Australia

Finally…..Arrived Hamilton Island!

We couldn’t wait to leave Sydney but Sydney looking from the plane was pretty.

I have to say after Qantas’ friendly staff who helped us to sort out with the AA delay, that left a great impression on me. On the flight ~2 hours flight to Hamilton Island, I wasn’t expecting in-flight food so we bought buns the day before in Chinatown but ended up saving the buns for later. Qantas’ breakfast wrap was tasty!

The flight was not full at all so we had the whole 3-seat row to both of us 🙂 As we were approaching Hamilton Island, the view of the Whitsundays islands beneath us was incredible. I could see the famous Whitehaven Hill Inlet, can you see? The pics below were taken by Jason’s phone – Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+:

We finally landed Hamilton Island after more than 2 days from departure and it’s beautiful!!! The airport reminded me of the South Pacific islands’ airport….the luggage collection is outdoor. We collected our bags and in line for the shuttle bus that’ll take us to our apartment – Whitsunday Apartments. When we were waiting for the bus, I told Jason walk out to take a pic of that pier and the turquoise water! How beautiful!

Airport shuttle bus looked like this:

Since we supposed to arrive the day before and I called the hotel about our flight delay, our room was ready for us when we checked in. Our fully equipped apartment on the ground floor of the apartment building.

This apartment can fit 5 people!

The only dislike I had was the bathroom, looking dated.

We had a “partial” ocean view from our balcony…..that beach is Catseye Beach!

What I like about the apartment is that they supplied drying rack, very handy to dry our clothes! Hamilton Island is extremely humid and the hotel warned guests to always leave the AC with dehumidifying on due to the humidity of Hamilton Island; molds start growing in less than few hours if AC is turned off and will damage the building!

We headed out for lunch and decided to walk down to the marina instead of waiting for the bus (all the bus lines in Hamilton Island are free). We walked out to Catseye Beach to check it out, it’s a nice little beach. One note is that during the summer months, jellyfish is an issue in the water of the Whitsundays so will need to wear a suit to swim….perhaps that was why I don’t see anyone swimming in the beach.

The marina area is where most of the shops and restaurants located, very nice atmosphere!

For a quick lunch, we headed to Popeyes, we ordered take-outs for a nice and cheap meal. Hamilton Island has an excellent app that has most of the restaurants’ menu and all the information you need about Hamilton Island.

Popeyes menu; we ordered the Fisherman’s Basket and Hamilton Burger for $20.23 AUD.

After the take out we had a nice walk to The General Store. The marina, look at the turquoise water!

 

We went in the General Store to get some drinks and it was surprising to find that the juice prices here were less than in Sydney!!! I read that Hamilton Island is expensive but it’s really not that bad! Our favorite was the Pine Coconut juice ($3.50 AUD).

Instead of walking back…there was a little hill that could be tiresome walking up in the heat so we decided to wait for the bus…the green line that keeps going back and forth between the resort side and the marina side of the island. The green line comes around every 15 minutes or so whereas the other orange and purple line that goes around the island are less frequent.

We got back to our comfy apartment to enjoy our lunch and drinks. The burger was good as well as the fried seafood except for the fried fish….very fishy kind!

After lunch, while Jason took a short nap, I searched for good hiking trail for good view of the island and I read that might encounter snake. SNAKE…my most feared animal, no way so I gave up on that plan. Maybe a high point that we can take by bus and not hiking out in the wild. We walked to the reception and asked, the lady was nice to point out that One Tree Hill is a good place for the view of the island especially for sunset. We took her advise and waited for the orange line to get to One Tree Hill.

Staying at Whitsunday Apartments was the most budget way to stay in Hamilton Island but other more expensive hotel includes a free buggy rental with the stay which we thought would be more convenient.

Hamilton Island is very nicely laid out, clean public restrooms and picnic tables.

I really like those yellow hanging flowers!

Since the next bus is not for another 20 minutes or so, we walked up the way to explore a bit and found this spot with awesome view of our Whitsunday Apartments and Catseye Beach!

We walked back down to the bus station and headed back to our apartment. We rested a bit before heading out back to the marina for dinner. We missed the day yesterday thus missed the booking I had with Coca Chu; the restaurant was completely booked!

After browsing different menus, Jason decided to have dinner at Manta Ray where we had to wait 15 minutes for a table; we were there early too at 6 pm, couldn’t believe how early people have their dinner in the island!

Jason tried out their oysters…he said were pretty good but not as good as the ones we had in Paris!

I ordered steak, very good. Jason ordered the mussels, their sauce was interesting with a little bit of spiciness!

I like Hamilton Island, very lush green and beautiful turquoise water, busy but not crowded, very relaxing atmosphere and that is how I want my Christmas vacation to be 🙂

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