No images? Click here EGGCELENT EASTER! Easter looked rather delicious this year on Lady Elliot Island kicking off with an Easter egg scavenger hunt, followed by this delicious buffet set up and a hot cross bun eating competition! Easter also falls during turtle hatchling season, another reason to visit during the Easter holidays! RENOVATIONS UPDATE Renovations are almost complete for our first block of Garden Units! Each block of units take around 5 weeks to upgrade with the Garden Units our last room type to be renovated within the Resort. Each room is given a refresh including new bathrooms, verandah/roof, and a handful of other improvements. AUSTRALIAN TOURISM EXCHANGE The Lady Elliot Island Marketing Team had the pleasure of attending the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) in Sydney last week (15-18 May). It has been over 2 years since we have seen our international agents/buyers, so it was great to welcome them back to Australia! The tradeshow took place over 4 days and is one of Tourism Australia's most significant annual travel trade events, welcoming more than 1,100 international buyers and Australian sellers. International travel is on the way to sunny Queensland. ATE continues this week with meetings taking place online with the Eastern Market. Southern Great Barrier Reef Operators NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PODCAST This is one for our German friends! Custodian Amy Gash recently joined the National Geographic Podcast: Explore, talking about Lady Elliot Island and the Great Barrier Reef. While the majority of the podcast is in German, Amy's section is in English. You can find the link below: PEAK MANTA RAY SEASON AND MIGRATING HUMPBACK WHALES! We're excited to be entering our peak Manta Ray (May-August) and migrating Humpback Whale season (June-October). During this time water temperature averages between 20-24 degrees celcius, so depending on your resilience, a wetsuit may be a good idea! If you don't have your own, we do hire out wetsuits from our Dive Shop. During winter MANTA RAYS congregate around Lady Elliot Island in high numbers, feeding, courting and cleaning on the cleaning stations. If your dream is to see or snorkel with a Manta Ray, we strongly suggest between May-August for your best chance! HUMPBACK WHALES are migrating from their feeding grounds in the south, north to their mating and calving grounds. Hervey Bay is a fantastic location for whale watching with a lot of these whales also stopping in for a visit at Lady Elliot! The first whale of the season was sighted in Hervey Bay on the 7th of May which is quite early, so keep your eyes peeled during your flights to and from the island! In Winter, the water visibility is often great! While this is very difficult to predict and monitor, we do tend to have visibility of 15-20m (or more) frequently during winter than the other seasons of the year. Bird season has finished! By the end of April, the vast majority of our visiting feathered friends have embarked on their migrations north. This means it will be quieter on land and you will mainly see shore and land bird species. BANKSIA FOUNDATION NATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort has been announced as the winner of the the Sustainable Tourism Award category in this years Banksia Foundation Awards. Amy and Chloe Gash attended the awards ceremony in Melbourne, accepting our latest trophy! We would like to thank our guests, supporters and the Banksia Foundation for this fantastic award, keep an eye out for it on the island! FINDER GREEN AWARDS 2022 Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort has been announced as a finalist in the Finder Green Awards for 2022 in the category of Green Hotel of the Year alongside the Holiday Inn Express in Newcastle and the Swell Lodge on Christmas Island. Entrants were judged on broad environmental metrics including greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy usage and waste avoiding landfill, as well as a selection of industry-specific criteria to showcase how they’re paving the way for sustainability in their field over the last 12 months. The awards ceremony will be held on the 8th of June, we wish the best of luck to the other finalists! Photo Credit: The Skinner Family Lady Elliot Island has been special to my parents since 1998 when they first started visiting the resort for their 25th wedding anniversary. Over 20 years later they are still big fans and now we understand why! This was their 6th visit and it was an epic one to celebrate my mums 70th birthday! And what is more special on your birthday than having all your family and friends with you? So that is exactly what mum did …. she organised a holiday of a lifetime! 