Bundy to Musgrave trip relaunched

Port manager Jason Pascoe with Bundaberg North Burnett Tourism Board chairman Greg Barnes and marina manager Geoff Beyer.

Mike Knott

Related links

• Flood-hit ferry owners fight

LOCALS and tourists will soon be able to visit Lady Musgrave Island from Bundaberg ... again, as the region’s tourism body moves one step closer to boat departures from the Port Marina.

Bundaberg North Burnett Tourism (BNBT) chairman Greg Barnes announced yesterday the organisation had been issued with a permit to run a commercial day-trip ferry service to Lady Musgrave Lagoon.

It will be the first time trips to the island have left from Bundaberg for six years.

The permit allows for access of a vessel up to 35m and carrying up to 150 passengers to anchor on the Great Barrier Reef on four days in any seven-day period.

“For six years we’ve been wallowing, particularly with tourists going north to see the reef,” Mr Barnes said.

The permit to enter to the marine park area was lost when the company who ran the tours was sold in 2004.

Mr Barnes said the permit would not leave the region again, now it was under the control of BNBT.

He said up to 30,000 passengers could be taken to Lady Musgrave Island each year.

But the trips are not yet final, with BNBT still waiting for approval for a final permit from the Department of Environment and Resource Management to allow access to the island itself. “We hope to have something up and running by the Christmas period, but it is a matter of getting the right operator for the service,” he said.

Mr Barnes said BNBT would soon call for expressions of interest in running the service.

Port of Bundaberg manager Jason Pascoe said the extra people using the marina was good news for the development of Burnett Heads.

“We will more than likely see short-term accommodation built here and, under the land use plan, there is room for more,” he said.

Bundaberg Port Marina manager Geoff Beyer said it would be a “great day” when the tours started running from the Port once more.

“The businesses here will boom. It’s not just the voyage out but it’s the food and tourism items they buy here before and after they visit they island,” he said.

Lady Musgrave Cruises, that operates trips to the island from Agnes Water, declined to comment.