Camping on Lady Musgrave

Can you still camp on Lady Musgrave Island?

Yes. Queensland Parks runs a tent-only camping area for up to 40 people at a time, with a maximum stay of 21 nights.

There are no marked sites. You pitch on sand anywhere inland of the rope barriers. Caravans, camper trailers, generators and dogs are out.

When can you camp on Lady Musgrave?

From the first day of the Queensland Easter school holidays until the day after the Australia Day long weekend. Camping is closed from late January to Easter every year.

If Australia Day falls midweek, the season ends the day after the public holiday. The closed months fall inside the turtle hatching season, which Queensland Parks puts at about December to late April. Day visits carry on all year, so you can still see the island in February and March on a day trip.

The 2027 season opens at Easter, on 26 March 2027 in the official booking table. Campers in November, December and January share the island with nesting turtles and with the black noddies nesting in the pisonia.

How do you book a camping permit for Lady Musgrave?

Online through Queensland Parks, on the release date for your season. Permits are released in blocks at 10am AEST and cannot be booked before that.

The booking-season model started in 2026. There is no waitlist, so be online at 10am on the day. The 2027 releases:

Permit fees are A$7.75 a person a night or A$31 a family a night since 1 July 2026. Book the permit first, then the transfer. Release-day news goes into the 2027 camping bookings post.

How do campers get to Lady Musgrave Island?

By camping transfer from Bundaberg or Town of 1770, by charter boat, or by Seair charter flight. Boats land campers and gear on the beach at high tide.

• From Bundaberg: Lady Musgrave Experience runs camping transfers from Bundaberg Port Marina daily, about 3 hours, with a third of a cubic metre of gear included. Return transfers come with morning and afternoon tea.
• From Town of 1770: 1770 Reef prices transfers on request, and prices differ between peak and off-peak times.
• By air: Queensland Parks lists Seair, which drops campers from the Gold Coast, Brisbane (Redcliffe), Hervey Bay or Bundaberg.
• By barge: Gladstone Region's tourism board lists barge hire with Curtis Ferry Services from Gladstone Marina.

Gear limits are strict. 1770 Reef asks each camper to carry everything on in one go: one backpack plus one container of up to 60 litres, and up to two water cans. Kayaks, SUPs, dinghies, solar panels, fridges, batteries, generators, gazebos and swags are not taken. Wheelbarrows wait on the island to move gear up the beach.

What do you need to bring camping on Lady Musgrave?

Everything: all food, at least 5 litres of drinking water per person per day, a gas stove and a way to call for help.

There are no showers, barbecues or picnic tables. The toilets are non-flush, and the camping page also lists fuel storage and a compressor bunker. Mobile coverage is unreliable, so Queensland Parks recommends a marine VHF radio or a satellite phone; an emergency VHF radio sits in the toilet block.

• Water: at least 5 litres per person per day, in the two cans 1770 Reef allows.
• A gas or liquid-fuel stove. No fires of any kind.
• Reef shoes: the waterline is coral rubble.
• A dim torch of 3 volts or less for turtle season.
• Tick protection: bird ticks are common from October to May.

Scout the island before you commit to 21 nights: a day cruise from 1770 includes the guided island walk and the glass-bottom boat.

★ 4.3 · 9 hours · from $225

Explore the Lady Musgrave Island day cruise → Tour details

Is there accommodation on Lady Musgrave Island?

No rooms on the island itself. Apart from the tents, the only beds are on the Lady Musgrave HQ pontoon in the lagoon.

Lady Musgrave HQ is a three-level pontoon run by Lady Musgrave Experience, wind and solar powered, in the marine park green zone. It has 8 queen glamping beds on the upper deck and 20 bunk beds in the underwater observatory for groups of ten or more. A single upper-deck bed is currently from A$950 a night, including meals, snorkel gear, the glass-bottom boat, a guided island walk and the VIP lounge on the transfers.

It is not bookable on this site. For a comparison with the resort islands nearby, see Lady Musgrave or Lady Elliot.

What are the camping rules on Lady Musgrave?

No fires, no generators, dogs stay on the boat, lights stay off the turtles, and fishing follows the marine park zoning.

• Fire: lighting a fire on the island, the beach or in the lagoon is an offence of up to 165 penalty units.
• Generators: not permitted, with no medical exemption.
• Turtles: torches of 3 volts or less, never shone on turtles; approach from behind only after egg-laying begins.
• Fishing: follow Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning and Fisheries Queensland bag and size limits, clean fish above the high-tide mark, and disarm spearguns on the island.
• Group size: the marine park zoning map notes a maximum group size of 6 for camping permits in Capricornia Cays National Park.
• Swimming: stay out of the boat access channel, where it is banned.

What is it like camping in turtle and bird season?

Busy, in the good sense. From October to April the pisonia fills with nesting noddies, and from late October the turtles start coming up the beach to nest.

Queensland Parks says turtles nest from late October to February and hatchlings emerge from about December to late April. A camping trip between November and late January catches the nesting, and from December the first hatchlings. Seabirds are most plentiful from October to April.

Month by month, see the best time to visit, and for this season's turtle dates, turtle season 2026/27.

Frequently asked questions