17 of us enjoyed seven nights and eight days of adventure, tranquility, education and amazing service that helped us create memories we will treasure forever. Lady Elliot Island’s snorkelling is unlike anything we had experienced in the world. The ease of being able to just walk into the reef from anywhere on the island meant both adults and children were in the water exploring for most of the day - everyday. The sea life and underwater reef system is so untouched and every snorkel we managed to spot something new. From manta rays, eagle rays, turtles, wrasse, moray eels, lion fish, reef sharks to the different sea anemones and amazing schools of beautiful fish, we saw everything and thoroughly enjoyed swimming with these beautiful creatures of the ocean. The island staff were amazingly helpful and went above and beyond to make mums week VERY special. There is something for everyone on this Island - the children were given the opportunity to be part of revegetation program by potting and labelling their own trees, as well as naming the lost turtle hatchlings and helping set them free into the ocean. The historical and educational talks were fantastic for all ages and a definite must to understand why the island and its iconic lighthouse are so special. Not to mention the weekly trivia and bingo - where everyone can get involved. The birdlife at LEI is fantastic and we were fortunate enough to be there to see the Red Tailed Tropic bird nursing an egg and the excitement of the new baby bird hatching the next day! But as all good holiday go ….. nothing tops a great sunset, and Lady Elliot did not disappoint! With beautifully stunning sunsets by the lighthouse that were coupled with sunset drinks and the special people we love. So as you can guess, mum and dad have converted us all - all 17 of us are now LEI fans and we will be back many times for sure! Tanya (@teamlovesurvivingoz) Shop our latest range of T-shirts, souvenirs, drink bottles and other goods featuring the work of local artists inspired by Lady Elliot Island. Escape to the Southern Great Barrier Reef for the day and immerse yourself in the island surrounds. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled from the second you take off as there is much to see on the flight, especially as you approach Lady Elliot Island. If you have been wanting to experience the reef, this is the perfect opportunity! VALID UNTIL 30 JUNE 2022 Package includes:
PLEASE SEE OUR WEBSITE FOR FULL TERMS AND CONDITIONS Meet Jess! Jess has been with the Lady Elliot team for the last eight years and has been a Master Reef Guide since 2018. She is a passionate ocean lover eager to educate visitors on the importance of the Great Barrier Reef. Jess is also a passionate artist, inspired by her time in the ocean and the wildlife she has encountered around Lady Elliot Island, creating artwork she shares on her webpage 'Alizeti Creative' linked below. Some of Jess' highlights during her time working on the island include interactions with a Dwarf Minke Whale, Dolphins and Tiger sharks in addition to observing the annual coral spawning events! Our basic but comfortable 44 room eco-resort will offer you an opportunity to immerse yourself in nature and explore the pristine Southern Great Barrier Reef. The resort is heavily booked over the next nine months with very limited availability and high demand. To secure your stay at Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort we highly recommend you check our online availability calendar on our website first. If your intended travel dates are available on the calendar and you are ready to make a booking, we recommend to contact our reservations team via phone on 1800 072 200 to confirm the dates are still available as availability can change rapidly at this time. Alternatively, once you have checked the availability calendar and you would like to arrange a booking or would like a quote, please email our friendly reservations team on [email protected] Travelling in a Seair Touring Cessna Caravan Aircraft, your group will be flown to some of the most iconic places in Queensland and Australia. Guided by your knowledgable pilot, expert commentary and local knowledge will bring Outback Australia and its rich history to life. Click below for more information or contact the Seair Touring reservations team via email [email protected] or call +61 7 5599 4509 to reserve your seat now! Experience some of the most remote and iconic parts of Australia in 2022 on Seair Touring’s 3-day Outback Adventure! 2022 DEPARTURE DATES 1 June 2022 - SOLD OUT 10 June 2022 - SOLD OUT 15 July 2022 - SOLD OUT 11 August 2022 - SOLD OUT 26 August 2022 - SOLD OUT Experience the World Heritage Listed Great Barrier Reef and the iconic outback on Seair Touring’s 3-day Outback to Reef Adventure! 2022 DEPARTURE DATES 16 September 2022 - 2 Seats 7 October 2022 - 10 Seats Explore the highlights of Outback Queensland in 2022 on Seair Touring’s 4-day Ultimate QLD Experience! 2022 DEPARTURE DATES 21 June 2022 - 2 Seats 29 July 2022 - 3 Seats |