Lady Elliot Island / Hervey Bay - Luggage Storage

[Alex_Garland]

Greetings,

I will be in Australia June 25 - July 16 on a three-leg diving trip: 1) five days in Sydney, two of them diving; 2) a week on the Spirit of Freedom liveaboard in the Great Barrier Reef; and 3) three nights/four days on Lady Elliot Island, in that order.

During a pre-trip briefing, the trip organizer pointed out that the luggage limits for the plane from Hervey Bay to LEI are pretty strict, as indeed this page describes: Getting Here - Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort Great Barrier Reef

This means I'll either have to pack super light for the entire trip, bringing just the bare minimum of my own SCUBA equipment (mask, regs, computers, and maybe lights) and renting BCDs, fins, and wetsuits on each leg, or I'll have to leave some of my equipment behind in Hervey Bay. The trip organizer thinks there is storage available at the Hervey Bay airport, but we have not yet received information on costs.

I was wondering if anyone here had done that Lady Elliot Island excursion and could comment on what, if any, storage options are available in the airport or elsewhere on the mainland? Thoughts on whether it would be more cost-effective to pack light and rent gear for the whole trip, or pack a full complement of my own gear (including a large Cressi SCUBA suitcase that definitely will not fit on the LEI puddle jumper) and leave some of it in storage on the mainland?

If it turns out to be at all feasible, I'm leaning heavily toward storing some of my gear in Hervey Bay before LEI, because I hate renting stuff from a personal comfort perspective.

All thoughts appreciated, thanks.

 

[Ecru]

For what it is worth, a friend dived there a number of years ago. They sent some luggage separately as freight. It would be best to contact the dive operators for current advice.

 

[Pressurehead]

I will be there again in July, 14kg flight allowance.
I take all my own gear except weights and cylinders.
5mm wetsuit [cooler in July], Tech shorts , boots, gloves , 2 masks, SP Go Sport fins , Mk17 and 2 G260 and SPG, 2 Shearwater computers, SMB and reel. SP Hydros pro BCD [no weight pockets], small torch and gopro, weighs in about 13.5 Kg.
I wear extra clothing on the flight over and have a small bag [they don't weigh] it is a spare parts kit, I also wear a Shark Skin jacket with the pocket stuffed with bits and bobs like swimmers, jocks etc.
My [now] non diving wife goes and helps a little with my clothing [and I mean very little] as she also carries an extra Go Sport fin as I lost one a couple of years ago and borrowed some rental fins and they felt like a wet lettuce on end of my foot.

I go every year, my wife did not go last year and I took bugger all clothing and went feral.

You can rent the lot, but take fins, mask and computers as most people do.

When will you be there?
PM sent.

 

[Pressurehead]

I'm leaning heavily toward storing some of my gear in Hervey Bay before LEI

I stay at the Ramada Hotel in Hervey Bay the day before and the day I get back and store my car there and catch a taxi to the airport.