AustraliaIslandUNESCO World Heritage
Macquarie Island
122 km² of land in the Indian Ocean.
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
122km²
Area
113km
Coastline
433m
Highest point
Mount Hamilton
20
People
7°C
Warmest sea
February
1,529km
To the mainland
When to go to Macquarie Island
Good all year round.
The sea is warmest in February (7 °C) and coolest in August (4 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Sub-Antarctic island of Australia
Macquarie Island is an island in Australia. It covers 122 km², with 113 km of coastline. Its highest point, Mount Hamilton, rises to 433 m. About 20 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 1,529 km away. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there
- 1,529 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
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On the island
What you find on Macquarie Island.
- 7beachesMiddle Beach, Secluded Beach, West Beach and 4 more
- 3viewpointsSandy Bay Lookout, Nuggets Point, Razorback Lookout
- 21named peaksMount Hamilton, Mount Martin, Mount Fletcher and 18 more
- 1waterfalls
- 1restaurants, cafés and bars
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Macquarie Island in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Macquarie Island, each with its own numbers.
5beaches and covesCoastya
22mountainsPeakyas
3lakesLakeyas
Highest point
433m
Mount Hamilton
prominence 433 m · according to Peakyas
Largest lake
0.44km²
Lake Tiobunga
according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
6.9°C
Secluded Beach
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
5 beaches
on Coastya, the beach atlas
- Landing Beach6.8°C
- Middle Beach6.8°C
- Secluded Beach6.9°C
- West Beach6.8°C
- Caroline Covecove6.6°C
22 mountains
on Peakyas, the mountain atlas
- Mount Hamiltonprominence 433 m433m
- Wireless Hill100m
- Mount Waite
- North Mountain
- Mount Jeffryes
- Mount Fletcher
- Mount Eitel
- Mount Elder
14 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
3 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Lake Tiobunga0.44km²
- Midas Tarn0.34km²
- Island Lake0.24km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 169 m above the sea. 58 % of it is below 200 m.
- 17 %0–50 m
- 40 %50–200 m
- 42 %200–500 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
10 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 |
| Night low (°C) | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Sea (°C) | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 97 | 90 | 106 | 93 | 91 | 77 | 75 | 82 | 81 | 76 | 77 | 81 |
| Wet days | 20 | 19 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 19 |
| Sun h/day | 5.9 | 5.1 | 3.5 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 5.9 | 6.3 |
| Wind (km/h) | 35 | 36 | 38 | 39 | 38 | 40 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 39 | 36 | 34 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.5 | +0.1 | +0.3 | +0.5 | +0.4 | −0.4 | +0.5 | +0.7 | +0.5 | +0.7 | +1.3 | +0.8 |
| 2021 | +1.1 | +0.8 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.5 | +0.6 | −0.1 | +0.2 | +0.7 | +1.2 | +1.0 | +0.5 |
| 2022 | +0.3 | −0.1 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.7 | +1.2 | +0.3 | +0.1 | +0.1 | ±0.0 | +0.3 | ±0.0 |
| 2023 | +0.2 | +0.4 | +0.3 | −0.2 | −0.1 | +0.2 | +1.3 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | −0.1 | ±0.0 |
| 2024 | +0.3 | −0.6 | −0.9 | −0.7 | −0.6 | +0.9 | ±0.0 | −0.4 | +0.7 | +0.8 | +0.2 | +0.3 |
| 2025 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.5 | −0.1 | +0.5 | +1.2 | +0.5 | ±0.0 | +0.5 | ±0.0 | −0.4 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q46650) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
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islands
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rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit