Strait to the Top
All Inclusive
10 Days
ex Cairns
$9,990 per person
Includes flights,
accommodation,
meals, tours & cultural experiences.
From the tip of Cape York through the ancient waterways and living cultures of the Torres Strait, to island communities that few Australians will ever see.
The Islands Few Ever Reach
Few Australians have ever set foot in the Torres Strait. Fewer still have reached the outer islands. Strait to the Top changes that — travelling by air and water through one of the least visited and most culturally significant regions on the continent.
From a base at Dugong’s Rest on Horn Island, guests move through all four accessible island clusters of the Torres Strait — inner, near western, central and eastern — reaching communities that exist entirely beyond the reach of conventional tourism.
Charter flights to Badu, Masig (Yorke) and Erub (Darnley) are not simply transport. They are fundamental to the experience, making it possible to visit these remote island communities.
Departing
June 13-22, 2027: 8 Seats available
Cairns Departure
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Second World War History
Horn Island was the most intensively bombed location in Queensland during the Second World War, yet it remains one of Australia’s least visited wartime sites. A full guided day covers gun emplacements, slit trenches, aircraft wreck sites and the story of the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion — Australia’s only all-Indigenous infantry unit — combined with the Torres Strait Heritage Museum.
Torres Strait Islander Culture and Art
Pearl Farming Heritage
The Northernmost Point of Mainland Australia
Your Base — Dugong's Rest, Horn Island
Dugong’s Rest is our carefully selected base for this tour — the best-located accommodation in the Torres Strait, situated directly opposite the Horn Island Wharf. Stylish self-contained cabins combine comfort and privacy with an immediacy to island life that no other property in the region can match. This is not simply where guests sleep. It is the base from which the entire experience is made possible.
THE AVIATION TOURS DIFFERENCE
Itinerary
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Our Torres Strait tour begins in Cairns, the gateway to tropical north Queensland and the perfect place to acclimatise before heading north into one of Australia’s most remote and extraordinary regions.
This evening, join your fellow travellers and Aviation Tours hosts for a welcome dinner at Crystalbrook Riley, where the experience begins over good food, shared stories and a first look at the remarkable days ahead.
Because you plan your own travel arrangements to and from Cairns, you may wish to arrive a day earlier to explore the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree Rainforest or simply enjoy one of Australia’s most vibrant tropical cities before the tour departs.
Overnight — Crystalbrook Riley, Cairns
Fly north from Cairns over the Great Barrier Reef and the turquoise waters of the Torres Strait to Horn Island, arriving at one of the most remote airports in Australia. The Dugong’s Rest courtesy shuttle meets the flight and transfers guests directly to their cabins, our carefully selected base for the entire tour and the best-located accommodation in the Torres Strait.
Situated directly opposite the Horn Island Wharf, Dugong’s Rest combines the comfort and privacy of stylish self-contained cabin accommodation with an immediacy to island life that no other property in the region can match. Every cabin features a private ensuite, air-conditioning and a spacious timber deck. The property is adults only, quiet and relaxed, perfectly suited to the Aviation Tours guest.
This afternoon, visit the Torres Strait Heritage Museum, home to diaries, maps, archival newspapers and the remarkable story of the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion, Australia’s only all-Indigenous infantry unit. It is the perfect introduction to the history and culture of the region before the days ahead.
Overnight — Dugong’s Rest, Horn Island
A full day exploring one of Australia’s most overlooked Second World War battlegrounds. Horn Island was the most intensively bombed location in Queensland during the war and the operational hub for Allied air activity across the Torres Strait, yet it remains one of Australia’s least visited wartime sites.
Your guided tour brings this history to life across gun emplacements, slit trenches, aircraft wreck sites and underground command rooms, where the scale of what took place here becomes clear. More than 80 Japanese air raids were launched against Horn Island between 1942 and 1943, making it one of the most strategically significant and most attacked locations in the entire Pacific War.
The tour also tells the remarkable story of the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion, Australia’s only all-Indigenous infantry unit, whose members defended these islands with extraordinary courage and are among the least recognised of all Australian servicemen. Combined with the Torres Strait Heritage Museum visited yesterday, this is a genuinely moving and rarely told chapter of Australian history.
Overnight — Dugong’s Rest, Horn Island
Cross to Thursday Island by water taxi for a full day in the administrative and cultural heart of the Torres Strait. Known locally as TI, Thursday Island packs an extraordinary density of history, culture and heritage into its three square kilometres.
Visit the Gab Titui Cultural Centre, home to the Ephraim Bani Gallery and the Wabunaw Geth Gallery showcasing contemporary Torres Strait art, before exploring Green Hill Fort, the Japanese Pearl Divers Cemetery with more than 600 graves, All Souls and St Bartholomew Memorial Church and the Bernard Namok monument honouring the designer of the Torres Strait Islander flag.
This evening, experience Island Stars, Joey Laifoo’s acclaimed cultural performance bringing together Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal dance, Warup drumming, storytelling and a traditional feast. Late water taxi return to Horn Island.
Overnight — Dugong’s Rest, Horn Island
Charter flight to Badu (Mulgrave Island) in the Near Western group, home to one of Australia’s most celebrated Indigenous art communities. The short flight north from Horn Island arrives over a landscape of open woodland, mangroves and pristine beaches that feels entirely removed from the Australian mainland.
