It depends on what you want to do and see on your trip to this remote Archipelago. If you want to be just a stone throw away from the Great Barrier Reef, be ensconced in wildlife, explore tropical rainforests and laze on pristine beaches, Fraser Island is the place to be. This World Heritage Site is rich in flora and fauna and is the world’s largest sand island.

The island has a population of 10,800, and its principal towns are Spanish Wells, the wealthiest colony in the Bahamas; Harbour Island, a resort island with clear water and a pink-tinged beach; Gregory Town, the locale of the island’s Pineapple Festival; Governor’s Harbour, a typical tropical town with history and charm; and Tarpum Bay, an artists’ community where, among others, artists Mal Flanders, an American, and MacMillan Hughes, a Scotsman, went to paint the scenery.

The contracts for the purchase of the private island have been drawn up by law firms in Athens and Geneva with specific clauses to protect Mr Onassis and his two childrens (Alexander and Christina) graveyeards and to specify a long term lease (99 years) to accomodate the fact that Onassis stated in his will that the island would remain in the family as long as they could afford to cover its maintenance expenses.

Athina visited the island twice after her mother died, once when she was eight and then on November 18-19, 1998 with her father Thierry Roussel and their media adviser and spokesman Alexis Mantheakis in order to hold a memorial service on the tenth anniversary of the death of Athina’s mother, Christina Onassis.

For example, to the west of a line ( Wallace’s Line ) running between Bali and Lombok and between Borneo and Celebes , the islands are biologically Asian, but to the east of the line, notwithstanding the narrowness of the Lombok Strait, the vegetation and animal life are Australian.