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TUESDAY 23RD DECEMBER
We left the Blue Mountains in a taxi fairly early this morning back to Sydney airport from where we were to hop on a brief flight to Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. Despite encountering a small problem at the check-in desk, we soon made it through to breakfast. While sitting in the airport lounge, we met an old Australian couple who proceeded to teach Emily and I all the ins and outs of snorkelling, ranging from how to put the mask on properly to what to do if you panic, which I found a little amusing! The flight itself sped by and soon we were standing in the small airport of Hamilton Island. This was a bustling hub of people running to and fro, collecting luggage to be transported to the various hotels. Hamilton Island is the 2nd largest inhabited island in the Whitsunday group and is owned by the Oatley family who use it for tourism purposes. For the average person on the island there are no cars. Instead you are ferried around by an efficient golf buggy service. We hopped on one of these at the airport to take us to our hotel, the Beach Club. This is a perfectly located hotel, situated on Catseye Beach with splendid views and the Infinity Pool which appears to run into the ocean. After a brief lunch, we went to the beach to chill out for the remainder of the day before heading into the Marina, the island's town, for some dinner. This was definitely a place to receive some pampering.
WEDNESDAY 24TH DECEMBER - CHRISTMAS EVE
After a sumptuous breakfast, we spent the morning lounging around on the beach. So that we weren't too lazy, however, in the afternoon we wandered down to the local zoo, the Koala Gallery. This was a small zoo containing wombats, talking cockatoos, crocodiles, dingoes, all sorts of peculiar reptiles, and, of course, koala bears. I fell in love instantly, their big eyes and fluffy eyes were just too adorable for words. My day was definitely made when I got the opportunity to hold one and pose for a photograph. I nicknamed him Henry and he appeared perfectly happy to be held by a stranger...it was a wonderful experience! In the evening we briefly visited a cocktail party hosted by the hotel, before settling down on our balcony to watch a fireworks display while eating dinner. A peaceful way to spend the evening!
THURSDAY 25TH DECEMBER - CHRISTMAS DAY
Christmas Day on Hamilton Island was definitely an abnormal experience! It felt very strange to be sitting on a beach in a 30 degree heat compared to the normal Christmas turkey with all the trimmings at home. To be honest though there was not much Christmas spirit to be felt around the island and many seemed to treat it as just another day. I, however, was having none of it and persisted with wearing a red Santa hat for the entire day. After breakfast, we gathered around out makeshift tree, a beside lamp, for some present opening before heading off to the beach for some festive sunbathing. Dinner was to be a massive seafood BBQ beside the hotel's pool, so beforehand we headed down to the Marina for some drinks. The BBQ was absolutely delicious although we were fed an extraordinary amount...it just showed that certain aspects of Christmas are universal!
FRIDAY 26TH JANUARY - BOXING DAY
Today we spent the whole morning relaxing on the hotel beach. However, in the afternoon, we boarded a glass-bottomed boat for a 2 hour exploration of a small section of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and, at 2300km long, is the longest reef in the world. The coral is between 600,000 and 13 million years old and plays home to an extraordinary variety of wildlife. Through the boat's glass bottom we were able to spot numerous multi-coloured and beautiful fish but unfortunately nothing terribly exciting came into view. Compared to what I had seen while snorkelling in Fiji it was a little disappointing but good fun all the same.
SATURDAY 27TH DECEMBER
We were up fairly early this morning to catch a speed boat to Whitehaven Beach. It was about a 45 minute journey to Whitsunday Island and we experienced the full force of the boat's speed, bouncing up and down at the front. Whitsunday Island is the largest of the island group and is now preserved as a national park, meaning no one can live on it. Whitehaven Beach has just been voted the best beach in Australia. This, like Squeaky Beach had in Wilsons Promontory, also has a high silica content in its sand (97%) and therefore squeaks when you walk on it, cleans jewellery and is very good for the skin. We stayed there, sunbathing, for about an hour, too afraid to enter the water due to the killer jellyfish that were apparently lurking around the shores. We arrived back on Hamilton Island around midday, had a quick lunch, and, as per usual, went to relax on the beach. We did, however, stir at sunset to take a trip up One Tree Hill to watch the sky turn red before eating at a lovely seafood restaurant in the Marina. Emily and I had promised eachother to try out the nightlife that Hamilton Island had to offer and so we visited Boheme, the island's sole nightclub. Despite the rather dodgy music and not very full crowd it was a good night. To be honest it was a bit of a relief to spend a bit of time with the not so apparent younger generation on the island. Our hotel had been full, for the best part of the week, of older honeymooners who had become a little cringeworthy after a while.
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