DUNK ISLAND RENEWED & REVISITED
Dunk Island Renewed & Revisited - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Dunk Island Renewed & Revisited | |||||
| By: Amanda Woodard, Issue 45 – Summer 2011 | |||||
| (Dunk Island, Queensland) | |||||
| THERE ARE CHANGES AFOOT ON DUNK ISLAND. A BIG REFURBISHMENT WILL TAKE THE AUSTRALIAN CLASSIC FAMILY HOLIDAY ISLAND TO A NEW LEVEL OF LUXURY IN 2011. AMANDA WOODARD RECENTLY REVISITED THE RESORT FOR A PREVIEW OF THE CHANGES. | |||||
| Dunk Island in the Great Barrier Reef has traditionally been a place where people come to escape the hurly-burly of modern life. In his 1906 bestseller, EJ Banfield – who is buried on the island – described Dunk as “removed from the haunts of men”. That’s certainly how we felt as, from the vantage of a water taxi, we approached the blue summit of Mount Kootaloo, the island’s highest peak that rises from the skirts of dense rainforest. We have come to Dunk on a family holiday with our two children, Theo and Ava, after last visiting here in 2005 just before cyclone Larry hit northern Queensland and did a good deal of damage to the resort. It’s good to see that not too much has changed at Dunk and the beautiful beachfront swimming pool, adorned with the resort’s trademark Ulysses butterfly, is still a delightful spot from which to gaze across to Mission Beach on the mainland. Our family room overlooks the resort’s main beach and is spacious and comfortably equipped, opening on to a grass area where the children can run free and chase scrub turkeys in and out of the palm trees. Now that they are nine and seven we can all explore Dunk Island together, so taking the first opportunity on a cool morning, we spend a couple of hours scaling the 271 metres of Mount Kootaloo. Three quarters of the island is National Park and teems with lizards, butterflies and bird life. Although we don’t see one of the iridescent blue Ulysses butterflies, we do spot secretive emerald doves, non-venomous lime-green tree snakes and have to duck beneath magnificent webs spun by Golden Orb spiders. At the top of the mountain near the viewing deck, there are remnants of an old gun emplacement from when Dunk served as an early warning station during the Second World War. This inspires my two to make their own flag from a napkin and stick, and stake their claim as the youngest climbers arriving at the summit that morning. While time seems to stand still in the rainforest, some things on Dunk Island are changing. The resort is on the cusp of transformation with a big investment program due to be completed by April 2011. The main reception area will receive a much-needed facelift with new furnishings and décor, and dining options are to be addressed. Reopening the beachfront barbeque café to serve a variety of Asian food and supplying new front-of-house grills and cookers so that chefs can prepare fresh food on the spot in the Beachcomber restaurant, will also take the resort up a notch. There has always been an artists’ colony in the rainforest on Dunk but now it’s being incorporated into the resort. It was originally set up by Bruce Arthur who, unlikely as it sounds, was an Olympic wrestler turned tapestry maker. Arthur built himself a mud-brick home that became a haven for likeminded artists. “Temple Dunk” will remain a home for artists whose work will be for sale at the resort. Practitioners in everything from ceramics to yoga will visit Dunk to pass on their expertise. Where children are concerned there is little room for improvement at the resort. The cascade swimming pool is their favourite haunt with its waterfalls and hot tub; surrounded by trees and flowers it’s a lovely place for families. The pizza and pasta restaurant nearby delivers light lunches and summery cocktails poolside, making it very easy to spend a leisurely day here with a book while the children make friends. The kids’ club is as good as I remember with charming, child-loving staff who organise sports or craft events or take them on a picnic to Muggy Muggy beach. One new attraction proving particularly popular with the children is an inflatable trampoline moored close to shore near the island’s jetty that can be booked for an hour at a time. Horse riding along the sand is another new activity at Dunk while exploring the many trails on foot or on mountain bikes – alone or with expert guides - make this another worthwhile option for family fun. One afternoon, we take the children with us in a couple of kayaks and ply gently through green waters in the shadow of Dunk’s hills. With the water very still and milky after several days of rain, we are delighted to be accompanied by turtles whose heads emerge from the depths to watch us. The great thing about Dunk is that there’s plenty to do together as a family and when the children get tired of you, they have a ready-made social life at the kids’ club. It was on one of these occasions when we had been abandoned in favour of junior tennis, that my husband and I decided to hire a tinny from the activities centre and motored off to explore one of Dunk’s inaccessible beaches on the far side of the island. All was going well as we snorkelled in shallow waters, spotting rays, eels and plenty of tropical fish. But as we emerged from the ocean, we realised that our boat was beached on muddy, sinking sand and the sea was some way distant. Racing against a retreating tide, we strained every muscle in our bodies to push and pull to get that boat afloat again and make it back home! That will teach the kids to leave us to our own devices. On our final evening when the children insisted on going to a kids’ club party night, we booked a private table for two for a romantic dinner on the sand. Watching the sunset over water turning to molten silver, the gentle tick and whirr of the rainforest becomes amplified and another languid day on Dunk comes to an end. | |||||
| REFURBISHMENT SNAPSHOT – GARDEN CABANAS | |||||
| As families are increasingly travelling together, the garden cabanas will be refurbished and some of them interconnected allowing as many as four families to share a small “house”. Select open-plan cabanas will be refurbished to accommodate up to 14 guests, creating a space ideal to manage large family groups travelling together, refreshing sleeping arrangements and providing private spaces for family gatherings. The remodelled cabanas will have two outer rooms (with a king bed in one, two singles in the other) and two inner rooms (each with a queen bed), each outer and inner room with interconnecting doors. The cabanas will also offer indoor and outdoor patio dining areas landscaped to ensure privacy, and the surrounding gardens will be developed to create an exclusive communal space for guests. | |||||
| RATES | |||||
| Room rates start from A$326 per room per night for one person or A$348 for two people. If travelling with your family, the Beachfront Family Room has a maximum occupancy of two adults, three children and one infant (in a complimentary cot). Children 12 and under stay free if using existing room bedding, and eat for free when dining with an adult. Rates include a daily full buffet breakfast and some free activities including non-motorised watersports, snorkeling equipment and farm visits. | |||||
| GETTING THERE | |||||
| Dunk Island can be accessed via regular 45-minute flights from Cairns Airport (private charter flights can be arranged). Alternatively, the island can be reached via car to Mission Beach from Cairns Airport then a ferry transfer. One way hire cars are available from the airport. Qantas runs direct flights to Cairns from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin. | |||||
| WHEN TO GO | |||||
| While summer, beaches and sun go hand in hand, when travelling to Dunk Island keep in mind the fact that the area experiences a wet season from January to March, with tropical showers, high temperatures and humid conditions. Summer also brings stingers to the water, so watch out. The good news is that the island is in the tropical climate zone and so you’ll still get a warm, sunny climate throughout other months of the year. The best time to visit is from May to November. | |||||
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