Review: A Private Naked Island in Queensland, Australia

After almost 7 years of continuous travelling to naked places around the world, we think that we’ve seen our fair share of what’s on offer. We’ve been to naked cities in France and Spain, visited the largest naturist domain in the world and the busiest nude beach in the USA, went high-end in the Caribbean, on a naked cruise in Croatia, visited clubs, resorts, and nude beaches in pretty much every continent. The list goes on and on.

Just when we started to wonder what else could be out there that might still blow our minds, we received a message asking whether we were interested in spending some time naked on a private island in Australia. Before we even finished reading the email, we were already looking into flights to Cairns. Seriously, we aren’t just talking about getting a whole island, but also one that comes at a price that’s not just reserved for the rich and famous.

Before you start dreaming about an affordable luxury private island, we need to set a couple of things straight. This is not the kind of island you may find in the Bahamas or the Philippines, with a huge villa and staff serving all your needs. There’s no staff, nor is there a villa. The only man-made things you’ll find are 12 poles, divided over 3 campsites. They have the sole purpose of putting up a tarp to protect your tent. They are also great for putting up hammocks though.

Secondly, this is not for everybody. Especially not for those who just started dreaming about a luxury naked private island stay with a villa and staff. This is back to basics in a way that many will never experience. This is pure adventure. The adrenaline that started pumping whenever we just thought about being dropped off and left alone on this island made us feel alive. Even before we even got there.

Just for the record, this place is not called “A Private Naked Island”. The island has a name, but we decided not to tell you to keep the “private” factor for future visitors. If you’re serious about this, contact the company mentioned below.

What you need to arrange yourself is getting to Mission Beach, a small town about 2 hours south of Cairns. Cairns can be reached internationally if you’re coming from Bali, New Zealand, Japan, or Papua. If not, you’ll probably have a layover at one of Australia’s larger airports like Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane.

From Cairns, there are several options. We took a Greyhound bus to Mission Beach, but if you want to enjoy one last taste of luxury you can take an Uber or rent a car.

When you get to Mission Beach, Stuart and Adele will pick you up and take you to their home where all the camping gear is stored. Once that is all loaded into the car, they’ll bring you to the island with their boat.

Now comes the genius part of this project. There are only three campsites on the island, operated by the government or the National Park Service. We’re not sure but it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that only two companies have the right to book these sites, and Great Barrier Reef Safaris is one of them. So what they do if you want a naked experience (or just a private experience) is book all three sites for you. This means that not only do you get a lot of space and pick your favourite spot, but you’re also guaranteed to stay there alone.

Picking the right spot is tricky. We were naturally attracted to the first site, which had direct access to the beach. If we positioned our tent well, we could wake up with a view of the ocean. But we were advised to take another one because this is also the spot that gets the most sunlight. In this part of Australia, that means that your tent will be hotter than a Finish sauna between roughly 6 am and 7 pm. So instead we went for the last site with fewer scenic views but lots more shade.

This project is created to allow you to get off the plane, straight on the boat and to the island. You need to bring nothing. Well, almost nothing. Even if you’re planning to spend your time naked on the island, we would advise you to wear some clothes when you arrive at Mission Beach if you don’t want to end up in jail. For insurance reasons, we also needed to bring our own gas stove. You can get these at Bunnings or Anaconda in downtown Cairns, we got a really good one at Bunnings for about $30 AUD.

Everything you’re planning to eat and drink, you can buy online at Woolworths and DWS (no need to write this down, they’ll tell you about it). It will be picked up for you and put into an Eskie – that’s Australian for a coolbox – with a ton of ice.

All the other stuff like pots and pans, lights and lighters, hammocks and chairs, tent and carp, will be provided for you.

Important to mention is that these trips are tailor-made. We wanted the true experience of not seeing another person for 3 days. If you want to have fresh lobster and cold champagne delivered to your metaphorical doorstep every day, that might be possible too. You only need to ask.

The island is about 1 hectare. That’s 2.5 acres if you’re not using the metric system. Very small in whatever system. Adding to that, most of the island is no no-go zone. Although we told you that you would be alone here, you’re not. There are snakes in the bushes, limiting our walking space to the campsites, the trails connecting them, and the beach.

This was a part of the experience that we didn’t anticipate. As there was no electricity and we were also making a video, battery life became very precious. Our phones were declared “filming only” and our computers were left back in Mission Beach. Forced disconnection, one could call it, and it was beautiful. We spent so much time just living in the moment. Watching the sun and the clouds move. Walking around the beach to look for baby sharks. Chilling, reading, and preparing dinner for hours even though it was technically possible to do in minutes. Just because we could.

And then there’s the other world, underwater. This island is located on the Great Barrier Reef, the largest reef in the world. And our kit contained snorkel gear. Just as you dip your head under the water, you’ll see all these coloured fish, all these different corals, we even saw a shark (not the human-eating kind, we were told afterwards). It’s magnificent.

Another, quite large part of our camping gear, was a kayak. We doubt that it could have been a means to bring us to the mainland, but it was an excellent way to visit the two nearby islands. Those don’t have campsites, so technically, if you stay on this island you actually get three.

The kayak wasn’t going to bring us to safety and we talked about snakes and sharks before, so you may be wondering how responsible a trip like this is. Well, another reason why we were saving our batteries was because we had cell phone reception on the island. As Stuart put it: “You can watch Netflix on 4G if you want to”. That idea did suck some fun out of the experience, but we enjoyed knowing that if something would happen, we could always call 000 (that’s 911 in Australia).

For non-urgent issues, like when you ate all your food on day one, you have the number of Stuart and Adele and they won’t leave you starving. They can bring you more stuff when needed or take you back to the mainland if it gets too much.

Also important to mention is that this is not really a private island. The campsites are private, but the island is part of a national park. So there can be other people throughout the day. It is not a touristy place though and is mostly visited by locals. If a boat comes towards you and you’re naked, they’ll probably turn around if they don’t feel comfortable. If there are already other people when you arrive, it’s polite to keep some clothes on until they leave.

We mentioned it before but we’ll do it again, this is not for everybody. This is an adventure that you may have never experienced before. Other than the stuff you bring, there’s nothing on the island. No electricity, no showers. Your camping gear includes a shovel. If you’re used to off-grid camping, you know what that means. If you’re not, you’ll figure it out sooner or later.

That being said, Stuart and Adele are the perfect people to prepare you for this. Not only did they pack lots of things that we would never think of, they also made sure that we knew what we were getting ourselves into. They know this place inside out, they know what it’s like to be there and we’re certain that if they didn’t think we could handle it, they would have never allowed us to set foot on their boat. We didn’t have to make “the call”, but if we had to, they would have been there to pick us up.

The best ways to book are:

One important lesson we learned is that whenever you think you’ve seen it all, there’s someone who will drop you off on a remote island off the coast of Australia. We had no idea what we were getting into, but it turned out to be one of the experiences we will probably still talk about for decades to come.