Heron Island in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is among the Australian resorts recently acquired by Delaware North. Delaware North specializes in tourism in national parks and significant sites, including Yosemite National Park in the United States and Niagara Falls. The company is yet to announce its plans but hopefully it intends to improve on what’s there and not try to over-develop it. Likely there will be limits to what they can do anyway, since part of the island is protected by the Capricornia Cays National Park.

The pristine beaches of Heron Island

I loved my time on Heron Island back when it was owned by Voyages so I wanted to share some of the things that make it so special. Heron Island is a coral cay on the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef – the largest coral reef in the world. The tiny island is covered with dense vegetation, habitat to a vast array of bird life, and fringed with white sand beaches and shallow aquamarine waters filled with tropical fish.

The beach at Heron Island is also an important turtle nesting site. Early in the year, you might see huge mother turtles haul themselves out of the water and up the beach to lay their eggs by moonlight. By March and April, you could see hundreds of turtle hatchlings running to the sea as you take a sunset walk along the beach. We did and it was quite magical!

There are thousands of islands on the Great Barrier Reef and each is special in its own way. On Heron Island, you won’t find high-rise construction and vast swathes of concrete. The island has been left in as natural state as possible and guests are asked to help protect that, for example by closing the curtains at night so baby turtles don’t get confused by the light, and sticking to the pathways so you don’t accidentally collapse the nest of a ground-burrowing ‘mutton bird’ (or burrowing shearwater). All the buildings are low rise.

View of Heron Island from helicopter

Heron Island is a family-friendly holiday destination. Although it’s a small resort, there is plenty to do for adults and children alike – diving and snorkeling on the coral reef, swimming at the beach or in the pool, guided walks around the island and reef, and playing tennis (though they needed new balls when I was there). I recommend a package that includes meals since there are no other restaurants on the island. The closest mainland town is Gladstone on Queensland’s mid-north coast and you can reach Heron Island either by boat or helicopter transfer. If you can afford it, the helicopter ride is very cool!

Many flights to Australia from North America are via Sydney – and I certain recommend you check out the sights of Australia’s biggest city (and my hometown).

Photo credit: Caitlin Fitzsimmons. All rights reserved, used with permission. See more of Caitlin’s photos on Flickr.

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Caitlin Fitzsimmons is a native Sydneysider currently based in San Francisco. She runs the travel and food blog Roaming Tales.