heron island is a small island (it takes about 30 minutes to walk all the way around), about 2 hours off the coast of gladstone, out on the great barrier reef. heron island is a bird and turtle sanctuary, and is surrounded by a coral cay. on the island there is research station on one side, and a resort on the other. when sarah-mae was in australia before, she spent time on the island - at the research station. it was what sparked our plans to journey back down under when we turned 30, and was really planned to be the best part of the trip (spoiler alert: it was!)
the ferry ride out was fantastic, although sarah quickly had to move to the shade since she forgot to put sunscreen in her day bag. before we knew it, we were pulling up to dock at heron island!
our first look at heron island
we headed over to the resort, where we had an introduction (with tropical drinks!) to the resort, which was keyless and cashless... since the only people on the island are guests, staff, and researchers, they don't worry about locking doors (although they offered safes for any valuables). and, anything you purchase (snorkel rental, dinner, drinks) you charge to the room. it was actually wonderful not to have to worry about carrying a wallet or anything for our entire visit!
after our introduction, we went to lunch, where we ate at a table overlooking the water. then, we headed to our room, where our luggage had been deposited. our room was simple but nice, and just thirty yards from the beach. we headed over to the information center to join in the scheduled island walk. the woman leading our walk took us down to the beach and told us about the island as we walked along the shore. even from the shore we could see sting rays, and a LOT of sharks (mostly reef sharks). we walked down to the eastern point of the island, and headed inland to continue our walk. here is where it all went wrong. as soon as we headed into the trees, we were swarmed by monstrous, steriod-pumped, mosquitos (which the aussies call "mossies"). swarmed. sarah-mae and i were both wearing bug spray, but that did nothing to slow down these blood-sucking giants. our guide apologized and picked up the pace, and we tried to listen to her as we constantly kept swatting at each other to keep the mossies away. by the time we returned to the resort area, we were eaten alive. we had to have at least 40 bites between the two of us! the mossies continued to be a problem throughout our visit, although after the first day they weren't quite so bad. but let's not dwell on literally the worst part of our trip.
after our island walk, we headed to the "marine center" to rent snorkel gear, and we hit the beach. because heron is right in the center of the coral cay, you can snorkel right off the beach into the coral. we didn't go out very far, but still saw a bunch of sting rays and lots of fish! we snorkeled a while, and then headed over to the bar for a happy hour drink just before sunset. we took our drinks out on to the patio and sat down at a table with a great view of the western horizon. the sunset was gorgeous, and that became a heron island tradition for us.
after sunset, we headed back to the room to clean up and get ready for dinner. dinner was a bit fancier than i expected, and with limited veggie options, but overall the food was okay. there was definitely less stuff to do after dinner than there had been to do during the day, but we ended up reading and downloading the day's pictures and then hitting the sack a bit early. we wanted to get a good night's sleep so that we could enjoy our first full day on heron island!
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