Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Good morning Hamilton Island! Apparently, Kevin and Ro Ro were up a little bit earlier than everyone else to catch the sunrise!
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| Smiles on the balcony! |
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| Sun starting to come up... |
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| There it is! Beautiful! |
Our trip to Hamilton Island really included only two full-days, not including the travel days. Since it was our last day in warm weather before heading back to winter-like Sydney, we wanted to really take advantage of the beach and water activities. We started our morning off just hanging out at Catseye Beach so that the kids could play in the sand, collect shells, and see the hermit crabs again. Big difference in the morning - no more low tide!
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| Nice and empty beach for just our families! |
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| Zaydee loved collecting all the different types of shells. |
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| Ro Ro, Ann Ming, and Kevin took advantage of the "high-tide" and rented a kayak for an hour! |
Very relaxing morning to let the kids be free and run around! After their nap, we booked a half-day excursion to go snorkeling off the reef at Cockey's Beach, and visit one of the top ten beaches in the world, Whitehaven Beach which had the softest white sand we had every felt! We also booked Clownfish Club for the kiddos, but unfortunately, Ro Ro didn't have a good time at Clownfish the day before so Kevin had to stay back and go on a separate hiking adventure with Ro Ro. =( So only Ann Ming, James, and I went on the excursion.
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| This was the company we chose to go on our half-day snorkeling and beach excursion. |
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| Getting ready to board our boat in the Marina. |
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| Our boat is the Ryder II - a super fast one! |
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| Ann Ming has her arm around an invisible Kevin! Wish he was able to really be there! |
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| James and I preparing for the boat ride to take off! |
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| Driving past our hike yesterday, Passage Peak! |
On the boat ride, we passed by whales several times, including a mama whale and a baby whale. We even got to see the mama whale dive in the water and the tail was sticking up out of the water like in photographs you see in books and magazines! So cool! When we arrived at Cockey's Beach, we all put on our wetsuits and snorkel gear to swim around the reef. Beautiful and really colorful coral is really what makes the Great Barrier Reef different than the rest of the world! Too bad it was just soooo cold and we couldn't stay in the water that long.
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| Leaving Cockey's Beach and approaching Whitehaven Beach. |
After snorkeling, we got back on the boat and drove to the next island that had the top ten beach in the world, Whitehaven Beach. We could definitely see why it was chosen as top ten! First, it was a huge and long stretch of white sand along the whole side of the island. Also, since it's on an island with no resorts, the only way you can get there is by a boat. So in general it is just cleaner and well-taken care of because there are overall fewer visitors. Finally, the sand was really really really fine, so it is incredibly soft. It almost felt like snow in a sense because you couldn't feel the individual "grains" of sand. Apparently you can also rub this particular sand all over like a mud bath and it is fantastic for exfoliation and creating smoother skin!
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| Ready to warm up on the beach, especially after snorkeling in the freezing water! |
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| You can take that sweater off now... |
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| That's more like it. |
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| Beautiful stretch of beach and sand. |
We got back on our Reef Ryder boat (remember to always bring a jacket because they go so fast so it is really windy and cold!), and then headed back to Hamilton Island. After showering, we ate dinner to-go from the Marina: Fish and Chips, the Works Burger, ice cream, TimTams, custard tart, and lamington cake (again!). Later in the evening, Ann Ming, Kevin, and Ro Ro went back to catch the sunrise at that gazebo viewpoint from yesterday.
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| Sun setting behind Ann Ming and Ro Ro. |
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| Great Chao family picture! |
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| Good night Hamilton Island! |
Back to packing up all our stuff for one more short stop to Sydney before flying home! Sad to say goodbye to Hamilton Island, but now we know we definitely want to come back and see the other islands!
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| Quiet in the marina... |
