DIRK HARTOG
ISLAND
WAPICNIC ISLAND
TA SFROM TOP Dirk
Hartog Island’s wild
coastline; protected
bays at Dirk Hartog
are perfect for
snorkelling; close
to nature on Picnic
Island. OPPOSITE,
FROM TOP
Direction Island in
the Cocos (Keeling)
Islands; perfect
views; the Big
Barge Art Centre on
CKI’s West Island.
OPENER Dirk
Hartog Island.The luxury lodge at Picnic Island lies
800 metres of Tasmania’s Freycinet
Peninsula, ofering enviable views across
the pink-tinted granite of The Hazards
mountain range. One of Australia’s few
private freehold islands, Picnic’s history
is told via evidence scattered across the
landscape, from shell middens left by
Indigenous inhabitants to a sandstone
quarry that was built by convicts.
These days, however, Picnic Island
belongs to the wildlife, with a colony of
shearwaters and penguins nesting here.
An environmentally friendly boardwalk
encircles the island, allowing guests to
see penguins returning to their burrows
at night. Despite the feathered company,
it’s the sense of seclusion — and also the
island’s relationship with the elements
— that really makes a trip here so special.
“You get to appreciate the natural
environment, and how diferent the
island is, because you’re totally exposed
to all that nature,” says Clem Newton-
Brown, who is the owner of Picnic Island.
“You have amazing days where the water
is like glass and you can snorkel and
catch abalone and crayfish, and the next
day it might be a howling gale with waves
crashing underneath your bedroom.”
No matter the weather conditions, it’s
a very comfortable place to nest. Ten
guests can stay across four individual
cabins, with interiors featuring work by
local artists. Sculptor Patricia Piccinini
was commissioned to create pieces for
the alfresco spaces, while the copper-
clad buildings blend into the natural
surroundings. http://www.picnicisland.com.au.
It may be one of the last places the sun touches
in Australia, but Dirk Hartog Island was one of
the first to leave its mark on European history.
“What sets it apart from any other place in
Australia is the history,” says Kieran Wardle
who, along with his wife, Tory, pioneered
tourism on the 80-kilometre-long isle.
An inscribed pewter plate let on the island
marked Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog’s landing in- In 1699, navigator William Dampier
sourced the first collection of botanical
specimens from Australia here. Despite the
island’s historic roots, it was only in the 1990s
that it opened up to tourism, ater being used
for pearling, guano mining and cattle farming.
Today, visitors to the island — whether
staying at the island’s eco-lodge or taking their
own 4WD on the purpose-built barge across to
the island — find it’s Dirk Hartog’s natural
beauty that appeals. Highlights include the
blush-coloured hues of Rose Lake and the
thundering blowholes that can be seen up to
20 kilometres away during a big swell.
But for Wardle, it’s the unexpected
encounters that make Dirk Hartog special.
“You’re just back to nature, there’s no crowds
and no big numbers and you can actually relax.”
More ambitious plans are in place for Dirk
Hartog, thanks to the Return to 1616 project,
designed to eradicate invasive species and
repopulate the island with native fauna. This
ecological project aims to bring the island back
to what it was when Europeans first landed,
401 years ago. http://www.dirkhartogisland.com.