Home Destinations Australia and The Pacific Australia Great Barrier Reef Sights Lady Elliot Island

Lady Elliot Island Review

Read our Great Barrier Reef sights reviews. Or post your own.

Lady Elliot Island

Map It

Category: Islands
Location: Lady Elliot Island

Write a review

Fodor's Review:

Lady Elliot Island is a 104-acre coral cay on the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef, positioned 85 km (50 mi) off the Queensland coast, within easy reach of Bundaberg. One of just six island resorts actually on the Reef, it's a high-level Marine National Park Zone. Wildlife here easily outnumbers the guests (a maximum of 105 can visit at any one time)—and that reality is underscored by the ammoniacal odor of thousands of nesting seabirds and, in season, the sounds and sights of them courting, mating, and nesting. Ornithophobes might want to holiday elsewhere.

Divers will enjoy the easy access to the reef and the variety of diving sites around Lady Elliot. Fringed on all sides by the reef and blessed with a stunning white-sand, coral-strewn shore, this oval isle seems to have been made for diving—there's a busy dive shop and a reef education center complete with saltwater-fish, turtle, shell, and other marine-themed exhibits (plus an educational video library—great for rainy days). The land is often battered by waves, which can sometimes cancel dives and wash out underwater visibility. When the waters are calm, you'll see turtles, morays, sharks, rays, and millions of tropical fish. Many divers visit Lady Elliot specifically to encounter the large resident population of manta rays that feed off the coral.

From October to April, Lady Elliot becomes a busy breeding ground for crested and bridled terns, silver gulls, lesser frigate birds, and the rare red-tailed tropic bird. Between November and March, green and loggerhead turtles emerge from the water to lay their eggs; hatching takes place after January. During the hatchling season, staff biologists host guided turtle-watching night hikes. From about July through October, pods of humpback whales are visible from the beachfront restaurant.

Lady Elliot is one of the few islands in the area where camping—albeit modified—is part of the resort, and a back-to-basics theme pervades the accommodations.

Find more sights in Great Barrier Reef »