Castaway on Keppel Island

By DAVID GILCHRIST

Jason Oliver stood on the blue carpet of his boat's deck, looked out across the water of the Great Barrier Reef and with his voice raised barely above a whisper called "fish, fish". To port, and beyond the small runabout's aluminium gunwale lay the magnificent, clear, blue water of Queensland's Capricorn Coast. To starboard lay the rugged hills and sheer volcanic cliffs of Great Keppel Island.

We were drifting southeast off the boomerang-shaped Wreck Beach on Great Keppel's eastern side and were about halfway around our circumnavigation of an island that has more to offer than its "party hard" reputation.

Oliver, the 28-year-old manager and tour guide at Great Keppel Island Holiday Village and apparent fish-whisperer, was calling the queenfish so his guests could see a school of these magnificent, metre-long fish.

Situated just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, the invisible line that separates the tropics from the sub-tropics, this island is almost 700km north of Brisbane and 55km northeast of Rockhampton.

Great Keppel Island is a 1454ha tropical island and the largest of the 14 islands that comprise the Keppel group. Seventeen sandy beaches edge this tropical isle and I was determined to see them all. For me, this was a chance for a voyage of discovery and a taste of life under Capricorn.

There are many ways to explore Great Keppel and surrounds, - sea kayak, motorised canoe, camel ride, dive, snorkel, bushwalk, sail or fly over.

They say that time and tide wait for no one. The tide was right but the lack of time dictated a fast means of transport, and Jason Oliver's runabout was ideal.

The 2m-tall, suntanned ex-builder with the long flaxen locks strode on to the beach followed by this shorter, rounder and paler journalist.

With a wave of his hand, Jason lured two female Dutch tourists to don bikini tops and scurry to his side. A skinny Canadian, who knew a good thing when he saw it, bolted to the boat and that's how the trip with the fish-whisperer began.

We started from Putney Beach, just around the spit at Fisherman's Beach, with the skinny Canadian guy singing the Gilligan's Island theme song. As the well-known 1970s television theme said, "the skipper brave and sure, five passengers set sail that day for a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour".

Eerily, we were five passengers on a three-hour tour. But the weather was perfect and the water was as still as a mirror atop a table of sand and coral.

Fishermans Beach is the best known of the beaches as it is the one tourists see when they first push their feet into Keppel sand after leaving one of the two ferries that service the island.

Putney Beach, on the island's northwest coast, is perfect for new-chum divers to explore coral and abundant sea-life in relatively shallow water. From Putney, you also have excellent views of Middle Island National Park.

A sea kayak from Keppel Haven or Keppel Holiday Village will get the intrepid adventurer out to Olive Point or Passage Rocks for snorkelling or diving. Middle Island, a half-hour paddle from Putney, offers the finest coral and tropical fish viewing you are likely to see anywhere in the Keppel group.

Our trek took us through a small fleet of yachts anchored off Leeke's Beach. Shaped like a golden scythe, Leeke's provides yachties with a northerly sheltered anchorage. Here the island started to show its rough face, for beyond the beach were the start of a series of amazing rocky edifices that plunge into the ocean from up to about 170m above the sea.

This is a historic beach. While Captain Cook named Great Keppel in 1770 after Admiral August Keppel, and Matthew Flinders sighted it in 1804, no European set foot on its beaches until 1847. That year, a naturalist named McGillivray set foot near Leeke's Creek, a tidal estuary that flows into Leeke's Beach.

Glance north from Leeke's and you can see Half Tide Rocks, a cluster of volcanic rocks jutting out of shallow water a short distance away and providing a popular dive spot.

Further along, we passed Svendsen's Beach, named after a local family who have lived on Great Keppel for 51 years. Myth and reality have conspired to turn the family into local icons.

Motoring on we travelled past Butterfly Bay and the pragmatically named Big Sandhill Beach. The northern tip of the island, Big Peninsula, is the point where most boaties turn back as the cross-currents and resulting swell is usually treacherous.

Calm conditions provided a small chop and allowed us to travel on around the island past craggy inlets and small tidal caves. The cliff tops provided foundations for occasional Osprey nests.

Finally to Wreck Beach and Oliver's fish-whispering. While feral goats ran on the barren clifftops nearby, Oliver called the queenfish. Did they come? To his surprise, they did. Magnificent silver fish - between 1m and 2m long - mugging the boat.

The sun sat close to the horizon as we rounded the island's eastern extremes marked by Bald and Sykes Rocks. Calm Bay, with unforgettable views of massed coral about 10m below our boat, highlights the southern face of Keppel.

The coral shelf here drops quickly into inky water so deep the afternoon light is absorbed into its depths. Two or three passing green turtles broke the mirrored surface then disappeared.

Too soon, we passed Long Beach. To our left, other, smaller deserted islands offer the chance for survival camping. But our trip ended as we swung past the resort to the spit and returned to our modest accommodation near Keppel Haven.

No phones, few lights and cars, not a single luxury. I'd be a Keppel castaway - as primitive as can be.

Case notes

When to go

The weather is good all year, with daytime temperatures ranging from mid-20s to low-30s. Can be hot and humid in summer.

Getting there

Great Keppel Island is reached by Great Keppel Island Launch which transfers to the island from Rosslyn Bay. Reef Cat/Keppel Kat departs Rosslyn Bay Boat Harbour at 9.15am and arrives at Great Keppel Island 35 minutes later.

Qantas can arrange a single-ticket flight to Rockhampton from New Zealand. Fares start from $939 if booked on the internet in advance.

The island can also be reached by direct Sunstate Airlines flight from Rockhampton.

Where to stay

Great Keppel Island Holiday Village offers a variety of basic accommodation from A$24 ($27) a person to A$160 ($185) a person a night. Suitable for backpackers with tents and budget travellers. Ph: (00 64 7) 4939 8655

Things to see

Middle Island Underwater Observatory gives excellent coral viewing through large panoramic windows. Access is from Rosslyn Bay via Great Keppel Island with Keppel Tourist Services

Advisory

It is best to change money in Brisbane or Sydney or plan to arrive in Rockhampton on a weekday, as there are few opportunities to change money in Rockhampton on a weekend. Use Australian dollars only on Great Keppel Island.