Hamilton Island, Australia

WEB RESOURCES

Frank and I were walking around the Sydney Central Shopping Center trying to find You Know Who. While we were cruising from one shop to another we passed one of the many Flight Centre's. These travel agencies are everywhere, similar to the ABC stores in Waikiki. Frank decides to go in and check out some side trips. When I walked in, Frank was looking at Brochures for Bali and other Indonesian hot spots. I said "Frank, we're in Australia, let's stay around here, besides I really think you need to check out the Great Barrier Reef, since you are such an Aqua Dude". He agreed and so did the agent. I mentioned Hayman Island because I have been there and I know it's one of the top resorts in the world. When the lady said it's for honeymooners, Frank said in a Tony Soprano tone "fogetaboutit". She said how about Hamilton Island? It's near there, but with a lot more going on"? Sounds good to us!

While sitting there waiting for the tickets to be printed, I spotted Amber Airplane across the way in a beauty salon. She was getting her hair and nails done (shocker!). I went over to her and said, "guess what? We need to go back to the hotel and pack up. Frank just booked us on a flight to Hamilton Island and it leaves in 2 hours". "Really? That's so cool", she said. I went back across the hall and asked the agent what time we need to leave for the airport to make the 1pm flight. She said "you have to leave the city by noon". Noon? That's pretty lax, but hey she should know best. Right?

As usual, we left about 10 minutes late trying to fit all of Amber Airplane's bags in the taxi. To make matters worse, our driver dropped us off at the wrong terminal. It's 12:35pm and we have to run across the parking lot to the other Qantas terminal. It amazed me that the airport was so quiet. We hardly saw anyone around which was probably why the agent didn't give us any grief like; "What are you thinking showing up so late?" Instead he just smiled and told us the way we needed to go. There was no line at airport security and it is run similarly to the U.S. Which means we had to take our laptops out of our bags, which really is a nuisance, especially because my bag has a broken zipper.

I was excited to fly Qantas. It's always been a goal of mine. It may be because I love 747's and I always see their cool red and white planes at LAX. It could also be that they have a kangaroo painted on their tail and it looks way cool. Maybe it's because Australia is so far away and Qantas is the flagship carrier there. I dunno, all I know is that I was excited. We boarded a squeaky clean boeing 717 and within minutes we took off. The seats were comfortable, the flight attendants professional, and the food... well it was normal airplane food. We didn't really care what they were serving because we were all STARVING, and I am sure we looked liked a pack of hungry wolves because we grabbed the snack boxes from the flight attendant before she could even put them down.

The 2 hour flight was smooth up along Australia's east coast. You can compare it to flying to Florida from the New York City, except down here we are flying North to the warm weather, not South. Warm it was, and everyday it was hot and humid. What did you expect when Hamilton Island is on the same latitude as Rio De Janeiro? The average temperature year-round here is 81F degrees. Not too shabby, eh?

Hamilton Island is situated in the heart of the Whitsunday's. There are 74 tropical Whitsunday islands that are situated in the Coral Sea between the Queensland Coast and The Great Barrier Reef. James Cook supposedly discovered this place while traveling through this area on his journey on June 4, 1770. That day just happened to fall on a Sunday and because it's the seventh Sunday after Easter it's known as White Sunday. Thus, the name Whitsunday's. I have never heard of White Sunday either, but that's what the history book said.

Hamilton Island is the largest inhabited island out of all the Whitsunday's. It's also the only one with an airport. Getting here is easy because it is serviced by at least 48 flights per week by Qantas Airways. This includes direct flights from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns. FYI: Qantas has a monopoly going on in Australia, especially after Ansett Australia went out of business. In fact, Qantas now controls 80% of all Australia's flights. Sounds like a racket to me! Obviously, that doesn't give traveler's a lot of options, however they do have a low cost airline called Virgin Blue.

Seven of the islands have resorts on them, another five are habited and the rest including the Great Barrier Reef are protected by the National Parks and Wildlife. What you will like about Hamilton is that over 80 percent of the island has been preserved in its natural state, so visitors can enjoy the beauty of the island including the beaches, nature trails and secluded hideaways. We took full advantage of all them as you will soon see.

When we landed, we set our watches back one hour's time and walked down the stairs of the jetway where we were greeted by a host. He asked us which hotel we were going to and he told us which shuttle was for us. You have to love when you hear "don't worry about your bags, we will get them and deliver them for you". Not bad, eh? As we drove out of the airport, we saw the plush yacht that transports guests forty minutes to ritzy Hayman Island. Now that is a great place to go on your honeymoon.

Unlike Hayman, Hamilton Island offers a variety of places to sleep. They have the five-star Beach Club, the four-star Reef View, the three-and-half- star Whitsunday Apartments, the three-star Palm Bungalows and Palm Terrace, and the Island Apartments & Villas which have 1, 2, 3 & 4 bedroom apartments and range from three to five-stars. We booked at the last minute, so everything was sold out except a 1 room apartment at the Whitsunday Apartments. It turned out to be perfect and not too expensive. Our place was huge, it had a kitchen, and would sleep five people comfortably. Not only that, it had amazing views.

