Glamping on Wilson Island
Imagine being cast away on your very own desert island … a coral cay lush with greenery and bird life and fringed with white sand. Day after day you would swim in the clear blue ocean and spot giant green turtles, manta rays and rainbow-hued fish and coral.
This was the reality of my recent holiday on Wilson Island on the southern tip of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. It genuinely was a desert island – all the water had to be brought in by boat – but this was not an episode of Survivor.
I guess this is what you call “glamping” – glamorous camping. Our so-called tents were really canvas cabins with wooden floors, a double bed with heavy linen, a wardrobe and a deck with a hammock and ocean views. We also had hot showers, a chef to cook gourmet meals three times a day, and champagne and nibblies on the beach at sunset each evening.
Before the Green-Eyed Monster makes you start throwing things at me, I hasten to add that I am unaccustomed to such luxury on my vacations. This was my honeymoon and we were happy to splurge. While it might sound terribly exotic, it was actually relatively local considering I’m Australian and my wedding was in Sydney.
I was drawn to Wilson Island because of its natural beauty – particularly the fact it was a turtle breeding island and known for its fabulous snorkeling right off the beach. It’s part of the Capricornia Cays National Park and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The last thing I wanted was for my presence to harm the ecology of this natural wonderland.
Tourism can be a mixed blessing. In many places around the world, including Australia, natural beauty has been destroyed or diminished by over-development. Yet tourism makes conservation of this beautiful part of the world not just morally desirable but also economically viable – no mean feat given the amount of oil estimated to be buried beneath the reef. About 1.6 million people visit the reef every year, delivering revenue of more than $AUS1 billion.
The Great Barrier Reef has thousands of islands; some of them are quite developed, while others are closed to humans and you risk a fine of thousands of dollars even stepping on to the island.
I was impressed by the balance at Wilson Island. There are only 12 guests allowed on the island at one time, plus two hosts who do all the cooking and cleaning. There are no permanent buildings on the island and the tents are scattered to give maximum privacy. The water is brought in and the grey water is shipped back out again (while the sewage is held in sceptic tanks). There is no power generator on the island – the hot water and limited electricity in the kitchen and communal long tent all run off solar power. (Luckily there’s plenty of sunshine in this part of the world). All the garbage is shipped off the island and the bottles and paper are sorted for recycling.
As it is a national park and a marine park, guests are reminded not to interfere with nature. The rule is to look but not touch – to take only photographs and leave only footprints. That can be hard. If you come at the right time of year, as we did, you might see baby turtles hatching and racing for their lives down the beach. With seagulls circling overhead and reef sharks lurking just off the beach, ready to snack on tasty baby turtle, it can be tempting to give Mother Nature a hand. It is important not to succumb to the urge so that the eco-system of the reef can keep its natural balance.
If you find yourself in this part of the world and you are looking for a romantic break, then I recommend you check out Wilson Island. When we booked, they were offering five nights for the price of four. While the price of $AUS700 per night seemed steep at the time, it is all-inclusive. And when they say everything is included, they mean everything. It includes a free boat transfer from nearby Heron Island (also a nice island but more of a family resort and much, much bigger), all your food including picnic hampers if you prefer not to eat communally, an open bar stocked with copious amounts of wine, beer and spirits, and use of a wetsuit, mask and snorkel, flippers. Even the sunscreen is free. We actually ended up spending more money in total in six days on Heron Island than five days on Wilson Island, though admittedly that included two dive trips at Heron.
The Great Barrier Reef is considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World but like so many of Earth’s treasures it’s under threat from climate change.
UPDATE 5/28/2009 Wilson Island is certified under Australia’s Eco Certification Program. The resort is closed from 26 January to 28 February for the bird nesting season.
The writer and her husband took the holiday in a personal capacity and paid for it in full.
Images courtesy Caitlin Fitzsimmons
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14 Comments
May 27th, 2009 at 6:42 am
I’ve just read Luanne’s post from last year on the effect of sunscreen on coral. http://www.ecosalon.com/coral_is_feeling_the_burn/
The sunscreen is free at Wilson Island. I don’t recall if it’s biodegradable or not but I’ve just emailed the feedback team to suggest that it should be. If I’d known about this in advance, I might also have used the wetsuit rather than the bikini + sunscreen combo a bit more.
Caitlin’s last blog post..Swimming with the turtles
May 27th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Thank you for writing about your honeymoon destination! It’s so important to splurge when celebrating something as important as marriage, so while I’m a little jealous, I can’t blame you.
One of my dreams is to get a permit to dive the Reef – my dad owns a SCUBA shop, has been teaching for thirty-odd years and has endangered dive experience – so I can see this wonder before it’s too late.
Jennifer Nicole’s last blog post..What About Wednesday?
May 27th, 2009 at 11:07 am
You definitely should go if you ever get the chance! You don’t need a special permit to dive the reef if you go with a licensed dive operator but if you are wanting to dive independently then you might. Good luck!
Caitlin’s last blog post..Swimming with the turtles
May 27th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Wilson Island sounds a great place to visit for a very relaxing time away from the world!
Miguel’s last blog post..The Worst Wedding Traditions
May 28th, 2009 at 4:00 am
Very nice post, never have heard of Glamping, but i am sure in places like this it makes all the sence. Great barrier reef is a dream of a life trip, that i am trying to do for the last years, although more and more i read i see there’s so many different trips for the same place.
This island will be bookmarked on my trip report, maybe one day i will touch it … Thanks for sharing
May 28th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Miguel, it was definitely relaxing! We had no internet, no telephone or mobile phone reception, no television or radio, no daily newspapers. We could just totally switch off from the stress of modern life and swim, snorkel, eat, drink and read books. I think it was probably the most relaxing holiday of my adult life!
John, I hope you make it some day. Don’t leave it too long!
Caitlin’s last blog post..Swimming with the turtles
May 28th, 2009 at 10:24 am
PS I’ve had an email back from the management at Wilson Island saying that they will investigate whether they can offer biodegradable sunscreen. Fingers crossed!
Caitlin’s last blog post..Swimming with the turtles
June 7th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Good news – I’ve received the following email from Wilson Island management. I’m going to suggest they stock it in the gift shop at Heron Island and their other resorts too.
Hi Caitlin,
Further to your initial email to our Reservations Team, we have made some enquiries regarding biodegradable sunscreen.
While the jury seems to still be out on the extent of damage caused to coral reefs from sunscreen, we have done our own research and put forward recommendations to provide guests on Wilson Island with a 100% natural, totally biodegradable, Australian-made, coral-friendly sunscreen called ‘Sunclear’. We have also identified another option produced by Soleo Organics which is available through mainstream chemists.
We will endeavour to source and purchase the new biodegradable sunscreen for guests on Wilson Island in the coming weeks.
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We are always looking for ways to further improve our guests’ experiences whilst they stay with us, and so we welcome and act on constructive feedback wherever we can.
Kind regards
[name redacted]
Caitlin’s last blog post..Photo Friday: Crusaders and saracens battle for Krak des Chevaliers in Syria
June 12th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Wow! That’s a tent???? I might be able to get Lyndsay ‘camping’ after all!!
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:09 am
WOW – what an incredible honeymoon!! what a lovely time – i am so glad you went. i would LOVE to go. i am also very impressed at their response to your sunscreen query. i’d definitely support this business. thanks!
October 13th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Beautiful! What a nice location and it looks breathtaking. What time of year did you go? Thanks for sharing.
October 13th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
@Debbie I was there in April this year.
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