The resident quokkas of Western Australia's Rottnest Island have permanent smiles on their faces, says Martin Clunes. Photo / 123RF
The resident quokkas of Western Australia's Rottnest Island have permanent smiles on their faces, says Martin Clunes. Photo / 123RF
British actor and travel presenter Martin Clunes tells Sunday Travel about his new TV series, exploring 16 of the 8222 islands within Australia's maritime borders.
Sunday Travel: This must have been an impossible gig to turn down?
Martin Clunes: Yeah, I know. Poor me. It was a really good gig. Having said that, I know everybody says this, but it was actually quite hard work. With travelling comes all the kit to be offloaded from the plane and then put back on to the next plane or train or car. With 16 islands, you've got 32 journeys really because you never go from one island to the other. Apart from that it was fabulous.
What surprised you about some of the islands you visited?
It's really privileged access you get when you're doing these things; you meet all sorts of people. But one thing I noticed was the wildlife was really chilled, really happy to be in your company — from whale sharks to wombats. We were all having wombat selfies. On Western Australia's Rottnest Island, they have an animal called a quokka — a tiny marsupial, the size of a rabbit, and they have a permanent smile. So people go to this island and all they seem to do is get a selfie with a quokka. The quokkas don't mind, they're not bothered if you're there or not.
Did you ever feel out of your comfort zone, taking part in various activities and island experiences?
I was very happy there, very welcomed. I wouldn't watch the series if you're expecting presenter-in-jeopardy TV. It's more easy-going but I think very interesting. Certainly from a Pom's point of view, the people on the islands aren't what you think of when you think of archetypal Australians.
Were there any particularly memorable people you met on the islands?
They were all really good contributors really, we dropped very few. It's not so much the people as much as the island and the places and the things we did. When we get around to the western islands off the coast of Perth and Fremantle and around there, we had amazing wildlife encounters. And of course, going back to the east and the north and south even, we were forever tripping over old penal colonies.
In a country with as many dangerous animals as Australia, were you ever concerned about what you might come across?
It's funny isn't it, everyone's expectation is that everything wants to kill you there. There were a few times; there was one island called Carnac just out from Perth that is filled with these yellow tiger snakes, which are about the fifth deadliest snake on the planet. But I was amazed about how chilled everyone in Australia is with these poisonous animals.
You think that, particularly the people in the know, are going to be the ones jumping up and down freaking out. There was a redback spider, which was tiny. So innocuous, the size of a ladybird, but deadly. We came across one of those and we all photographed it. Nobody was bothered because there are remedies and antidotes available so everybody seemed to roll with it — and watch the Pom squirm.
Do you think you could survive on a remote Australian island?
No, I don't actually but luckily I don't have to.
A few years ago you filmed the series Islands of Britain. There are obvious differences but what similarities did you find between the two series?
Well I think the people, the hardiness of the people. For an island like Tasmania, you sort of feel like it's got an infrastructure of its own but when you have a small one — the little tiny ones that are just rocks — people have to improvise . . . everybody has to pull together, you have to fix problems on an island because you can't run away.
Of the people we met on almost all of the islands we went to, there isacommon thing about an island community which is that intense loyalty. I love the idea of that.
Tiwi Islander, Northern Territory. Photo / Tourism NT
ISLAND-HOPPING
Clunes makes his way around 16 islands in the new three-part series, namely:
• Fort Denison, NSW • Lord Howe Island, NSW • Norfolk Island • Restoration Island, QLD • Thursday Island & Friday Island, QLD • Tiwi Islands, NT • Ningaloo Reef and the Muirons, WA • The Houtman Abrolhos Islands, WA • Rottnest Island, WA • Carnac Island, WA • Phillip Island, VIC • Mundoo Island, SA • King Island, TAS • Maria Island, TAS • Tasmania, TAS
'Martin Clunes: Islands of Australia' premieres on Living Channel on Sunday January 1 at 8.30pm.
