The Hundred Acres Reserve

The Hundred Acres keeps the island's signature tree at cathedral scale: old-growth Norfolk pines column the reserve's gentle tracks, and the resident miracle nests among them - white terns, which lay their single eggs directly on bare branches, no nest at all, the luminous birds hovering at head height in the season's confiding thousands. The tracks descend toward Rocky Point's clifftop views, morning light shafts the columns photogenically, and the reserve's short circuit constitutes the island's most repeatable walk - different light, same benediction. The reserve runs down toward the south coast and the tracks through it are easy walking.

What you actually see

• The pine columns - old growth at cathedral height.
• The white terns - eggs on bare branches, birds at head height.
• The light shafts - mornings through the canopy.
• Rocky Point's edge - clifftop views at the circuit's end.

When to go

October to April for the terns' season; mornings shaft the light and float the birds best.

Honest expectations

Tern branches are nurseries - no touching trees where birds sit close; tracks are gentle but roots claim the careless ankle.

Nearby

Burnt Pine, Anson Bay and the coastal reserves.