Australia’s best waterborne adventures, from the reef to the outback
Dip your toe in Australia’s best waterborne adventures.
SAFARI CRUISE, BAMURRU PLAINS, NT
Zooming along in a propeller airboat, skimming swampy floodplains as birds rise high above the paperbarks, is ridiculous fun. The Wild Bush Luxury group’s Bamurru Plains camp, centrepiece of a 300sq km private concession, is about as close to a true safari as it gets in Australia. Estuarine crocodiles abound, as do buffaloes, magpie geese and whistling ducks, and smaller native avian species aplenty. Barramundi fishing is another drawcard, as is luxury glamping in 10 tents. There’s a pool, convivial dining and lounging areas with reaching views, and expert guides on call. But being all but airborne across the Mary River catchment is the real rush, sort of Florida Everglades meets Crocodile Dundee, until the khaki-clad ranger stops the motor and there’s just reeds rustling, the splashing of long-legged ibis and egrets and the crescendo shrieks of plumed whistling ducks.
STAY: Bamurru Plains, naturally;
SUSAN KUROSAWA
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DOLPHIN-WATCHING, NELSON BAY, NSW
Whales are one thing, magisterial in their bearing and with a compelling mission. But dolphins? They’re more us. No doubt their mission is the same (staying alive), but they seem to take time out for fun. What greater joy than seeing dolphins surf waves together in the wild. So here’s the secret about dolphin-watching at Nelson Bay, Port Stephens, 30km north of Newcastle: there’s a community of about 120 of the bottlenose variety that live in these waters and viewing them on a cruise is a near certainty. I sail on a family-owned Moonshadow-TQC Cruises catamaran and, with coffee and pastry in hand, head to the observation deck. This is not a white-knuckle adventure, but the rewards are magnificent. We cut power at a respectful distance from a pod of about six dolphins; it’s hard to keep count as they dart, dive and rematerialise. These are the Artful Dodgers of the seas. I’m in bright blue waters with views of Tomaree and Yacaaba headlands, happy to laze and lap it up.
STAY: Bannisters Port Stephens, Soldiers Point; bannisters.com.au.
GRAHAM ERBACHER
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BRUNY ISLAND CRUISES, ADVENTURE BAY, TASMANIA
Things are more fun when you dress up, and the ankle-length red raincoats we don for our three-hour voyage mean things won’t be too cruisy. We’re off to The Friars, outcrops off South Bruny Island’s Tasman Head, where the Tasman Sea meets the Southern Ocean, and populated by a colony of Australian fur seals so languid they look like shiny Sphinxes on the wet rocks. We’re in the sleek boats typical of operator Rob Pennicott’s award-winning sea tours. Take your favourite seasickness remedy and get as close to the bow as you can for the full effect of the briny bumps. At times our speed matches that of a pod of dolphins going our way, while at others we roar through a gap between the cliffs and a rock stack that surely can’t be as close as it looks. You need to be in season for humpback whales, but albino wallabies on the point at the entrance to Adventure Bay are almost guaranteed.
STAY: Adventure Bay Retreat, Bruny Island; adventurebayretreat.com.au.
JEREMY BOURKE
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SNORKEL SAFARI, GREAT BARRIER REEF, QUEENSLAND
I jump off the boat and come eye to eye with a great big green turtle. This spot is living up to its nickname of “turtles’ reef”, part of Mackay Cay and one of two sites Ocean Safari snorkel tours visit from Cape Tribulation. Our boat leaves the Daintree Rainforest for another World Heritage-listed wonder, the Great Barrier Reef. It’s just 25 minutes from the beach to our first snorkel site, joyously bumping over small waves to a music mix that hits the right notes for all ages. Eagle rays, giant clams, lionfish and coral trout join our swim party before we move on to Undine Reef, where one coral formation looks like a giant brain. Even under a grey July sky, visibility is beautifully clear and the underwater world is a festival of natural colour.
STAY: Daintree Ecolodge; daintree-ecolodge.com.au
JANE NICHOLLS
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RIVER PADDLE, KIMBERLEY, WA
We’ve just spotted our first crocodile but I’m too busy trying to remember if we are meant to keep left or right of the island ahead to give it a second glance. On this three-day paddling adventure down the Ord River, all our canoeing gear has been supplied, and we sleep at two rustic riverside camps furnished with cooking equipment, cold showers, firewood and raised sleeping platforms, but it’s up to us to navigate our way from Lake Argyle to Kununurra using a map that’s out of date thanks to the last wet season flood. What could possibly go wrong? Not much as it turns out. We successfully negotiate the fast water on the first day, spend the second gliding between red gorge walls, lose count of the birds we see and fall asleep beneath boab trees as we watch stars shoot across the sky. The closest we come to calamity is when I almost capsize chasing a spider out of the canoe.
