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Let’s be frank. When it comes to being green, dab hands at deceit are having a riot of a time. Car makers and even mining companies have been caught turning their corporate ways to comic schtick and fudging their green credentials.

The doublespeakers are diluting the importance of the message by those keen for green, which, right now, is a lot of people in travel. Eco-tourism, eco-everything, is serious business. It’s wonderful. But clearly green is an easy state to dirty.

Just what is it exactly that makes a tourism product eco-friendly? As for travelling green, just how do you go about it? Determining what a genuinely sustainable product is can lead to as much confusion as one of those dinner tables set with way too many knives, spoons, forks and wine glasses.

Thank goodness for Rob and Lorraine Holloway from Badger Corner, Flinders Island. Every millimetre of their 11-ha property has views over Little Dog Island and Franklin Sound. Their farm shed is the neatest in the history of agricultural enterprise. But sheer beauty is, as ever, only part of the attraction. The Holloways and Flinders Island have provided answers to the sustainability conundrum. In the words of singer Johnny Nash, I can see clearly now . . .

The Holloways’ property, the Partridge Farm, is part natural bush and part paddocks. Their closest neighbours are long time locals comprising the honey eater, wren and sea eagle families. Newer island residents, deer, run in some of the paddocks. There is an orchard behind the house and between the house and the colossal stretch of water and another island, is a vineyard so small you could almost pack it into your suitcase and take it home. Guinea pigs keep the rows of grass between the vines neat as daily mowing. Free-range partridges and chickens wander the property.

The vineyard produces enough grapes to help keep the couple in table wine all year. Rob transforms the deer to venison. According to Lorraine the partridges go just as well on the table as the venison. “They’re the ultimate in food. Just so sweet and nice. Better than a pheasant,” she says though the friendly partridges now are for show rather than food. Lorraine does produce her own olives, preserves, bread and a mulberry ice cream. “People go crazy over it.”

There are it seems few foodie things the handy Holloways do not produce on their farm. The Partridge Farm also includes three guest quarters. All of the Holloway’s produce is available to guests. Food kilometres, that is the distance food travels from producer to the customer, is quite a sustainability issue. In reference to the Partridge Farm, food metres need only be used.

There are three accommodation options available to guests – The Bungalow B&B ($130 a double per night has a spa), the Top House (sleeps six people, in three bedrooms, and costs $135 per double per night/$27 per night for each extra adult) and the Retreat ($130 per double). Each property is stocked with a good selection of wines and is as neat as the farm shed. There is a popular communal barbecue area. Guest can self-cater or Mrs Holloway will do the cooking.

The Furneaux Tavern (03 6359 3521) at Lady Barron, about 8 km from the Partridge Farm, has new owners. Roger and Bev Watson of Unavale Vineyard, Flinders Island’s only winery, bought the tavern in August (2008).

The pub’s lunch platter is made up of locals; garfish, flathead and fabulous smoked wallaby. During lunch I meet twenty-something Dolly Wheatley. She talks about the beaches, the surfing, walking and the mutton birding on Flinders Island. Then she speaks about the people. “They are one of the biggest drawcards. Humble, nice people. You’ll generally find that everyone’s really friendly.” Ms Wheatley has lived in Melbourne and says she felt more isolated there than she ever has on the island.

The Furneaux Museum (03 6359 2010, admission $4 for adults, children under 10 free) at Emita on the mid-west coast of the island is run by volunteers. The museum opened in the 1960s and for a long time was housed in an old school the size of a modest living room. The school is still part of the museum but a fashionable building, now the museum’s centrepiece, was completed in 2006. It currently houses a beautifully curated display called the Good Old Days. It’s an uncluttered snapshot of island life from the 1950s and ‘60s that is set off by a work (a tromp l’oeil) by artist Peter Gould. If you fall in love with the museum the Lemana beach retreat (03 6359 6507) is right next door.

The Partridge Farm also boasts its own helipad. One visitor from Victoria loves the place so much he flies his own chopper to the farm a couple of times a year. I haven’t quite worked out where a chopper fits into eco-tourism, but I do think that it is only a matter of time before the genuinely sustainable, authentic, features found at the Partridge Farm, and on Flinders Island generally, will one day be considered some of travel’s finest luxuries.

An uncluttered place, isolated yet easily accessible, with beaches equal parts raw and beautiful, genuine locals, food from across the paddock – these un-fudgeable features will one day be as coveted as the world’s 6-star hotels.

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The information was correct when published in 2008. Prices and information may have changed.