OzAnimals Travel

Pumpkin Island is a beautiful and humble little island along the Capricorn Coast, within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Reserve.  The island is situated 16km off the coast of Yeppoon, 10km north of Great Keppel Island, 42km east of Rockhampton, and over 650km north of Brisbane.

Totaling just 6.1 hectares (450M long and just 150M wide at the widest point!), the island is nestled in sheltered Keppel Bay, and surrounded by the Keppel group of islands (just south of North Keppel Island). The privately-owned island offers visitors eco-friendly accommodation in but five self-contained and self-catered beach cottages.  Wind and solar power provide electricity on the island, and freshly filtered rainwater provides drinking water for guests.

Daydream Island is a stunning and quiet island located in the Whitsunday’s island chain within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The Whitsundays Coast Islands are probably the most famous of all of the Queensland Islands, totaling 74 different islands.

Daydream Island – one kilometer long and half a kilometer wide – is well-suited for couples and families.

Natural environment

Daydream Island has three beaches, one of which – Lover’s Cove Beach – is surrounded by live coral and diverse fish life, providing a great venue for snorkeling right from the beach.

The Cocos and Keeling Islands are an Australian territory, located in the Indian Ocean about halfway between Sri Lanka and Australia. The island group consists of 2 atolls and 27 coral islands.

Cocos Islands are not for holidaymakers seeking fancy resorts, plentiful shopping opportunities, an active restaurant or nightlife, or a plethora of water sports and activities.

Instead, the Cocos Islands are for folks who want to get away…from it all. If you imagine yourself walking along on a deserted beach or swinging in a quiet hammock, not hounded by beach boys or too many rowdy families, this is the place for you.

Christmas Island is probably best known to Australians for its processing centre for asylum seekers, but this island has a lot to offer as a travel destination. It is a quiet tropical island located in the Indian Ocean south of Jakarta, Indonesia. Though an Australian territory, it is rich in Malay and Chinese culture due to historical influences – it is just 360km away from Java but 2600km north-west of Perth, Australia.

Christmas Island is quite off the beaten (tourist) path, making it an ideal spot for travelers who want to get away from it all.

Bribie Island has something for everyone – white sandy beaches, protected rainforest, convenient towns, and accessibility by road from the mainland.

34km long and 8km wide, it is home to about 15,000 residents.  The island offers a 30km white sandy beach on its eastern side. The northern three-quarters of the island is an undeveloped and protected Recreation Area (a national park), whereas the southern end – where the bridge is located – is mostly developed. Over 80% of the population lives on the island’s western shore.

Part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Bedarra is a privately-owned island in the middle of the Family Islands National Park (the island itself is not part of the national park).

Bedarra Island is small, about 1km in size, and is located about halfway between Townsville and Cairns (130km south-east of Cairns), off the northern Queensland coast.

The best way to describe Bedarra is as a tranquil, secluded, and exclusive place to escape.

Brampton Island is a small remote island 32 kilometers off the coast of Mackay in Queensland, Australia.  The beautiful island is the southernmost island of the renowned Whitsunday Island Passage.

The island is known for its beautiful national park, the Brampton Islands National Park, which takes up most of the island’s 770-hectare landmass.  The island is also located within the UNESCO Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area.

Brampton Island offers but one accommodation option, a Voyages resort.

The Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, NSW has teamed up with leading conservation organisations to develop Devil Ark which is being build in the Barrington Tops of NSW and will provide a major component of a coordinated Australia-wide Tasmanian devil breeding program. From an initial founding group of 48 Tasmanian devils scheduled to arrive at the facility in November, a captive bred population of 360 devils is anticipated by 2016. A second stage of the development will see the population increased to 900 Tasmanian devils by 2020.

This is a list of animal species at Taronga Zoo compiled from information on the zoo web site as at April 2009.

Mammals

Naturaliste Reptile Park is a small reptile park in Margaret River region of Western Australia that showcases local Western Australian reptiles and frogs. The park is owned and operated by stonemason Roger Jackson and his partner Kim, and opened in 2007. The attraction is under cover and features attractive stonework with large glass windows to view the reptiles. The Park is small, but the quality of the displays is excellent.