Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort

Our stay here was nothing short of magical. The excitement of a visit to Lady Elliot begins at the transfer stage, as you take a small plane (12 seater) over to the island from various locations. We travelled from Brisbane (80 minutes), and the views as we flew up the coast over Noosa Heads and over K'Gari were indescribable. As we were there in Australian winter, we even got to see whales from the plane.

Lady Elliot Island is very well run, staff are friendly, and there's such a relaxed feel to the place. Facilities are great, and the buffet food offers lots of choice with the menu completely changing every day.

It's extremely well organised. As soon as we landed, they took our luggage and we were taken on a tour of the resort and its facilities. Within 20 minutes we were taken to the dive shop to pick out our wetsuits, snorkel gear, fins and reef shoes for the duration of our stay.

The room was right in front of the lagoon, where you can snorkel in the mornings as the tide comes in. You can enjoy the most incredible up-close encounters with so many turtles who particularly like that spot. Views were great from our unit, and it was clean, comfortable, light and airy.

You can choose from so many included activities to fill up your days here. There's a notice board in the main lounge area with the next few days' activities loaded. There are guided walks, snorkel trips, reef walks, tree planting, bird spotting and informative talks about various marine life, sustainability, and more! The dive shop also offers tours you can pay for.

I highly recommend the hotel’s Behind the Scenes Tour, which goes into detail about their sustainability practices. The marine life encounters are out of this world, the location is just stunning and the sunsets and stargazing were jaw-dropping.

Top tip: The sunsets are absolutely stunning here. You should head to the bar before 2pm to order drinks for sunset. This will be waiting for them as they head to the island's sunset spot by the lighthouse. Staff will set you up a small table and chairs in the sand, and you can have your drink while watching the sun go down.