Holbourne Island QLD

Great Barrier Reef island is a major nesting area for turtles and birds. Highlights include rocky escarpments, fringing reef and secluded beaches and is some 40 kilometers north of Bowen (Queensland) and is the most northern and remote island of the greater Whitsunday region.

This continental island actually is a 33 ha national park and its surrounding waters are protected as a Marine Conservation Park, part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Holbourne Island National Park shows rocky escarpments, two sandy beaches and somewhat sheltered coral reefs. The vegetation ranges from vine thickets on the shore to grasslands and stunted shrubs on the hillsides with a small forest of Pisonia trees.

The beaches offer nesting ground for green turtles and flatback turtles. From October to March coastal and migratory birds visit the reef flats and beaches as stopover points to roost, feed or breed during their annual migration. Terns, boobies, frigatebirds and noddies are most commonly seen, but Eastern Ospreys and White-bellied Sea-Eagle have been recorded, too.