The complete travel guide to Great Kepple Island in Queensland. (Wop-pa Island)

Great Kepple Island is the largest of the Kepple Islands Group, which lies off the coast of Yeppoon in Queensland, Australia. Once, it was the biggest party island in Australia, with the slogan “get wrecked on Kepple”, but now the island is a quiet, relaxing holiday destination. The extensive resort is now abandoned and derelict, but the island’s majesty remains. Located in the southern Great Barrier Reef, the island is perfect for snorkelling and exploring the amazing marine life off the 17 beaches. Furthermore, the island has excellent hiking trails, so if water sports aren’t for you, the stunning walks will keep you entertained. In this complete travel guide to Great Keppel Island (Wop-pa Island), you will find out everything you need to know to get here, where to stay and most importantly, what to do!

History of Great Kepple Island:

Great Kepple Island has a history worth seeing and learning. Unlike the other Great Barrier Reef Islands, the Kepple Islands are not coral cay Islands. Instead, these are continental islands, meaning that they were once connected to the mainland. It is believed that the islands broke off in the late Tertiary Period some 5 million years ago.

The traditional owners of Great Kepple Island and the Kepple Islands are the Ganomi-Woppaburra People. They are thought to have lived on Great Kepple Island for over 700 years and North Kepple Island for 5,000 years. Evidence of their inhabitance can be seen through the middens on the islands. Middens are shell mounds built over hundreds of years of the Indigenous people eating shellfish. You can see some of these at the western end of Long Beach.

The arrival of Europeans, as with the mainland of Australia, significantly changed the islands. Great Kepple wasn’t of interest to the Europeans until 1866 when Robert Ross obtained a lease for the island. Over the following year, he began to prepare the island for cattle grazing by driving 84 indigenous people into a cave and slaughtering them. The island was then used as farmland until 1945. The first resort was built in the late 1950s.

How to get to Great Kepple Island:

Great Kepple Island is located about 15km off the coast of Yeppoon, a 40-minute drive from Rockhampton. From Yeppoon, a daily operating ferry service, Kepple Konnections, leaves Kepple Bay. Getting to Rockhampton is easy enough via commercial flight, with most major cities operating flights here. To search for flights, use the Skyscanner search bar below for the cheapest flights. Furthermore, you can also take Queensland Rail, with trains departing every second day from Brisbane or Cairns. To find timetables or to book, follow the link to the Queensland Rail website. 

Where to stay on Great Kepple Island:

There are a few different options to choose from when looking for accommodation on Great Kepple Island. These go from bed and breakfasts to holiday villages to glamping, there are plenty of choices. Below are just a few of the options available:

• Great Kepple Island Hideaway
• The Great Kepple Island Holiday Village
• Kepple Lodge
• A range of air Bed and Breakfasts are available

What to bring to the island:

Your pack list may differ depending on your plans, but this is a good base list.

• Bathers/swimmers
• Towels
• Snorkel gear (or check if you can hire it from your accommodation)
• Good walking shoes
• Sunscreen
• Food; while there is food on the island, it is pretty expensive, so we suggest bringing your own.

What to do on Great Kepple Island:

Snorkelling:

Thanks to the island’s position in the south of the Great Barrier Reef, the marine life around Great Kepple is incredible. You don’t need to take a boat to experience some of the world’s most fantastic snorkelling and diving. Off of any of the stunning 17 beaches around the island are some incredible underwater worlds. Below is a list of the best snorkelling spots on Great Kepple Island:

• Shelving Point Reef (accessible from both Fisherman’s beach and Monkey Beach)
• Monkey Beach Reef
• Clam Bay (high tide)
• Butterfish Bay

Watch the Sunset:

You do not want to be indoors at the Great Kepple Islands when the sun sets. The best spot to view this exquisite sunset is Putney Beach’s edge. Look across the water as the sun slowly descends behind the other Kepple Islands, lighting the sky with striking colour. 

