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Group of islands in the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea
Photo: Kelisi at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Torres Strait Islands are a group of islands to the north of the Australian mainland, stretching nearly as far as Papua New Guinea. There are 14 inhabited islands, but only the two neighbouring islands of Thursday Island and Horn Island have developed visitor facilities. These two islands are the most visited and have regular scheduled air and ferry connections. The other islands are left to the more intrepid voyager or those with business with the indigenous communities. To visit as a tourist, plan ahead, including gaining permission from the island Chairman. Scheduled light aircraft, helicopters, water taxis, barges, and private boats allow access to all inhabited islands or even the possibility of spending a day or night on an entirely uninhabited island.
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Peddell's Ferries provide package tours of Thursday Island/Horn Island combined with return ferry from Seisia, Cape York. Tours include the Green Hill Fort and Horn Island WW2 Museum
There are numerous tracks around Thursday Island that are accessible to the public, and don't take very long. You can walk up to the radio tower/wind turbine for great views of the surrounding islands, and a good sunset. You can walk around the island to Sadies beach, along the road or along an elevated track that starts in the main town. Along this track you can see numerous plants, ant hills, birds, and remains of old war lookouts. Going the other way out of the main township, you can walk to Quarantine Wharf (not well marked on maps so you may have to backtrack once there). There is also a patch of rain forest near Green Hill Fort, both which are nice to walk to.
By ferry
Peddell's Ferries provides twice daily passenger transport by boat to Thursday Island from Seisia, on the mainland at Cape York.
By boat
Sea Swift operate two freighters to many of the Torres Strait islands from Cairns and down the Cape as far as Weipa. The freighters carry up to eight passengers.
By car
Your car can be taken all the way up to Cape York on the mainland, but after that, you'll need to find some other way of getting to those islands.
By helicopter
The islands without airstrips usually still have helicopter landing pads. GBR helicopters operate charters from Horn Island, and between islands.
By ferry
Scheduled ferries only between Horn and Thursday Island. These ferries also have bus connections to all points on both islands.
By water taxi
Water taxis are the easiest way to travel from Thursday Island to the neighbouring Inner Islands. Hammond, Prince of Wales, and Friday Island.
By freighter/barge
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Horn · Regional · HID
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