Australia
Lady Elliot Island

Lady Elliot Island.

The southernmost section of the Great Barrier Reef, this tiny coral cay, a 90km (65miles) light-plane flight from Hervey Bay, is a cheerful little eco-resort, home to many tens of thousands of birds, particularly the white-capped noddy, but also at night amazing acapellas can be heard from the wailing, moaning, groaning wedge-tail shearwaters.
Turtles lay eggs which hatch at night on Lady Elliot's beaches, from Nov-March, though they don't exactly swarm and can be difficult to find.

Diving and snorkelling here at the end of the GB reef is good if conditions are calm, otherwise visibility goes down the pan. And since the island is very small and very exposed conditions are rarely calm.
There is a neat but newish little wreck, many good coral bommies and plenty of small sharks, manta and sting rays, turtles, maori wrasse etc.

Lady Elliot Island birds, Australia

Lady Elliot Island and a few of the 60,000 white-capped noddies.

Hervey Bay, gateway to Fraser and Lady Elliot Islands is a pleasant town - tho not exactly lively - loaded with beach and places to stay - most of them still unlisted in popular travel guides so don't panic about finding a place to stay. If you have no transport, try to find accommodation not too far from the Esplanade intersection with Main St or you're looking at a lot of walking to find food, drink or entertainment.
Hervey's long, sandy beach is just south of the Great Barrier Reef and so usually free of toxic jellies that prevent sea swimming further north, while the shady esplanade provides an attractive fringe, but the town centre is still young and lacks a hard core or the buzz that Cairns and Airlie Beach thrive on.

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