Just off the NSW south coast lies a wildlife gem where you can tick all of the above boxes in a single stunning spot. Montague Island is NSW’s second largest offshore island (after Lord Howe Island), and a unique biodiversity hotspot for seabirds and marine mammals. This designated nature reserve is also one of only a handful of places in the country where you can stay in an island lighthouse keeper’s quarters.

A storm approaches the lighthouse on Montague Island, NSW. The southern, granite half of the island is home to the lighthouse, lightkeepers’ quarters, and thousands of nesting seabirds. Montague Island is a nature reserve managed by the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service.

Nesting crested terns (Thalasseus bergii) with Gulaga/Mt Dromedary, 9km away on the mainland, in the background. Since 1952, when the island was declared a nature reserve, access has been restricted, but organised tours are available on a regular basis.

Montague Island Lighthouse with nesting gulls in the foreground. The brown plant matter is the invasive grass kikuyu, which has been sprayed with pesticide. The grass forms extensive mats 1-2 m beneath the soil that disrupt breeding and nesting burrows of shearwaters and little penguins.

The view from Montague Island looking west to the mainland, with Gulaga/Mt Dromedary in the background. The aboriginal name for Montague Island is Barunguba.

A little penguin (Eudyptula minor) with its eggs inside a nesting box on Montague Island. The island is also home to 12,000 little penguins, making it the third largest colony in the world, after Gabo Island and Philip Island in Victoria. Each evening just after dark, the penguins emerge from the sea in their hundreds and make their way back to their nesting sites.

Part of the ongoing control program is the monitoring of penguin numbers to determine their breeding success as a result of the program. About 120 penguin nesting boxes have been placed around the island to facilitate the monitoring.

The basalt coastline hosts lazy bachelor parties – large colonies of mostly male Australian and New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus/Arctocephalus forsteri) call these rocks home outside of the breeding season.

The approach to Montague Island from the western side. Much of the southern end of the island is made of granite domes.

Montague Island Lighthouse was completed in 1881 and is made of granite blocks which were quarried on the island.

Lichen-covered rocks on the western shore of Montague Island.

Looking north over the island from the lighthouse.