June 2021
We had a week in the most incredible place on earth!!
Wow, what an incredible week we have just had. We landed in Airlie and were blown away at how visually stunning the place is. We met with Sandy and her husband Peter for a morning coffee and a planned walk along the foreshore. Well, it rained.
Sandy took me up to the Honeyeater track and lookout. It had been raining on and off for two days and the humidity was awful. I got to the top of the climb and felt like I had been in a wet t-shirt competition. Even my shorts were wet – thank god we are here in the dry season. It was a wonderful view and great to catch up. Thanks Sandy!! After that I dunked myself in the Airlie Beach coastal lagoon and cooled down. From Yeppoon to Cairns each major town has a swimming lagoon on the foreshore. They are disconnected from the beach – which is often mudflats or extremely tidal so not always enticing for a swim. They are quite cold but a really nice way to spend a warm winters day with the kids.
The Coopers were keen for a Whitsunday adventure, so we all decided to join them on Ocean Rafting’s Northern Exposure Tour. We had already booked our 2-night resort stay in Hamilton Island but couldn’t pass up a tour to Whitehaven Beach – one of the most spectacular beaches in the Whitsundays. First, we snorkelled at Butterfly Bay and Manta Ray Bay on Hook Island and then we were dropped of at Tongue Bay on the northern side of Whitsunday Island. Here we walked up to the 3rd most photographed location in Australia – Whitehaven Beach. We were gobsmacked. It was simply breathtaking. We wandered back down to the beach and spent a few hours enjoying the pure white silica sand and watching the kids dive off the back of the boat. Our tour guide Deeray offered the best kids club I have seen so far – videoing the kids diving off the boat and playing aqua football. After a great day on the water we met all the families again for dinner in the park. We all said our goodbyes again, but we knew we would meet again soon – we always do since we are all travelling in the same direction.
The next day Craig and I packed up the caravan for storage (the Island Gateway Caravan Park stored our vehicle and van for $20 a night whilst we were away). We hopped on the ferry to Hamilton Island (via Daydream Island) and bounced off the boat admiring the decadent boats in the marina and the resort style lifestyle that had just begun. We arrived at the Whitsunday Apartments and Craig realised it was the hotel he worked at 25 years ago (fresh out of school). The view from the balcony was incredible and I enjoyed watching a few sunrises and sunsets whilst we relaxed on the balcony. We really spent a few days relaxing here. Mali was itching to swim in every pool imaginable, so she did. She spent hours diving off the rocks placed perfectly on the edge of the pool and practiced her front flips. She also practised with her snorkel although she was reticent to use it in the ocean. We hopped in and out of the spa and pool and enjoyed exploring the exposed reef right out the front of the apartments. On our last day she finally snorkelled, and I haven’t stopped talking about it since. Craig and Mali are sick of hearing about it, but I am so proud of her overcoming her fear and doing it anyway. That’s my girl! I am also so pleased that she can now join us doing something we both love – she really is growing into our little adventurer. Hamilton Island really is a place that is rather extravagant. There are multi-million-dollar cruisers in the Marina and incredibly beautiful houses on the hills around the island. Everyone drives around in golf buggies and we saw loads with baby seats full of young families.
There are plenty of hikes on the island but given our 5-year-old generally only makes about 2km before refusing to walk any further (even when bribed with ice-cream) we decided not to put ourselves through an uphill hike knowing the result would be one of us piggy backing her up and down again. She did excel at snorkelling, so we decided not to push it.
We left the island feeling refreshed and spoilt and met my friend Shaz at the ferry terminal. We had missed her in Airlie earlier in the week as she forgot we were coming and departed to chase more waterfalls and National Parks (Shaz was one of the trainers at the University of Wollongong Gym who changed my view of gyms for life and who is also on a big lap adventure). We picked up the van and once we were half an hour into a 2.5-hour drive, we realised how tired (or relaxed – can’t tell the difference these days) we were so booked into a Bowen Caravan Park instead of the potentially dodgy rest stop we had planned. And thank god!! We spent the morning on Horseshoe Beach with the Coopers! I was also able to walk an amazing hiking track along the coast encompassing amazing views of Bowen and surrounds. It was epic!!
Now we are on our way to Townsville to meet an associate I have been working with for the last 2-3 years on a project at work.
See you all in Cairns!!
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