The dark days when being an eco-tourist meant taking cold showers and eating mung beans by candlelight are over. Ken Eastwood maps a stunning and environmentally conscious route from Sydney to Fraser Island

Eco-tourism may have its different shades of green, but I’ve found a place that’s pure gold. From the palatial balcony at Emerald Valley Villa, secluded in the Byron Bay hinterland, you can breathe in fresh morning air with views over Balinese sculptures and a botanical garden (designed by Paul Hogan and Kerry Packer’s landscaper) towards 30 hectares of rainforest, where catbirds, whipbirds and wompoos call. After a deep slumber induced by my own personal masseuse, I wandered through the private rainforest to the ‘river pavilion’.

The entire property and the mansion was mine for the day – four double bedrooms with spas in each en suite, a courtyard with fountains and frogs, a library, wireless internet and my own 17m pool filled with oxygenated spring water. All I needed was a servant to peel grapes for me.

Eco-tourism’s dark ages are now over – it includes such high-end experiences as this for a decadent $1500 a night.

“Any guest who stays at Emerald Valley Villa is shown how they can live in luxury but in harmony with Mother Earth,” says its creator, Michael Robison, founder of the carbon-offset company Climate Friendly and the Emerald Planet Trust, an organisation that fosters sustainable development. The whole place runs on green power, has solar hot water and organic veggie gardens, is water self-sufficient, and 90 per cent of the furniture is made from recycled teak.

Many tourists are now looking for ways to minimise their impact on the environment while still having exceptional experiences. My visit to Emerald Valley Villa was part of a classic Aussie road trip – Sydney to Fraser Island and back – but I decided to stay only in eco-friendly accommodation and endeavoured to do only environmentally responsible activities.

First stop was Yeranda, near Dungog, which has secluded solar-powered cottages built with recycled materials. The bushy property is a 56-hectare wildlife refuge with a voluntary conservation agreement that will protect the stunning grey gum forest forever. After stretching the legs in the lush World Heritage listed Barrington Tops National Park, I rejuvenated with a sensual steaming outdoor shower with an old-fashioned shower rose supplied by plentiful rainwater. Even the loos have views and there are no TVs to interrupt the peace.

Next was Trial Bay near South West Rocks, where eastern grey kangaroos came out in droves to welcome me. It’s a park that is making efforts in wetland conservation, worm farming, conserving water and saving electricity. I took a canoe for a peaceful paddle beside congregations of cormorants, where reams of paperbarks reflected perfectly in the still water. Trial Bay has achieved the Gold Gumnut standard for its environmental efforts, and you can enjoy the guilt-free pleasure of staying in one of its stylish new premium cabins.

It was then on northwards to Bongil Bongil near Coffs Harbour, which has one of the largest koala populations in the country. Kayaking, rafting and surfing expert, Liquid Assets, runs an informative three-hour kayak eco-tour beside the park, explaining everything from the sacrificial leaf system of marine mangroves to the vital role of yabbies.

That night I joined a very different wildlife tour in World Heritage listed Nightcap National Park. Vision Walks provides $1000 night-vision glasses so you can see nocturnal animals without the use of spotlights. To the sound of oom-ooming frogmouths and growling koalas, we encountered red-necked pademelons, tree mice and brush-tailed possums, before having a hot chocolate beside Minyon Falls.

The next day’s delightful drive through the lush Tweed Valley took in roadside stalls with fresh avocadoes, bananas and paw-paws, before ducking over the border and through the lush basalt wonderland of national parks such as Springbrook.

A quick diversion up Mount Tamborine was worth it for the views, as was a visit to the Mount Tamborine Distillery, with its bush-food spirits such as macadamia nut liqueur and lemon myrtle vodka.

Then the challenging and winding drive to one of the eco-tourism bastions of this country, O’Reilly’s at Lamington National Park. Since 1926, this family enterprise has educated tourists about the wonders of what is now one of the country’s best-known World Heritage areas. O’Reilly’s has an outstanding discovery program, with walks like the beautiful Toolana Circuit, along which I admired beautiful waterfalls, logrunners and other birds, as well as several snakes.

The Glasshouse Mountains were the next port of call, and a funky new accommodation venture, Glass on Glasshouse, architecturally designed to have minimum impact but to provide everything a modern couple would desire (even a coffee machine). It has a clean-burning ethanol fire you can watch from the luxurious spa bath, and floor-to-ceiling windows with views to the towering volcanic remnants.

My farthest destination north was another of Australia’s long-running eco-tourism ventures, Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island. On the cutting edge of sustainable eco-tourism when it opened in 1993, this 1000-bed resort has a sterling reputation and innovative environmental features. In one scheme, the sewage is treated, munched by worms, and used to grow herbs for the resort’s restaurants. Kingfisher Bay also has the largest group of private rangers in the country – you can join them for an educational 4WD tour.

A highlight from August to October is the whale watching in Hervey Bay. The water is calm, the humpbacks are abundant, and the newborn calves are like frisky and playful puppies. (See the October 2008 Open Road e-zine for a story on whale watching in Hervey Bay.)

The long drive back to Sydney still had a couple of great stops, like the Mount Barney Lodge Country Retreat near Rathdowney in southern Queensland. It’s a Land for Wildlife property with a focus on planting habitat for the endangered black cockatoo, and I stayed in an old rustic farmhouse. “We don’t use any chemicals or pesticides and we encourage all sorts of wildlife,” owner/operator Tracey Larkin told me when I checked in. “There’s a frog that lives in the toilet and there are some carpet pythons – but don’t worry, they won’t get in your bed.”

The final stop before home was Yaraandoo, on the stunning Waterfall Way out of Armidale. Made with recycled timbers and rammed earth, this large centre recycles all waste water and has a feral-proof enclosure to help conserve native species. It’s set up to host large groups, but it also has individual rooms and a lovely self-contained apartment.

None of the operators I visited on this drive are perfect. But all are endeavouring to minimise the negative impact tourists can have. As for car use? I offset the carbon from the 3150km I travelled in my Camry with Climate Friendly, for a mere $16.13.

I think I’ll pay double so I can do it all again.

Ken Eastwood’s guidebook to eco-tourism in Australia will be published next year by Explore Australia. This trip was supported by Tourism NSW, Tourism Queensland and some of the operators mentioned.

Open Road January/February 2009