STAY: Kimberley Grande Resort, Kununurra; kimberleygrande.com.au
LEE ATKINSON
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CAGE DIVING WITH GREAT WHITES, SA
For a species so famous and feared, it’s remarkable how little we actually know about great whites, such as where they migrate to or why they don’t survive in captivity. So it’s redefining and very special to take a boat out to the Neptune Islands, 30km off Eyre Peninsula, and share the ocean with them in their natural state. Warmed by a wetsuit and adrenaline, I still can’t help but hear the ominous soundtrack of Jaws while nervously awaiting their arrival. Instead of bait, Adventure Bay Charters uses AC/DC music that pumps through the ocean to entice the naturally inquisitive creatures. As they orbit and nudge up to the submerged cage, I see them for what they really are — sleek, calm and quite beautiful creatures, a chilling riddle of the deep.
STAY: Port Lincoln Hotel; portlincolnhotel.com.au.
RICKY FRENCH
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WHALE-WATCHING, WILSONS PROMONTORY, GIPPSLAND, VICTORIA
If you’ve whale-watched anywhere along the east coast, you’d be used to seeing migratory humpbacks surging in a determined manner from their southern home in Antarctica to breed up north, before making their way back with calf in tow. But around the wildlife-rich waters of Wilsons Prom, the whales seem to have other ideas between September and November. Many are young males, hunting, jockeying for supremacy and genuinely showing off for each other and for anyone lucky enough to take a six-hour expedition with Wildlife Coast Cruises. These jaunts depart several times a week from Port Welshpool, and marine creatures come close enough to the boat to almost touch. Dolphins are so plentiful they make the sapphire-blue sea shimmer with silver, and you could also spot seals, penguins and even orcas.
STAY: Ross Farm, Meeniyan; rossfarm.com.au.
ALEXANDRA CARLTON
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SNORKELLING WITH MANTA RAYS, NORTH STRADBROKE ISLAND, QUEENSLAND
Five spotty leopard sharks laze in sandy patches of Moreton Bay Marine Park. Gorgeous as they are, my eyes are peeled for larger creatures beyond my mask. I’m on a snorkelling tour with Manta Lodge & Scuba Centre on Minjerrabah/North Stradbroke Island, 30 minutes by water taxi from Brisbane, to see the giant manta rays that frequent these waters. At Manta Bommie, off the island’s northeast corner, out of the depths comes a sleek black shape, later identified as Yayaa, No 623 of about 1500 mantas identified by the University of Queensland’s Project Manta as inhabiting Australian waters. Unperturbed by our presence, Yayaa shows off the unique belly markings that confirm her identity. Sightings of a frisky pod of dolphins, small hawksbill turtle, fishing cormorants, a bull shark and fish complete our day.
STAY: Stradbroke Island Beach Hotel, Point Lookout; stradbrokehotel.com.au.
LEE MYLNE
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RECHERCHE ISLANDS FISHING, ESPERANCE, WA
The granite islands off Esperance’s Twilight Beach melt like Dali clocks beneath the midday sun, but we just keep on hauling fish. We’re bobbing amid the Archipelago of the Recherche’s 105 rocky domes on Southern Conquest, a purpose-built, 20m fishing charter boat. Lined along its rail, a dozen anglers are reeling in snapper, wrasse, harlequin, nannygai and cod. A deckhand promptly guts and fillets each catch into individual ice tubs behind us. Local place names, recalling the frigates Recherche and L’Esperance that explored here in 1792, are a reminder of how close some parts of Australia came to being French. Between casts we check out rare Australian sea lions lolling on the protected islands, along with thousands of New Zealand fur seals. Come mid-afternoon we head for port having bagged at least 60 fish.
STAY: Yot Spot Holiday Apartments; yotspotesperance.com.au.
■ esperancedivingandfishing.com.au
JOHN BORTHWICK
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SNORKELLING, LIZARD ISLAND, QUEENSLAND
So famous are the potato cod on this ribbon reef in tropical north Queensland that the pool in which they congregate has been named Cod Hole. I hear stories about these giant, protected creatures on the boat trip from Lizard Island, and about the special dispensation that allows divers to feed them even though this is a protected marine reserve. Wind chops the water surface but beneath it lies a tranquil scene of corals slow-dancing and an array of brightly coloured fish darting like starbursts between their tendrils. But alas, the potato cod are nowhere to be seen; they must be conjured in our imaginations later, when we catch up with the divers in our group who stayed behind after we moved to another pool, and who have been rewarded with their presence. The fish are lumbering and angry-eyed, we are told, with protuberant lips that appear to have been enlarged by allergic reaction. But apparently they’re utterly charming in their own, unsightly way.
STAY: Lizard Island Resort; luxurylodgesofaustralia.com.au.
CATHERINE MARSHALL