Bedarra Island Resort

Bedarra Island is the first tropical island resort I have ever visited and has left me with the uncomfortable feeling that nowhere else can possibly match it. Our decadent week on Bedarra has to rate as the best holiday of my life (the company had a lot to do with that but the place wove its magic as well). For once you would be well advised to believe the hype.

Bedarra lies off the coast of Queensland, about halfway between Townsville and Cairns. It lies among the group of Islands Captain Cook called “The Family Islands” and is a short boat ride from Dunk Island. We flew to Cairns and then took a small plane to Dunk Island and then a boat from there to Bedarra. Leaving the busy, family filled and crowded holiday island of Dunk and heading to the secluded and exclusive, couples only bliss of your own personal island is a wonderful experience! Children under the age of 12 are banned from the island and I for one applaud that idea.

There are only 16 villas in the resort and as a result you will never be more than one of 32 guests. Each villa is well spaced from its neighbours to give you a feeling of privacy and seclusion. We stayed at The Points – at the end of the bay path on a hill with a view across to the jetty where boats arrive from Dunk Island. We arrived on the first day to romantic music on the stereo and candles throughout the room. An attractive pottery bowl was sitting by the gate with a frangipani floating in it (a beautiful and practical way to wash the sand from your feet before going onto the deck). Our private deck had a stunning view, a comfortable day bed and a plunge pool right on the lip of the cliff. The villa was clean and minimal but supremely comfortable. We had a fridge, tv and sofa on the lower level and then a raised mezzanine with our massive bed on it and two sets of built in wardrobes. The slate floored bathroom provided a large shower and an immense bath and was surrounded on all sides by dense jungle vegetation through which you could catch occasional glimpses of sea and sky. Bathing here felt like washing in your own private grotto but with significantly better plumbing.

My partner and I have a somewhat obsessive love of canapés and were not disappointed by Bedarra’s offerings. Each day we could decide if we wanted to be private – in which case a tray of canapés would be discreetly delivered at about 6pm. We could take whatever spirits or drinks we liked from the bar area and enjoyed many a pre-dinner drink in the privacy of our own villa.

When we felt more sociable, or in need of something a little more exotic to drink, we would go to the bar area where friendly staff will mix you any cocktail you fancy (or make one up should you so desire) and the canapés are passed around. This was a great way to meet and chat with other guests and, should you wish to, you are then welcome to join each other for dinner later on. We went to a few of the private cocktail evenings and enjoyed piña coladas (without being caught in the rain!) and met some interesting people.

The food was served on the large deck overlooking the bay. There is a covered open sided section or you can sit further out on the deck looking right out onto the water. The local wildlife often came to breakfast and dinner and we enjoyed watching scuttling lizards and stag horned beetles winding their way among the tables. The evening mosquitoes were less welcome guests, but we can’t blame the resort for that, and they of course sell the full range of repellents. Each day the breakfast and evening meals were different and each day the variety and freshness and creativity were remarkable. We had the impression that most guests only stay at Bedarra for three to four days, and the fact that we could stay for 7 without the food repeating once is a real testament to the suppliers and chefs in the kitchen. Getting all that food to the island must be a complicated daily manoeuvre.

Should you stay on Bedarra one meal you really must experience is the seafood platter to share. You will need to give 24 hours notice of this but it is well worth the wait. We shared a massive tray one evening covered in Moreton Bay Bugs, enormous prawns, crayfish and the most delectable Mud Crab (a real taste sensation which shot to the top of my “favourite tasty sea creature list”). Attacking this impressive pile of seafood with our various tongs and other implements was messy but immensely satisfying – and it felt more natural doing this on a deck by the beach than in a starched restaurant wearing your Sunday best.

The resort offers lots of activities if lounging by the beach is not your thing and we took advantage of all of them to the point where a day of lounging on the daybed was positively a medical requirement! One of our favourite ways to spend a day was to take one of the motorised dinghy’s with a packed lunch in an esky and find our own personal private beach to explore and colonise for the afternoon. We went on some great snorkelling trips on these journeys and saw our very first Clown Fish (or Nemo!) at close quarters. There was also something gloriously decadent about eating ice cold oysters on a private beach.

We hired a kayak one afternoon and went out onto the water the hard way. We were rewarded for our efforts by the sight of a sea turtle who floated on the surface, covered in seaweed and barnacles and seemed largely unbothered by our presence. Later on a sick turtle was taking up space in a box by reception before being sent off to a vet on the mainland. We hope our friend wasn’t the turtle in question.

We left our favourite island one day to go out to the Barrier Reef and saw a phenomenal number of glorious fish and another sea turtle – this time with a clean shell glowing with a hundred pearlescent colours. You can’t really stay in this area without visiting the natural wonder of the Great Barrier Reef but it was nice to get back to the peace and seclusion of our private paradise by the end of that day.

If you are feeling really intrepid you can also explore the island by foot. There is supposedly a “scenic path” across the island but at the time we were there this hadn’t been cleared since the last cyclone and was incredibly hard to follow. Our gentle hike became more like a rainforest assault course as we hacked and slashed our way from blue marked tree to blue marked tree entangling with some of the island’s less attractive inhabitants en route (if you don’t like enormous spiders on your head I suggest you take the better marked trail!)

The trail brought us out onto the other side of the island where there are atmospheric ruins of the last resort that was destroyed in the cyclone. It’s spooky wandering around the deserted buildings and the current resort position is more sheltered and, hopefully, well built should another cyclone ever blow in.

The service on Bedarra was relaxed and friendly and always efficient. All of our day tours and transfers were arranged with the minimum of fuss and real care and attention went into making our stay a fabulous experience. I still dream of our dinners on that deck under the stars and really can’t imagine a better resort anywhere. The combination of such a beautiful place with such exclusivity and so few people to spoil the tranquillity creates a true lovers paradise. I would go again in a heartbeat – but this time I might actually get my book out and spend at least one afternoon on that day bed!