Nearest town or city Esperance Area 240 ha | Visitation 16,000 (in 2003-04) | |
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Managing authorities Similar Cape Le Grand National, Esperance Bay, Twilight Beach, Lucky Bay, Pink Lake | ||
Woody Island is an island located 15 kilometres (9 mi) from the town of Esperance, Western Australia. The island is part of the Recherche Archipelago and is listed as a nature reserve. Woody Island is the only island of the archipelago that is open to visitors, it is accessible by daily island cruises and has accommodation available. Tour operator, Dan MacKenzie, was granted permission to land passengers on the island in 1973. The MacKenzie family built the jetty on the island that is still used for visitors to disembark from tourist boats. The island itself is reasonably small in size, about 1.5 km (0.93 mi) in length with a total area of 240 hectares (593 acres). Facilities on the island include an interpretive centre, a cafe, a swimming platform with a slide and a snorkelling trail. Woody Island received over 16,000 visitors in 2003/2004.