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Can honestly say i have never thought of the Whitsundays as my "a must visit place". I guess ive never really looked a pictures until Oprah came here, but anyways we had set out to explore. We left Townsville Wednesday morning and heading south to Airlie beach, the weather is starting to really heat up and as we headed out of town there was a small grass fire at Mt louisa which made the headline news. We arrived at Abel Point Marina with excitment, we had half an hour to spare so thought, grab our tickets and get a quick feed into us before he head out to the island. The Marina has paid parking service, which is done by a tella machine. Our first attempt was to use a credit card but the machine wouldnt except it. So we thought to check in first and grab some change. We got our tickets without any fuss and headed back to the car to try again to get a ticket for the parking. This time trying coins, we managed to get $20 in but then the machine keep spitting the coins back out. I was starting to panick now. An American couple asked if we managed to get it working yet and to try and call the number on screen. We called the number and was told someone was coming to fix the machines now but cos we were about to leave i was told to ring up the council to tell them my rego details so i dont get a parking fine. After playing phone tennis for 10 mins, they were able to help and hopefully we wont have any fine when we return on sunday. We boarded our boat and grabbed a sandwhich and a drink on board, the boat ride was quiet rough due to strong winds but there was only 4 other people on board so the trip across was relaxing. We arrived at Daydream island within half an hour and the hotel manager was waiting for us. He greeted us with shell necklaces and a cocktail drink. He had an overbearing personalitly and i couldnt wait till he went away. we were given a tour around the motel and shown highlights and resturants. I really just wanted to check in and work it all out for myself but i was being very polite and shut my mouth. We checked into our room and was actually better then i had thought. We had a queen sized bed with a view of the ocean facing the east side ( perfect for sunrises ). The décor was bright and the floors were tiled. We had a bath and a shower and our own private balcony. We were located on the second floor and had perfect views of the ocean, as well as a hammock located on the ground which we eyed off straight away. As always whenever I get to a new place, all I want to do is explore so we set out to do just that, the island is rougly a KM long so walking everywhere wont be a hassle. The brochure hightlighted a few points of interests, one being "lovers cove", which is 250mtrs from our room, so shouldn't be a problem right?? We headed to the lobby and had a look around, there is signs everywhere telling you were everything is. We headed outside and followed the path over the man made lagoon towards the pool, we realised this obviously isn't the way so headed back. We got back inside the lobby and asked at the counter, we were told head up the stairs and follow the signs out to the left. Now I don't know if they know but they may need to update there signs here a little, if you go to the third floor, there is signs that tells you lovers cove is outside… no… its not. If you go to the second floor and follow the path out to the waterfall then your on the right track. So anyways we made it to lovers cove and to our delite, we were the only ones there!! The beach is made up of washed up corel which has turned white. The cove had stairs that lead down to a deck with sunlounges and at night the citronella tourches that are positioned along the stairways and deck give you a feel as if you are in a scene from "survivor". Now according to Daydream islands bio, Lovers cove "is also a superb location to take advantage of our spectacular Whitsundays sunsets". Now I don't know what the bloody hell this was meant to mean but lovers cove faces the North and the sun sets in the west.. Least it was peaceful I guess. The resort has an outdoor theatre, mini golf and numerous swimming pools, one side of the pool has a outdoor bar in it, which you can swim straight up to the bar, order a drink and sit down. ( did enjoy a day there drinking as many different types of cocktails that we could find ). The resort has a few different restuarants and recommended you book in, the only place that doesn't book is Fish bowl so of course we ate there first. I ordered the battered fish and chips with salad and Jono had the Chicken Parmi. Not a bad meal but I felt a little sick from the Fish. Oh and while eating here we noticed this is the perfect spot for the sunsets too!! Day 2: Up early to watch our first sunset……… well we did set the alarms for it. Too tired for this today and slept in till 0920, we had just enough time to go down to the lobby to try the buffet breakfast. This was amazing! All you can eat, bacon, eggs(every type too!), tomatoes, fruit, cereals, pancakes, toast and the list goes on! Only downside was where we were sitting. Pretty much every screaming kid was there and it echoed through the building, it wasn't till after we had finished eating that I had noticed the private room for adults only eating. I will do this next time! We decided to head to lovers cove again to have a bit of a swim and snorkel. The weather was perfect and the wind was a slight breeze. We were really enjoying ourselves until the families rocked up with there crying kids, really killed the mood a little. We decided to head to the south side of the island to do some shopping. The island has a nice little boutique shop and I bought jono a new hat and myself body lotion. Day 3 I managed to get up this time to watch the sun rise! And didn't disappoint! It defiantly has some bite to it with the heat but. The resort has a pool bar and this is pretty much were we spent the day. You can swim in the pool and order a drink at the same time, it even has under water stools to sit at the bar and watch tv or try a few of there cocktails, jono and I managed to drink six different types. So of course by the time the bar closed we were in a very chirpy mood. We had dinner at the fish bowl and the made our way down to the pier to watch the sun set. I managed to stumble on the dead Corel on the beach and grazed my knee pretty good, that pretty much ended the night for us there..
Day 4 : Trip to Hamilton Island and White haven bay! We had to wait till the afternoon for our Whitehaven tour so used this time to explore Hamilton Island in the morning and had a lunch booking at one of the pubs there. Hamilton Island is a golf buggy friend place, with no cars. The only vehicles are for maintenance personal or the community buses that runs up and down the main street. Very handy actually if you want to go to the other side of the island, plus its free!! We checked out the beach and had a bit of a lay down on a sunlounge, I was disappointed in the beach, it was low tide but it didn't wow me like everyone raves on about. We heading back to go and have lunch and waited for the resort bus to get us, when we boarded it took us around different resorts before heading to our destination, but guess who I saw as we drove past??? That's right, Jonathan Thurston!! He was with his misses but I was happy to get a glimpse of my NRL hero J
Lunch was booked at the Pier and the backdrop was very relaxing along the marina. The only down side was the crows hanging around the outside deck where we sat. But the food was very nice and I still believe that this was my best meal during the Whitsundays stay J
After lunch we headed back onto the boat to head out to Whitehaven beach. Along the way we saw million dollar properties and million dollar views, so many different islands as well.
Once we started getting closer to the beach, you could really see the different!! The beach was sooo white and stretched for over 7 km. So many people were there however so kinda disappointed me a little. But we had a great time none the less. We decided to get a photo in front of the Whitsundays national park sign, when another tourist volunteered to take a photo of us, I asked if she had used an SLR before, in which she replied no, so I put it on "idoit proof " for her. All she had to do was look through the glass and press the shutter button. Well she took a lot of shots as I had it set on continuous. Un fortunately she didn't get either of us in the photo lol !! I wasn't even cranky about it, I thought it was so funny that she didn't get a photo of us, I didn't tell her either, I just said thanks and went on our way. We stayed at Whitehaven for a good four hours, just playing around in the water and taking photos. Cos it was stinger season most people had the stinger suits on but I was too tough for that J
We said goodbye to Whitehaven and headed back to Daydream. I can honestly say, yes I was impressed by the whiteness of the sand and how soft it was but I don't know if I would say this is the best beach in the world. I'll find it one day J
End of our holiday: We had spent just under a week here and majority of our time was done snorkelling, taking photos and eating food. This place really is for people who just want to relax. The only down side I have to here is the children, they really need to make at least one side just for adults. Nothing more annoying when you're trying to have a kip on the beach and a mother comes down with all her screaming kids, it really kills the scenery.
But I can now tick Whitsundays off my bucket list J we will be back someday: D
P.s this blog has taken me nearly 2 months to write, imust remember to write it as soon as it happens!!!
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