Dent Island

I can't believe it's our last full day. We've had a great time and for two people who are not into water activities we have found plenty to do.

We booked Dent Island Golf Club for lunch and tour. For the morning we chose to visit the local wildlife zoo. It's a tiny little zoo where you can have breakfast and get a photo with a koala (for a fee of course). It would be a great place if you had small children as you pay once and can visit as many times as you like throughout your stay.

We wandered around taking photos of the animals. There are obviously well cared for but it still seems a little sad to see them penned up, particularly the wallabies and dingoes that naturally roam a wide area in the wild.

I was crouching down with my camera on the glass taking photos of the big crocodile and realised if he suddenly turned toward me, I would absolutely pack myself and lose at least ten years off my life. Thankfully he was very docile and obliging.

It was a great place to get a close up view of the koala. I love the look on their faces...the look of being in a drunken stupor. They look at you and I'm not sure the way they look at you is because they can't focus on you or they don't care.  You can't help but love a koala.

As I said, lunch was at Dent Island. This is an $50,000,000 golf course and it will cost you $200 (if you hire clubs as well) to play there. You would also have to factor in quite a few golf balls because if you go off the fairway you would be hard pressed to find the ball.

Lunch at the clubhouse was delicious and the views were spectacular. I have to say there was not a lot of conversation as it was very easy to be distracted by the view.

After lunch were took a golf buggy tour around the island. There is a concreted track all around the entire course. I can now see why it cost so much to build this course. We drove around to the back nine holes. I think they time it so there are no players on these holes during the time of the tour. Pretty happy about that, I'm not too keen about getting a golf ball in the back of my head because I'm too busy looking at the surroundings.

At one of the holes we stopped at, there was a bit of drama with the golf buggies. We pulled up on a very steep hill. The buggy three back from us didn't put the brake on properly before they went to get out and it crashed into the one in front.  There were some pretty grumpy passengers. The guide's reaction was interesting. The driver of the buggy that rolled into the one in front tried to tell him that the brakes didn't work. The guide very firmly said "there's  nothing wrong with the buggy". He didn't even go over to see if there was any damage...it must happen all the time.

There were no more dramas after that and soon we were back at the club house from where we were driven back down to the ferry dock. While we were waiting for the rest of the people to come down to the ferry, the ferry driver was feeding fish to get them to come to the surface. They were the beautiful fish like we saw out on the reef. You tend to think you wouldn't see them so close to the island.

Our day finished up with dinner at Coca Chu, a restaurant right on the beach. It's an asian inspired restaurant and the food was delicious. You are very spoilt for choice for good food on Hamilton Island. There hasn't been one meal we haven't thoroughly enjoyed.

Our final day will be breakfast with Rylan and Bella and then back to reality. It's been a great five days and it will be hard to say goodbye, but I see that Rylan has a gorgeous girlfriend, a lovely place to live, some great friends and a job he enjoys, so I'm happy to leave him with that.

The Reef

Another day in Paradise. Today we headed out to Reef World. This is a large pontoon out on the Hardy Reef and it takes about two hours to get there. Again we got to go past the the numerous islands of the Whitsundays. Weather was perfect so we decided to sit up on the top deck. Obviously it was a bit windy but not too cold.

On the way out we spotted another whale. I think that bring our count to about five now. Luckily, we have turned up at the start of the whale season. None of them have been close enough to get a good look.

Sitting up on the top was an experience as you got to see some interesting behaviour. As we entered the open water it became quite rough so we were all advised to say in our seats. It's surprising how many people ignore this. I don't know if they didn't understand the instruction or they just ignored it. There was one older man who kept getting up to move around and at one stage just as he stood, we hit a big swell that sent him staggering toward the railing. At the pace he was moving and his lack of control, I honestly thought he was going to hit the rail and flip over the edge. Luckily he didn't. There was also woman who was obviously feeling ill because she came up the stairs with a sick bag. The top deck is the worst place to be if you get seasick. Eventually the staff talked her into going below. Thank goodness, because I wasn't prepared for seeing her use that bag.

After a two hour trip we arrived at the pontoon. Rylan and I had a helicopter trip booked and that was pretty much as soon as we got off the boat. For the helicopter rides you get ferried out to helicopter pad pontoon. There were two helicopters out there, a three passenger one and a six passenger one. I was hoping we would get the smaller one as it wouldn't matter where you sat you would get a good view. Then we we ushered to the larger one and Rylan and I got the front seats. Our luckly day! 

We left and headed back the way came in by boat between Bait Reef and Barb Reef.The view from above is amazing. We followed the reef along until we got to Hardy Reef. From the shapes of each reef to the changes in the colour of the water, it's truly spectacular and beautiful. There's not a lot I can say that can improve what you see in the photos.

In the middle of Hardy Reef there is another small reef called Heart Reef. This is a tiny one that is perfectly shaped like a heart. It's probably one of the most famous reefs.Heart Reef was he highlight of the trip and before we knew it, our time as up and we headed back to he pontoon. 

This was Rylan's first helicopter trip and although he like his Dad and doesn't like heights, he loved this and like me, didn't actually feel like he was quite high up.Back at the pontoon Terry was patiently waiting for us. After our success at Passage Peak I may get him in helicopter yet. 

Our next activity was to go out and view the reef in a semi submersible boat. We were lucky again and got the good side on the way out. The fish are beautiful but the coral is not as colourful as it looks in the professional photographs. 

Apparently the lighting they use brings out the colour. Despite it all looking a bit drab it was still really interesting.

By the time that trip was finished it was time for lunch. There's a lovely buffet meal provided back on the boat. 

After lunch Rylan went snorkeling while Terry and I went down to the underwater viewing deck. It was quite relaxing down there and felt a bit like we were in a large fish tank that came with divers.

We headed back to Hamilton Island at 3 o'clock and decided to travel inside as it was meant to be even rougher on the way back. We found a really comfy lounge area and settled in. Most of the way we chatted to a lovely young Irish woman who has been working out here for about 12 months. Apparently we helped distract her from her usual sea sickness...I knew there was a good reason that I am a good at chatting with strangers. Hope it stayed that way for her trip back to Airlie Beach.

We met up again with Rylan again for dinner at Mariners. The meal was delicious and service was fantastic. I would highly recommend a visit if you come here.

Another day over and I can't believe our holiday is nearly over.