Uncharted Outposts

3 Guest Houses

Haggerstone Island has three hand crafted private guesthouses that look out upon the sea. Each includes a bathroom, kitchenette and sundeck. Two of the huts are self-contained and one is a more rustic hut with outside shower and toilet. Each guest house can accommodate up to four people. They cater for just 6-8 guests at any one time. There is daily room and laundry service.

When Roy and Anna arrived on the island 15 years ago they were little concerned with what they would eat. The sea was bountiful and they would grow vegetables aplenty. They struck at the jungle with enthusiasm and planted the seeds. Very little grew. Most of what they had brought was not suitable for the island. Roy had little trouble capturing lobsters and fish but without fresh herbs and vegetables their diet became monotonous.

Today the garden is a pleasure to walk through. Passion fruit compete with guado and snake beans. The vines of tropical butternut and squashes have to be coaxed away from beds of rocket salad and bokchoy. Basil, coriander and parsley compete for space with lemongrass and ginger. Kaffir lime, mango and curry trees grow randomly along the paths. For breakfast, papaya or banana are picked fresh off a tree and served with lime juice. The homemade muesli has the dominant flavour of fresh toasted coconut. The rich yellow yolks of our eggs are from free roaming fowls fed largely on coconut, fish and garden surplus. A lunch of oysters steamed in the shell with sliced ginger and lemon grass, squid, simmered quickly in sea water and then placed on a bed of rocket and drizzled with lime juice, olive oil and crushed garlic. A whole lobster thrown in the coals and served with lime and crushed pepper follows. For dinner, fresh slices of coral trout, marinated in lime and then cast into a bowl of freshly squeezed coconut cream; a red emperor is steamed with sesame oil, soy, ginger and garlic. The meal wouldn't be complete without suitable wine.

We pride ourselves in our small but careful selection. Our love of food and a commitment to freshness and simplicity have guided our cuisine. The sand cay is the ultimate dining area: candle lit table, setting sun and the calming swish of a darkening sea.

Haggerstone Island

Year Round

Australia is an all-year-round destination, but during the summer, December to February, it is hot in Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland. At the Great Barrier Reef, most rain falls in January and February. In northern Queensland and parts of the Northern Territory, roads may flood during the 'green' season, January to March. The ski season takes place during June to October in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Australia's seasons are the opposite of those of the Northern Hemisphere.

Spring: September-November
Summer: December-February
Fall: March-May
Winter: June-August

Fishing, Spear Fishing, Snorkeling & Diving.

Fishing and Spear Fishing: Fishing and Spear Fishing are good at all levels - rod, reel, or fly-fishing, reef, ocean or river. As there is no human habitation for nearly one hundred miles, the grounds around Haggerstone are rarely disturbed. Bait is caught off the island beach. Spear fishing is an every day method of food gathering. Reef fish and tropical crayfish are easily caught on nearby reefs.

Skin Diving and Snorkeling: Skin Diving and Snorkeling are at their best and safe all year round. Two clear water lagoons just off Haggerstone's beach put beautiful coral gardens right on your doorstep. Vast surrounding reef areas are easily accessible from Haggerstone for skin diving and snorkeling. Also close by we have discovered an 1840s shipwreck in a shallow reef garden. Its giant anchors, winching blocks and bronze keel bolts are all visible from surface snorkeling.

Bird Watching: Haggerstone Island harbors a dense and varied bird population. Sunbirds, honeyeaters, coloured pigeons, eagles, kingfishers, finches, jungle fowls, pittas and many others have made it their home. Dawn is a kaleidoscope of sounds dominated by the soft coos of the bar shouldered doves.

Local Info

Even amid the magnificent island resorts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Haggerstone is an extraordinary island experience offering the ultimate in intimacy and privacy. Accessible only by air to a neighbouring island, it is an incredibly remote and unspoilt Robinson Crusoe retreat approximately 600 kilometres north from Cairns, and a few miles from a wild stretch of the northern Great Barrier Reef mainland coast. Haggerstone is a truly unique and wonderful place - a small complex of tropical timber buildings, gardens, orchard and dams; set amidst true wilderness country, teeming with fish and bird life and surrounded by some of the most magnificent pristine coral gardens in the world. Catering for a small numbers of guests (6-8) you will live well, eat well and as one guest put it "survive in style", Haggerstone provides a unique base from which to ramble or explore, or... just to be. The marine life on Haggerstone is simply unbelievable: shipwrecks, beach combing for WW2 artifacts, snorkelling, and the fishing. And, complemented by a superb yet simple mouth watering cuisine featuring all fresh natural foods. The incredible remoteness of Haggerstone ensures an experience very rare on this planet. If you value absolute simplicity above all else - no maids, TV, mobile phones, computers, mirrors or egos, this is it.

Owners & Hosts

Anna and Roy Turner came to Haggerstone in April 1985 with a 70ton barge loaded with poles, timber, fruit trees, chickens and an old tractor. The island was jungle covered, uninhabited and hundreds of miles from what we know as civilisation. They were not to know they were to spend nearly six years alone on the island, as they set out to create a Robinson Crusoe style abode in the wild. Haggerstone Island is their home and an Island Guesthouse, and they welcome you to their home and hope you enjoy your stay.