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Date: June, 2004
Location: Keswick Island, Queensland Australia
Only the most beautiful butterflies have gathered on Keswick Island for their annual ball as Christine Retschlag found on a recent visit to their island paradise.
Delicate debutantes, their aqua lapels match the Coral Sea as they flit, like socialites, around the harmonious hideaway.
Welcome to Keswick Island, off the coast of Mackay, which boasts a permanent population of seven peopleand thousands of butterflies.
Luckily, two of its human residents are keen to share their slice of paradise, at the Keswick Island Guesthouse, owned by David and Denise Bullock. We offer the ultimate, isolated, de-stresser holiday, David says.
We've got a house where we are totally hands-on and caring for people. We are totally, personally involved with our clients.
When you are living in an isolated location and there are only six other people on the island your contact with the real world are your customers.
And deliciously isolated it is.
Visitors can reach the island getaway via boat, or a 10-minute light plane ride which offers a butterfly's view over the gracious green hills, silicon sands and water which sparkles like champagne. And once you arrive, there's only one thing to donothingwell almost.
Guests can partake in reef fishing, diving or snorkelling off the excellent fringing reefs, bush walking, beach combing, picnicking and ocean kayaking. And for the serious swimmer, David has even mapped out a 100m lap lane using rocks from the ocean floor.
But you may simply choose to relax on the 150 square metre deck which, from July to September, offers an ideal vantage point for watching the parade of passing Humpback whales.
The guesthouse offers three double bedrooms, each connected to the deck, and with televisions, although the view of the Coral Sea is hard to beat. Individual bathrooms are outfitted with pebble floors, frosted glass screens and best of allno mirror.
The success will be when we get the same people coming back again, David says.
I'm embarrassed about some of the things people sayit is so nice.
We know we are already succeeding from the comments we receive in our guest book.
And just like the butterflies of Keswick Island, the Mackay mainland is shedding its chrysalis as well. A crucial, yet forgotten aspect of Mackay's history, lies in the story of the South Sea Islander people, many of whom were kidnapped from their island paradises in the Pacific, issued a flannelette shirt, a piece of soap and a ration of salt, made to shed their traditional costumes and culture, and forced to work the cane fields of the region.
Have a chat with the South Sea Islander elders and listen to stories from their past.
For visitors looking for other new things to do in Mackay, take a visit to The Church on Palmer restaurant. As the name suggests, an old church has been reincarnated as a restaurant, with reproduction stained glass windows.
Here you can sit under the pulpit and order a Bloody Mary or on a balmy evening unwind on the wide verandas which embrace this holy place. Saying grace isn't essential here, but highly recommended are the Moreton Bay Bugs served with creamy garlic risotto.
The oyster entrees are more generous than a Sunday whip-around and the creme brulee will make you believe you've died and gone to heaven.
While it may be the only church in Mackay not to open on Sundays, the rest of the week you can find fabulously sinful fare.
And at the end of a long day, the Ocean International along one of Mackay's many beaches, is a lovely spot to stay the nightwhere you will no doubt dream of butterflies, and a return to this fine region.
For more information:
Mackay Tourism
Tel +61 7 4944 5888
- By Christine Retschlag
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