60 Minutes goes inside eerie abandoned ghost resorts

A bizarre combination of factors have conspired to leave once picture-perfect Aussie holiday destinations abandoned for good.

The swimming pool tiled with Dunk Island’s signature blue butterflies is full of water, but the one-time popular Queensland resort is otherwise empty.

It is one of more than a dozen formerly perfect paradise resorts that have been left abandoned after the region’s most fierce cyclones — Yasi and Debbie — tore through in 2011 and 2017.

Other factors, including climate change and cheap overseas travel, conspired to leave these places in disarray.

Pictures and video captured by 60 Minutes show for the first time exactly how far removed the resort islands are from their former glory days.

The program spoke with tour operators and resort owners who lamented the old days.

South Molle Island resort before.

The swimming pool on South Molle Island now.

South Molle Island from above.

On South Molle Island, reporter Charles Wooley was shocked by what he saw. Touring with Whitsunday resident, Dan Van Blarcom, the pair shared slightly different descriptions.

Wooley called it “not real flash”. Blarcom replied: “Looks like a crack house”.

South Molle Island is abandoned. It was bought by a Chinese company after Cyclone Debbie tore through — leaving behind a path of absolute destruction. It has since been left to rot.

The swimming pool is full of plastic chairs and dirt.

On Lindeman Island where holiday-goers once flocked to Club Med, there are no such scenes.

The bar is abandoned, as are all the rooms. There’s broken glass everywhere.

The pool — once a bright blue lagoon — is a murky brown colour now. It still looks out on crystal clear waters but the vantage point is muddy and there’s nobody around.

Club Med at Lindeman Island before.

Paradise pre-2017.

Lindeman Island is a shadow of its former self now.

Of about 30 resorts that were packed full of visitors before the two storms hit six years apart, 15 are abandoned.

On Dunk Island, the owner is hoping to sell up for a business opportunity. Others have managed to survive, though making a profit is difficult and there’s a huge risk involved.

Sam and Kerri Ann Charlton purchased Bedarra just after Cyclone Yasi hit. They told Wooley that nothing has been the same since Dunk Island went under.

“Dunk Island was the biggest driver of the Mission Beach economy, and since Dunk has closed, it’s never really recovered,” Sam said.

Kerri-Anne says that while the couple have shared in success, they wish others were experiencing the same.

South Molle Island is in the same state it was after storms hit.

“Sam and I often get the comment, ‘Oh you must be pleased that there’s not many opening,’” she said. No. We want them open. We want everyone to experience not just the Great Barrier Reef, but what we have to offer. And seeing them not open it’s actually just really sad.”

Cyclone Yasi crossed the coast on February 3, 2011 as a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone. It smashed into Mission Beach and Dunk Island carrying winds upwards of 285km/h.

It was the biggest storm in Queensland’s history.

Cyclone Debbie made landfall on March 28, 2017 at the Whitsunday Islands carrying winds upwards of 263km/h.

The Queensland coast and its island resorts have never been the same.

60 Minutes screens on Sunday nights on Channel 9