Long Island, Whitsundays: Three Ways To Go Off-Grid

Getting There

Airlie Beach is the mainland town most Whitsundays trips start from, and the Shute Harbour Marine Terminal, about 15 minutes further along the coast, is where the boats leave. Long Island is not on the big ferry network that serves Hamilton and Daydream. Island Transfers runs a scheduled boat instead, with a mid-morning and a late-afternoon departure, and that thinner timetable is a large part of why the island stays quiet.

Your seat is booked through wherever you are staying, and the crossing takes roughly 20 to 30 minutes. Private charters run from Hamilton Island and Coral Sea Marina, and both properties can arrange a helicopter. Book the transfer at the same time as the room, not after, and confirm the departure times when you do: the timetable moves with the flight schedules and it is not designed to flex around a late arrival.

What Is On The Island

Nine kilometres long, and in places narrow enough to walk across in a few minutes. It sits close in to the coast, with less than a kilometre of water between the island and the mainland, although the boats run from Shute Harbour further up the coast rather than straight across.

Almost all of the island is protected as part of Molle Islands National Park, one of several parks covering the Whitsunday islands, so the built footprint is tiny: two small properties, a campsite and a network of walking tracks through rainforest, eucalypt forest and vine thicket. These islands are the sea country of the Gia and Ngaro peoples, described by Queensland Parks as sea country specialists who lived off the intertidal zones, fringing reefs and surrounding seas.

Tracks From Palm Bay

Distances are return trips, per Queensland Parks.

• Pandanus Bay, 900m, 30 minutes. Across the island's narrow neck to a rocky, pandanus-lined beach.
• Round Hill circuit, 1.5km, 30 minutes. A short climb and a look out over the Whitsunday Passage.
• Humpy Point, 2.6km, 1 hour. Headland views south.
• Sandy Bay, 5.8km, 3 hours. The island's quietest beach, on foot.

One loop does not start here. Queensland Parks lists the Long Island circuit, 3.5km and about 1.5 hours, from Happy Bay at the northern end, where the resort has been closed since 2015, so you walk up the island to reach it. For trails across the rest of the region, see walks and hikes in the Whitsundays.

What You Will See

Wallabies, and plenty of them. Goannas sunning themselves on the tracks. Sea eagles and, in the wet-season months, a rotating cast of migratory birds.

Between May and September, humpback whales use the Whitsundays as a calving ground, and sightings peak from July to September. Green, loggerhead, hawksbill and flatback turtles all occur here, and dugong graze the seagrass beds.

There is fringing reef off the island, close enough to snorkel straight from the beach. Be realistic about it: the coral gardens most people picture are out on the Great Barrier Reef proper, a boat trip further offshore, while Long Island sits close to the coast where visibility swings with wind and tide. Treat a snorkel here as a good hour of your afternoon, and book a snorkelling and diving trip separately if the reef is why you came.

Before You Go

Best months. Queensland Parks nominates April to September, when daytime temperatures sit around 21 to 26 degrees. August to October are the driest months by a wide margin.

Marine stingers. Present in tropical Queensland waters all year, with higher risk from October to May. Official advice is to wear a full-body lycra suit when swimming, and there are no stinger nets on Long Island.

Crocodiles. Warnings apply in this region. Read the signage and do not swim where you are told not to.

No shops. There is a small shop at Palm Bay and nothing anywhere else. Bring medication, reef-safe sunscreen, insect repellent and anything you cannot do without.

Check park alerts. Queensland Parks publishes planned burns, track closures and warnings for Molle Islands National Park. Check the park alerts page in the week before you travel.