Most of the world’s charterers have not yet found Australasia. That will change, but for now the Great Barrier Reef can still be experienced in something close to solitude — a private anchorage off an outer reef, the anchor in twenty metres of turquoise water, nothing visible in any direction but coral and open sea.
The Kimberley coast of northwestern Australia is less well known still. It is one of the last great unexplored coastlines: ochre sandstone gorges that drop directly to tidal water, waterfalls that only run during the brief wet season, ancient Wandjina rock art accessible only from the water. The tides run to twelve metres in places; the navigation requires an experienced captain and a well-equipped vessel.
New Zealand’s Fiordland — Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, Dusky Sound — is in another category entirely. The fjords are narrow and deep, carved by glaciers and flanked by rainforest that runs from the waterline to the snowline. Dolphins escort vessels through the narrows. The scale is beyond anything in the Northern Hemisphere.
These are not destinations for the first-time charterer. They require flexibility, an appetite for genuine wilderness and a willingness to accept that the itinerary is subject to weather in a way that the Mediterranean is not. In return, they offer experiences that simply do not exist anywhere else.