms are shared. Amenities include a swimming pool.

Snorkelling, diving, bird-watching, bush-walking or simply lazing about are popular diversions. But all these are dwarfed by fishing.

I notice this as soon as I arrive. Most people are here to drop a line - it's a renowned fishing FAST FACTS in the west.

Common catches are Spanish mackerel, snapper, cod, yellow-fin tuna, red emperor and coral trout. Out to sea, I notice playful dolphins leaping out of the clear blue water and I'm told humpback whales visit each winter.

The writer was a guest of Australia's North West Tourism.

Sunday Mail (SA)