Hamilton Island stretches 3.1 miles from north to south, and 2.1 miles from East to West. It's a perfect size and we took a walk in to town to get ourselves familiar with the island. We checked out the shops and ate at one of their sixteen restaurants. The food here is good and they have a wide range of options (seafood, Italian, Thai ...). The bonus is that the huge breakfast buffets are included at all the resorts on the island.

The only cars you will see are shuttle busses and work vehicles and there aren't too many of those. But you will see plenty of " buggy's" (they are just modified golf carts that go up to 20 mph). The locals who have their own carts, rig them so they go even faster. We didn't rent one because Frank said we needed exercise (Shocker!). Obviously, the island is so small you can walk all around, and if you get lazy you can call one of their two taxi's. Oh yeah, they also have a free shuttle in the evening. After a few days, I said forget this walking stuff, and I rented one of the buggy's. I did it only because it's a great way to see the whole island and fast! I highly recommend paying the high rental fee because cruising around the island is phenomenal! There is so much more to see than the street going from the hotel to town. If you want to save money then rent it after 5pm for 13 hours, it's only AU$35.00.

Another plus for the island is you can charge everything to your room, except purchases from the Post Office and the bank. This means you do not need to worry about carrying your wallet around, which is always good news.

Aside from the amazing scenery, have I mentioned the wild birds? The place is full of wild Cockatoo's and Lorikeets and chances are they will be sitting on your balcony when you wake up. These birds are so beautiful, it's hard to believe they are wild, especially when they land on you. Besides the birds, guess what you will see flying around? That's right, our friends from the Sydney Botanical Gardens; the BATS! Although, I only saw a few of them.

There are a ton of things you can do and see on the island. Obviously, you can go out to the Great Barrier Reef (more on that next week), water skiing, windsurfing, catamaran & yacht sailing, tennis and squash, work out, miniature golf, game fishing, nature walks, whale watching (mid-July to September), scenic flights, parasailing, speedboat rides, sunset cruises, go-karts, sea kayaking, 4WD safari tours...

The only bummer about this place is there are deadly marine stingers especially this time of year (October-May). These pink jelly fish are the size of fingernails and usually can't be seen with the naked eye. Taking a dip in the sea may not be such a good idea. Most people I spoke to recommended using a thin lycra stinger suit to swim or snorkel, but even then you are not totally covered (feet, hands, face). You do not need to bring this suit with you as most companies either give them or rent them for $5 a day. One worker told me it's the same risk as getting struck by lighting, so he goes "no worries", but I didn't see him swim at all and when I asked him why he doesn't go for a swim now, he said he didn't feel like it. Okay there, mate! They said they haven't had that many people stung this year and when I asked when the last one was, they said "three weeks ago". They also said most people don't die. They just have a really bad fever for one to five days. They weren't convincing enough and it made Amber Airplane and I opt not to take a chance in the water. The good news is they are not found out by the Great Barrier Reef,

We heard that nearby WhiteHaven Beach is one of the nicest beaches in the world. We knew the resort offered a few different options and we went for "more is better". That deal was for the same cost as the others, but this one included a stop at a secluded island on the way so people could snorkel. Well, we forgot to ask one important question... What are the size of the boats? Ugghhh. Turns out we were on a twenty-five foot rubber raft, instead of the deluxe 300 seater catamaran that just cuts through the waves like a knife. The boat we went on would be great when the water's calm, but it's a BIG MISTAKE on stormy days and today was ... you guessed it.

Sitting on our "dinghy" with a dozen other mates from around the world, I could only think of the worst while we were going out to the middle of nowhere with no sign of life. "This thing is definitely going to sink and then we are going to have to try and swim to shore before the sharks or the marine stingers get can feast on us, and if by chance they don't get us then surely, the wild animals on the inhabited island will". I was just shaking my head side-to-side while I put a fake smile on pretending everything was great. But deep down inside I was praying, because I thought for sure we were all done.

Good thing I couldn't have been any more wrong! The ride was adventurous, the snorkeling was great (according to Frank, I wasn't going out there and having my butt laid up in a hospital bed for a week), and WhiteHaven Beach really was unreal. I'm telling you the sand was like talcum powder, by far the softest sand ever! I am not lying when I say it squeaked when you walked on it. Yes it SQUEAKED. The beach should be at the top in every survey, and if it's not, they haven't been to WhiteHaven. We walked, played cricket, and made sand angels. What an amazing place.

Coming home... don't ask. It started to pour and I just kept telling Amber Airplane as well as other passengers to look at the horizon so they didn't get sick, especially on me!

Next week come with us to the Great Barrier Reef!

Peace,

Johnny Jet

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