How to get food to Lizard Island
Food is ordered in Cairns and delivered to Lizard Island by barge every two weeks (schedule below). You can bring small quantities with you as baggage from Cairns but you must stay within the baggage limit of 25 kg per person which includes cabin baggage.
The following instructions apply only to people who are staying at Lizard Island Research Station. Other island visitors need permission from the Lizard Island Resort to send anything on the barge.
How is food sent on the barge?
The supermarket in Cairns (Coles) will pack your food into boxes labelled with your name and one of three storage categories: freezer, chiller, or ambient. Each box will be stored appropriately on the barge and when it arrives at LIRS. Bread, fresh milk, and meat will be sent frozen rather than chilled. Coles will only pack your food in this way if you have set up the address correctly for "remote delivery" (see Coles Online section below).
All boxes are at ambient temperature during transit between the store and the barge yard in Cairns, and again when being transported across the island on arrival. But this is kept to a minimum and even ice cream usually arrives just fine.
Ordering hints
Many fruit and vegetables survive the journey well and last for the full two weeks, including lettuce and tomatoes. However, your food will be shopped about nine days before it arrives on the island so you should not order items with short shelf life (e.g. fresh berries, bagged salad leaves, bananas, some dairy items) because they are often spoiled or beyond their use-by date by by the time the barge arrives at the island.
While there is substantial refrigerator and freezer storage space at LIRS, it does have a limit and your ordering should take that into account. Order only enough food to last for the period from your arrival to the day the next barge arrives - you should aim to have an almost-empty fridge and freezer by the time barge day comes around. And think about how much bread you really need - almost everyone orders too much.
A long-standing tradition is for everyone at LIRS to have a beach barbecue every Saturday night. This is a bring-your-own-everything event. Please order some suitable food if you'll be at LIRS on a Saturday night.
Timing of orders
The barge is scheduled to arrive on a Thursday every second week. Prior to covid, the barge came directly to Lizard Island from Cairns and it arrived two days food was delivered. Now it goes to other locations first and arrives six days after loading. Occasionally it is held up and may arrive a day later than scheduled. The barge schedule is provided below.
The barge company accepts general freight in Cairns on three days (Tue, Wed, Thu, before 3:30) per fortnight, in the week before barge week. It is not always possible to arrange delivery in such a tight timeframe if sending equipment to Cairns from other places. In that case, freight carriers who have facilities in Cairns (e.g. TNT) will hold your consignment until the delivery window opens. Sea Swift may accept deliveries earlier from carriers who have no other options. Delivery of goods that originate in Cairns (including Dan Murphy's) will only be accepted during the 3-day/fortnight window. The only exception is for food ordered through Coles, which is accepted on the Friday before the barge arrives at Lizard.
Send orders to the suppliers within the period listed in the schedule. Note that the latest time for submitting orders is 10 pm five days before the barge loads. Coles Online does not open for orders until two weeks before the delivery date.
Some visitors will need to send orders for two barges before they arrive at LIRS. An email reminder will be sent to the trip arranger, giving one week's notice to submit your order.
Supplier options
- Groceries, including fresh fruit and vegetables - order directly through Coles Online.
- Alcoholic drinks – order online from Dan Murphy’s.
Details on how to order from these suppliers are provided in the next sections on this page.