Hikes on Great Kepple Island:

Great Kepple Island has some fantastic hikes for a little island. Crossing the entire island and allowing access to almost every one of the 17 different beaches, you have a trail for every occasion. All are day hikes, meaning they can be completed in the day, returning to your accommodation for the night. Some of the trails are well marked but don’t rely on that for all of them. Make sure you have a copy of the island map and plenty of food and water for the day. 

Refer to the map below for the map of Great Kepple Island and the hiking trails. Further, find some points of interest listed to give you an idea of what to visit:

First Lookout

Duration: approx. 40 minutes return, 2.6km

Difficulty: Moderate, some steep places

The First Lookout is not far from the tourist-prescient area on the island. Here you get a beautiful lookout over the island and across the water to Yeppoon. It is steep in parts, so appropriate footwear is needed. 

Monkey Point and Long Beach

Duration: allow 1 to 1.5 hours 

Difficulty: Easy

From the south end of Fisherman’s beach, follow the track over the hill. There are shortcut tracks down to Monkey Beach, but they can be awkward to descend due to their steepness. Instead, continue on the path as it slowly descends to Monkey Beach, or continue onto Long Beach.

Leeke’s Beach Circuit

Duration: 3.8km; allow 2 hours return

Difficulty: Moderate, steep in sections

Start by following the same path as if you were going to the first lookout from the watersports hut. Just before the lookout, about 70 meters, take the gravel ridge trail on the left, all the way to the beach. The descent down to the beach is quite steep, so be mindful of this. To return, you can take the same trail back or turn left past two rock outcrops, taking you back to Putney Beach. 

Mount Wyndham (175m), the Second Lookout and Clam Bay

Duration: Allow at least 3.5 hours

Difficulty: Moderate, steep in places

From the Frist Lookout, continue on the track down the hill. Not long after, about 400m, there is a junction between the road (which you are on) and a ridge trail. Follow the ridge trail. The trail will take you up Mt Wyndham via two other lookouts, with spectacular 360-degree views of The Kepples. Continue on the track down to the Clam Bay Track, then turn left to head to the Old Homestead. From the Homestead, it is an easy path back to the First Lookout, then back to the Visitors Prescient.

Clam Bay

Duration: allow 4 hours, 10.6 km return

Difficulty: Moderate. However, the track is hard to follow

To get to Clam Bay, follow the steps above, but turn right instead of left at the Clam Bay Track. Some bush ‘bashing’ is required, but it is worth it!

The Lighthouse, Wreck Beach & Butterfish Bay

Duration: All day

Difficulty: Moderate, steep in sections

From the Watersports Hut hike to the old Homestead, continue until you reach a junction. Then you have two options:

Lighthouse Trail (15.4km return)- Follow the right-hand fork up a steep and rocky trail to the ridge top. Turn right, follow a gentle ridge top trail, and enjoy spectacular panoramas to the Light House (N.B. This is a light beacon, not a traditional “lighthouse”). Return the same way. 

Butterfish Bay Trail (13 km return) – Follow the steep trail to the ridge top, turn left and hike down to a trail junction. Veer to the right and on to the next intersection before taking a left fork to Butterfish Bay (the right fork takes you to Wreck Beach). When the weather is correct, this is where the surf is. The track between Butterfish Bay and Wreck Beach starts at the top of the big sandhill.

Explore the old resort:

The infamous Great Kepple Resort, which had the even more famous catchphrase of ‘Get wrecked on Kepple’, is now abandoned and overrun with goats. Yes, you heard that right, goats. Most of the original buildings, including the nightclub, squash courts, villas, and the small aeroplane runway, still stand today. You can see all this from Fisherman’s beach and, even though it is fenced off, go exploring through it. No one on the island really cares, as long as you don’t break anything. It is a pretty incredible experience, seeing how it was all just left there – beds, hair dryers, everything, just left. 

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