TAKE A day out of time and discover the magical place where two World Heritage Areas meet on a Hinchinbrook Island Ferries tour.

Truly, it’s a different world. You see vastly different landscapes and habitats in one amazing day as you are transported between the Wet Tropics Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

The day cruise leaves from the Port Hinchinbrook Marina (just south of Cardwell) at 9.00am. The purpose-built 19m Baycat ferry, the “Hinchinbrook Explorer”, gives uninterrupted views as you discover the waters of the Channel and Missionary Bay. Sheltered waters are home to sea turtles, Irrawaddy dolphins and shy dugongs. Estuarine crocodiles inhabit the mangrove forest, which in itself is botanically fascinating as it has 25 of the world’s 68 species of mangrove.

As well as commentaries about the ecology and history of this special area, the tour organisers give you time to do a bit of exploring at your own pace.

There are three hours of free time, and you can use it to be as active or as laidback as you wish. You can choose to bushwalk from Macushla, which is a 5.3km walk through woodland, beach and rainforest and ends at the Hinchinbrook Island Wilderness Lodge. You need to prebook your picnic lunch to take with you when you disembark from the “Hinchinbrook Explorer”.

If you’re not feeling quite so energetic, stay on the ferry en route for the Wilderness Lodge, where you can dine in open-air style or take a picnic lunch down to Orchid Beach.

After lunch, some people laze around the pool and others take a dip at Orchid Beach then do some beachcombing. When the hikers come in, they often round off their day with a drink at the Lodge before reboarding the ferry enroute for Cardwell.

The ferry also provides transfers to the island for campers and people going on the famous Thorsborne Trail. And of course, it’s the transport method of choice if you want to stay at the Wilderness Lodge for a while.

If you haven’t been in a treehouse since you were a child, Hinchinbrook Island is the place to try it. The Lodge offers amazing treehouse accommodation with floor-to-ceiling glass frontages. Boardwalks link them to the rest of the complex. This is eco-indulgence at its best! Or choose a self-contained beach cabin. Then spend your days joining the guided walks, snorkelling nearby reefs and indulging yourself at the bar and a la carte restaurant.

---