There have been some big changes to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park over the last 10 months, with the development of additional walking tracks throughout the islands and the installation of 37 new moorings at popular anchorages throughout the Whitsundays.
The much-anticipated walking track on Langford Island was completed last week by Queensland Parks & Wildlife, and now gives visitors access to this once inaccessible natural beauty. The 300m track with gentle incline and stone steps, is best suited to walkers with average fitness and bushwalking experience. The track is approximately a 30 minutes round trip and visitors will be impressed with the views back over Black and Hook Islands and the iconic sand spit of Langford Island itself.
With additional walking tracks in the pipeline for completion in 2018, on Haslewood Island from Chalkies Beach and Cateran Bay at Border Island, there has never been a better time to visit the Whitsundays and take in the stunning natural beauty.
In addition to these walking tracks, the Whitsundays now has 147 public moorings for use by boaties of vessels up to 35m. GBRMPA have installed the additional moorings as part of their commitment to protecting and presenting good areas of fringing reefs, with their goal being to minimize anchor damage in coral sensitive areas.
The addition of the new moorings and reef protection markers helps protect remaining coral cover on fringing reefs and allows the reefs to recover from such impacts as tropical cyclones.
Making access to some of the best locations in the Whitsundays easier, GBRMPA has installed 37 new moorings in popular Whitsunday locations:
- Chalkies Beach, Haslewood Island – 5 new moorings. Sometimes a tricky spot to anchor, Chalkies Beach is one of the few beaches with the same white silica sand as Whitehaven Beach
- Tongue Bay – 9 new moorings. A very popular mooring spot, for its access to the look out over Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach
- Cateran Bay, Border Island – 3 new moorings providing access to a new 600m short walk currently being developed
- Crayfish Beach, Hook Island – 2 new moorings, opening an anchorage that was previously seldom visited
- Saba Bay, Hook Island – 2 new moorings, grant access to an anchorage suitable in westerly/northerly winds
- Cairn Beach, Whitsunday Island – 2 new moorings, granting access to the Whitsunday Cairn hike – a steep, challenging 4km round trip hike that climbs to 300m above sea level.
- Butterfly Bay, Hook Island – 4 new moorings, excellent north-facing anchorage with lots of snorkelling
- Stonehaven, Hook Island – 4 new moorings, very popular for overnight & magic sunsets
- Sandy Bay, South Molle Island – 3 new moorings, giving a new anchorage to explore
- Caves Cove, Hook Island – 2 new moorings, excellent daytime anchorage
- Luncheon Bay, Hook Island – 1 new mooring, giving access to the popular snorkelling spot