Visit the Badu Art Centre, where the internationally acclaimed work of the island’s printmakers and carvers can be seen and purchased. The centre is a window into a creative tradition that has gained recognition far beyond the Torres Strait, with works held in major collections across Australia and internationally. The bold linocut prints and intricate carvings produced here draw on thousands of years of Torres Strait Islander culture and tell stories of sea country, ceremony and community life.
A walk through the island community follows, with time to absorb the pace and character of life in one of the Torres Strait’s most distinctive communities. The rhythms of Badu — the fishing boats, the gardens, the sounds of the strait — offer a genuine encounter with island life before the charter flight returns to Horn Island.
Overnight — Dugong’s Rest, Horn Island
A boat day through the inner island group, departing from the Horn Island Wharf directly opposite Dugong’s Rest.
The first stop is Keriri (Hammond Island), a hilly basaltic island just five minutes from Thursday Island and remarkable for its community-built stone church, hand-constructed entirely from the island’s own rock by local residents. It is a striking and rarely visited piece of Torres Strait heritage.
From Hammond, the water taxi continues to Friday Island (Muralag) for a tour of the working pearl farm and the story of the industry that once made the Torres Strait the pearl fishing capital of the world, drawing divers from Japan, the Pacific Islands and across Australia to its rich waters.
The return passes Possession Island from the water, the site where Captain James Cook claimed the whole eastern coast of Australia for the British Crown in 1770.
Overnight — Dugong’s Rest, Horn Island
Charter flight east to Masig (Yorke Island), a coral cay in the Central group. The approach, with the runway appearing to rise directly from the turquoise water of the Coral Sea, is among the most memorable in Australian travel and gives the first indication of just how extraordinary this island is.
Masig sits at the heart of the Central Island group and has been home to the Masigalgal people for thousands of years, maintaining a way of life deeply connected to the surrounding reef and sea country. The island is fringed with white sand beaches, coconut palms and some of the clearest water in the Torres Strait, with the reef visible in every direction.
A walk across the coral cay takes in the full character of the island before a community cultural experience and lunch at Lowatta Lodge — the only lodge in the outer islands — where the food, the setting and the company offer a genuine sense of what life in the Central Islands looks and feels like. Charter flight returns to Horn Island.
Overnight — Dugong’s Rest, Horn Island
A boat day from Horn Island Wharf, heading toward the very top of Australia across the open waters of the Torres Strait.
Roko Island is a working pearl farm set in the waters of the strait, where an island tour, gourmet lunch and cocktails at the bar overlooking the water make for one of the most memorable stops of the entire tour. The pearling history here is still very much alive, with pearls harvested and set in jewellery on the island itself by Jason and Zara, who have built a remarkable life and business in one of Australia’s most remote locations. The island itself is beautiful, with clear water, white sand and the kind of stillness that only comes from being genuinely far from anywhere.
From Roko, the boat continues north to the Tip, the northernmost point of mainland Australia, where the continent finally and dramatically gives way to the open waters of the Torres Strait. Standing here, at the very top of Australia with Papua New Guinea visible on the horizon, is one of those rare travel moments that stays with you long after you return home. The return journey passes Possession Island from the water, where Captain James Cook claimed the eastern coast of Australia for the British Crown in 1770.
Overnight — Dugong’s Rest, Horn Island
Charter flight to Erub (Darnley Island), a volcanic high island in the Eastern group and one of the most historically significant destinations in the Torres Strait. The flight east carries you over the outer reaches of the Great Barrier Reef, with coral formations visible in the water below as the volcanic peaks of Erub appear on the horizon.
Visit the Erub Arts Centre, producing work that reflects the Eastern Islands’ distinct Meriam culture and tells stories of sea country, ceremony and community life that stretch back thousands of years. The centre is the third of the Torres Strait’s celebrated art hubs and produces work with a distinct character entirely its own.
All Saints Anglican Church marks the spot where the London Missionary Society first landed on 1 July 1871, an event known as the Coming of the Light and celebrated across the Torres Strait every year. Time to explore the dramatic volcanic landscape of the Eastern Islands brings the experience to a close before the charter flight returns to Horn Island.
This evening, join your fellow travellers for a farewell dinner, a final night at Dugong’s Rest with the strait outside your window.
Overnight — Dugong’s Rest, Horn Island
The final morning of Strait to the Top is yours to savour. Take stock of everything experienced across the past nine days, the islands reached, the communities visited, the stories heard and the landscapes seen from the air and the water.
As the aircraft climbs out of Horn Island, the full sweep of the Torres Strait comes into view below, the islands, reefs, channels and open water that have defined the past nine days spread across the horizon in every direction. The flight south retraces the route to Cairns, crossing back over the outer reaches of the Great Barrier Reef, the coral visible in the water below as the Australian mainland gradually comes back into view.
Arriving back into Cairns in the late afternoon, you may wish to stay on for a night or two to explore the region before making your way home, with the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree Rainforest and the Atherton Tablelands all within easy reach.
$990pp deposit required to secure your booking, with the balance due as per our terms and conditions. Full Ts & Cs here.