Day 11 = Cairns to Hamilton Island

Monday, August 5, 2013

In the Great Barrier Reef lies 74 tropical islands called the Whitsunday Islands.  Only a few of them have resorts, and Hamilton Island is one of the largest ones that also has an airport on it.  Many people who visit the Whitsunday Islands take a cruise boat or rent a catamaran to sail around, and one day we hope to return to do that, but for this trip with the toddlers we decided it would be smart to book an apartment on Hamilton Island and just stay on land the whole time.  We would highly recommend visiting the Whitsunday Islands for a few days if you are in Australia, especially during the tail-end of your vacation, because it is just a beautiful and relaxing destination! 

Small plane... 2 seats on each side of the aisle.
We didn't buy an extra ticket for the kids for all the inter-Australia flights... that's ok, it was only an hour or so.
Oh yes, flying over several of the Whitsunday Islands!
The Hamilton Island airport and landing strip!
Hooray!  We've arrived (small planes are not so smooth...)
Welcome to Hamilton Island!
The nice part about Hamilton Island is that it is only about 5 miles all around, which means that it's small enough to easily see the whole island, but big enough to have a grocery store, multiple restaurants, a few stores to shop at, a couple pools, and even a "Clownfish Club" for babysitting services (now you know why we chose Hamilton Island!).  It is definitely too big to walk everywhere, so, everyone drives their own buggy to get around the island!  The only people with real vehicles are the staff members who arrange transportation to/from the airport.  So this is what greeted us upon landing - a large van to fit all of our luggage, and our own personal buggy associated with our specific rental unit!  Fun!

Getting ready to greet our very own buggy!
 We stayed at one of the apartment rentals called Lagoon Lodge, and chose it because it is one of the few units next to the beach.  Surprisingly, there is only one beach, Catseye Beach, on the whole island.  The rest of the island is surrounded by cliffs and private beaches for super expensive resorts, like Qualia Resort, which was rated #1 in Conde Nast! We really liked our 2-bedroom apartment and it was definitely nice for the kids to be able to walk to the beach anytime!

The view from our balcony.
Zaydee making herself comfortable on the balcony!
Snack time!  Loved how they even provided 2 high chairs for us!
We let the kids take a nap after lunch, and then in the afternoon, we decided to check out the pool and beach.  Zaydee didn't sleep as long for her nap, so we went first and later Ro Ro met up with us at the beach.   In the morning, there were lots of people in kayaks, sailboats, and paddle boards out in the water, but by the afternoon, it was empty except for people... you will see why!

First, we swam around in one of the resort pools, the Bougainvillea Pool, but it was a bit cold.
Well, hello Cockatoo!  There are lots of them on the island!
Then we decided to check out the beach... hey, what happened to the water???
Apparently the afternoon meant low tides, or really really really low tides.
It took a little while for Zaydee to get used to walking on this clay-like sand!
Actually, low tide was perfect because we could walk really far out and still be in super shallow water!
Zaydee getting totally comfortable in the water now!  Even better... no waves!
You can see our apartment in the middle of this picture.
Sit, Da Da, Sit!
Playing with the mud.  Such a perfect "wading" pool for our kiddos!!!
Zaydee makes friends easily.  You know what they're looking at???
TONS and TONS of hermit crabs!!!!!
It was actually quite cool to see so many hermit crabs running around in their shells. 
Hey!  Look who's up from his nap!!!
Ann Ming and Ro Ro joining us on the beach.
We never turn down bao bao requests!
Ro Ro had to get used to the ground too!
Yay!! You're here to play with me Ro Ro!!

James and Kevin decided to conquer the cold water (remember it's winter!!!), and go snorkeling!
Success!  They saw a lion fish and a stingray!!!  And almost froze to death =)
Da Da, I want that!!! (referring to the snorkel mask)
Definitely a water baby!
 After taking showers, we drove our buggy out to one of the restaurants in the Marina called Manta Ray Cafe, which served pizza and italian food.  We ate outside under the heat lamps, and then halfway through dinner, we realized that we were sitting across the street from a tree filled with hundreds of BATS!!!

Mommy picture!
A very happy Ro Ro waiting for his spaghetti dinner!
If only Zaydee had been in a good mood, then this would have been a nice family photo.
All those shadows... yup, bats.  Pretty much right next to us.  Yikes!
Up to this point, we had had pretty busy days visiting different attractions and sights that we read about in guidebooks.  For Hamilton Island, we just booked the apartment, and didn't do much research as far as what to do there.  Now we finally had time to just "wing it," relax, and explore.  Definitely a great place to end up after Sydney and Cairns!  Looking forward to exploring the rest of Hamilton Island in our buggies tomorrow!

Best buddies forever!