Capricornia Cays National Park

Capricornia Cays National Park is a national park that comprises a couple of islands in the Great Barrier Reef. As it is a part of the GBR, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Understand

Visitor information centre

• 1 Heron Island Information Centre. The main visitor centre of this island located near Heron Island Resort. (updated Jan 2022)

Get in

The only way to get in the national park is via charter boat or by plane, with one of these following operators. Most boats depart from Gladstone, Bundaberg, or 1770.

Heron Island has regular ferries from Gladstone that departs at 9:30AM every morning except on Tuesdays and Thursdays which returns back to Gladstone at 12:30PM.

See

A trip to these islands is never complete without turtle watching. See the Queensland Parks website for more.

Do

• Snorkel at one of the many reefs nearby, on whichever island you're on.
• There are two walking tracks, North West Island track, a 1.7 km (1.1 mi) (one way) taking 20 minutes and the Lady Musgrave Island track a 1.1 km (0.68 mi) track taking 20 minutes to do.
• Boating and fishing are quite popular things to do in these islands but in order to protect the area, you will need to follow these guidelines by the QPWS.

Eat

• 1 Shearwater Restaurant, see #Sleep. The only restaurant of any kind in Heron Island managed by the resort. (updated Jan 2022)

Sleep

Lodging

• 1 Heron Island Resort, toll-free: 1800 875 343. Check-in: 3PM, check-out: 10AM. An upper mid-range style of resort located on Heron Island near a range of reef activities. (updated Jan 2022)

Camping

There are three campgrounds in the park, and all campgrounds need a booking and bookings for camping can be made here.

• 2 North West Campground. In North West Island, open all year for day use, but camping is only permitted from Easter to Australia Day (updated Jan 2022)
• 3 Lady Musgrave Campground. You pretty much have the islands and the reefs to your group and is open all year for day use, but camping is only permitted from Easter to Australia Day (updated Jan 2022)
• 4 Mast Head Island. A campground where you pretty much have a near-whole island to yourself, but only open from Easter to October 14. (updated Jan 2022)