Fitzroy Island

This ruggedly picturesque, heavily forested island is 94% national park, with vegetation ranging from rain forest to heath, and an extensive fringing coral reef. Only 6 km (4 mi) from Cairns (less than an hour's cruise), the 988-acre island, once connected to the mainland, was a hunting, gathering and ceremonial ground for the Gungandji people, who called it Kobaburra, before Cook re-named it in 1770. Today, it's popular with day-trippers, and houses a newly built resort and a water-sports hut. From June to August, manta rays and humpback whales swim around the island as part of their migratory route.