A global travel site, Big 7 Travel, just released a list of the most beautiful and remote places in the world. These are gorgeous spots where travelers can enjoy peace and quiet far from the madding crowd. Meanwhile, in the top three is a wild Australian island, Macquarie Island where the only crowds you will see are the penguins pictured above.
Macquarie Island ranked among most remote & beautiful places in the world
In third place after Blue Eye, Albania, and White Desert Whichaway Camp, Antarctica, Macquarie Island isn’t well known to travelers. The tiny island forms part of Tasmania in the southwestern part of the Pacific Ocean, halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Meanwhile, the island is a UNESCO World Heritage site for its pristine nature reserve. Moreover, Macquarie hosts a huge penguin population and no permanent human residents.
To get an idea of how remote the island is, Macquarie is located around 2,382 km (1,480 mi) from Sydney and is part of Oceania. Moreover, the island is close to New Zealand without being a part of that country. Apparently, Tasmania beat New Zealand over who got the right to exploit the penguin population for oil, and Tasmania won.
About the island
Of interest to note, the island is the exposed crest of the undersea Macquarie Ridge. UNESCO says it was raised to this position where the Indo-Australian tectonic plate meets the Pacific plate. Meanwhile, Macquarie is the only place on earth where rocks from the earth’s mantle, 6 km (3.7 mi) below the ocean floor, can be seen above sea level.
The island’s landscapes are rugged rock formations, with misty cloud coverage and a diverse wildlife population. Meanwhile, among the wildlife, the island is the only known breeding ground of the Royal Penguin. In fact, this breeding population is a species endemic to Macquarie Island where, combined with nearby Bishop and Clerk Islets, host around 850,000 pairs. Reportedly, this is one of the largest congregations of seabirds anywhere in the world.
Moreover, the island also hosts a breeding population of King Penguins, with some 150,000 or more breeding pairs. Other wildlife includes four species of albatross that nest on the steep and rugged cliffs of the island. Moreover, Elephant Seals form impressive colonies here during their breeding season.
How can you get to Macquarie Island?
The island is only accessible by sea and is only open to a select number of commercial and educational tourist groups each summer. However, just taking a trip to Macquarie Island is a peaceful experience in an untouched wild wonderland, where you can get close to the thriving penguin, seal and bird populations with very few people around.
Big 7 Travel’s Most Remote and Beautiful Places in the World
As a matter of interest, here are the top 10 in the list released by Big 7 Travel:
- Blue Eye, Albania
- White Desert Whichaway Camp, Antarctica
- Macquarie Island, Australia
- Laya, Bhutan
- Pinnacles of Gunung, Mulu National Park, Borneo
- Sandibe Okavango, Botswana
- Pitcairn Island, British Overseas Territory
- Anegada, British Virgin Islands
- Ivvavik National Park, Canada
- Marble Caves, Patagonia, Chile
This is definitely a very worthy list of wild, out-of-the-way places to explore in our beautiful world.