Ten islands that each do one thing brilliantly — reef, wildlife, sand or solitude — and how to choose the one that fits your trip.
An island forces a kind of focus. You commit to the crossing, and in return you get a self-contained world: a reef cay you can walk around in an hour, a sand island the size of a small country, a wildlife haven where the animals never learned to fear people.
We've picked ten that span the range, from easy day-trips a ferry ride from a capital city to remote outposts that take real effort to reach. Two of them — K'gari and the Moreton Bay islands — sit on Cooee Tours' home turf in Queensland, and we know them inside out.
Seventy-four islands scattered across the Great Barrier Reef, fringed by coral and centred on the silica sand of Whitehaven Beach. Base yourself on Hamilton Island for resorts and easy access, or sail the passage between the islands.
It's the classic Queensland island experience — snorkelling, beach-hopping and that Hill Inlet view — best enjoyed in the dry season.
The world's largest sand island, a World Heritage wonder of perched freshwater lakes, towering rainforest growing straight out of sand, and a long ocean beach that doubles as a highway. The Butchulla people are its Traditional Owners.
Float down crystal-clear Eli Creek, swim in Lake McKenzie, and keep a respectful distance from the island's famous dingoes. Reached by ferry from Hervey Bay or Rainbow Beach.
See our full Fraser Coast guide for tours and itineraries.
A car-free island a short ferry from Perth or Fremantle, ringed by white beaches and clear bays, and home to the quokka — the small, perpetually smiling marsupial that launched a thousand selfies.
Hire a bike, loop the island, and snorkel the bays and shipwrecks. Known to the Whadjuk Noongar people as Wadjemup.
Australia's third-largest island, a 45-minute ferry from the mainland, packed with sea lions, kangaroos, koalas and dramatic coastal rock formations like Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch.
It's rebounded strongly since the 2020 bushfires, with conservation parks, wildlife encounters and a quietly excellent food and wine scene.
A World Heritage subtropical paradise of jagged green peaks and the world's southernmost coral reef, a two-hour flight off the NSW coast. Visitor numbers are capped at 400 at a time, so it never feels crowded.
Snorkel the lagoon, climb Mount Gower on a guided trek, and disconnect — there's barely any mobile reception, by design.
A short ferry from Hobart delivers you to a long, narrow island joined by a sandy isthmus, with fur seals, sea cliffs, white wallabies and a justly famous larder of cheese, oysters, whisky and honey.
The lighthouse, the Neck lookout at dusk, and a wild-coast boat tour are the highlights of an easy overnight escape.
A relaxed, sun-soaked island a 20-minute ferry from Townsville, with one of the largest wild koala populations in northern Australia along the Forts Walk, plus granite headlands, hoop pines and a string of swimming bays.
It's an unpretentious, budget-friendly island where rock-wallabies come down to Geoffrey Bay each afternoon.
A small coral cay at the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef, reached by light plane, renowned for snorkelling and diving straight off the beach among manta rays and turtles in some of the clearest water on the reef.
Designated a Marine National Park 'green zone', it's a stronghold for reef life and a model for low-impact eco-stays.
Connected to the mainland by bridge, 90 minutes from Melbourne, and best known for the nightly Penguin Parade, when little penguins waddle ashore at dusk. There's also a fur seal colony, a koala reserve and a famous racing circuit.
An easy, family-friendly day or overnight trip from Melbourne.
On Cooee Tours' doorstep, the sand islands of Moreton Bay offer dolphin feeding at Tangalooma, the rusted Tangalooma Wrecks for snorkelling, and the four-wheel-drive beaches of Bribie, all within easy reach of Brisbane.
See our Moreton Bay guide for the full rundown of tours and ferries.
From Moreton Bay to K'gari, Cooee Tours runs island day-trips and touring right across South East Queensland — we'll sort the ferries and the logistics.
See Moreton Bay island toursTasmania is by far the largest, but among the offshore islands, K'gari (Fraser Island) off the Queensland coast is the largest sand island in the world. Kangaroo Island in South Australia is the third-largest island overall.
Kangaroo Island and K'gari are standouts for land animals, Lady Elliot and the Whitsundays for reef life, Rottnest for quokkas, and Phillip Island for its penguins. It depends on which animals you most want to see.
By vehicle or passenger ferry from Hervey Bay or Rainbow Beach. You'll need a 4WD to drive on the island itself, or you can join a guided tour that handles the driving. See our Fraser Coast guide for operators and crossings.
The Moreton Bay islands — Moreton (Tangalooma), North Stradbroke and Bribie — are all easy day trips from Brisbane by ferry or, for Bribie, by road bridge.
Yes — Rottnest Island off Perth and Lord Howe Island off the NSW coast both limit private cars, with bikes and walking the main way to get around.
Cooee Tours acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and recognise that the places described here hold deep cultural significance for the First Peoples who have cared for them for tens of thousands of years.