What a Day for a Daydream (Island)

     After Brisbane, we flew northeast to Hamilton Island which is in the Whitsunday Islands group off the Queensland coast.  Picture us skimming along the water on a fast catamaran heading towards Daydream Island. The sun is shining and off in the distance we can see a veil of rain hitting the water. We pass a multitude of small, lush islands, some with houses or resort and other with just trees. It was a glorious day!

We were welcomed with non-alcoholic cocktails.

     We were greeted with a shell necklace, a photo (see left) and a reception with a non-alcoholic drink in a cool, refreshing room. It was there that we were told about the resort and the activities available to us. The resort itself has new owners and a multi-million dollar renovation will be occurring later this year. This renovation is well-needed in some of the areas around the resort. On the island, at one end are the resort buildings which are surrounded by a man-made lagoon. The lagoon is home to many species of fish including clown fish, a shark and a variety of rays. The pools and restaurants are near this part of the resort. At the other end of the resort is the old resort which is now housing for the staff. There are also the resort shops but they are no longer open, a restaurant, pool and screen for the night movies. Two paths connect the ends of the island. The paved walkway leads you past the "Three Brothers" statues (see below), the tennis courts and chapel. The other path is more scenic through the jungle in the middle of the island which takes about 30 minutes. The path starts at the entrance to Lovers Cove. This beach is a secluded area where you can watch the sunset.

The view outside our room.  Sadly, we never did get to try out the hammock.

The pool at night

The iconic mermaid statues

What looks like a string of pearls around her neck is actually bird droppings!

One of several mermaid statues around the resort.

The Three Brothers statues

     Wild Life: Due to the fact that the resort is an open concept, wild life roam everywhere. Rock Wallabies and Curlews wander freely. They are harmless and as the saying goes, "If you don't bother me, I won't bother you".

     Wallabies: A wallaby is a small- or mid-sized macropod found in Australia. They belong to the same family as kangaroos. The term wallaby comes from the Aboriginal language Dharug.   'Walabi' or 'waliba' and is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo. Wallabies are herbivores whose diet consists of a wide range of grasses, vegetables, leaves and other foliage.

     The island had many wallabies and we could watch them each day just outside our room eating the foliage in the grass. At night, they would disappear to areas like under a bridge going to Lover's Cove.

A dozen wallabies feed on the grass just outside our room. Our room is on the upper left of the photo on the ground floor.

Muddy foot prints of a Wallaby on the open-air hallway near our room

What's that I hear?

Coming in!

A joey in Mom's pouch. Home Sweet Home -- Safe and warm

Just hanging around or should I say "hanging out". Legs everywhere.

On Lover's Cove beach

Hiding behind a rock

Near the tennis courts. They were everywhere.

     The Bush Stone Curlew:  The Bush Stone Curlew is often sighted on the island and have been known to hang around the resorts looking for handouts. You could be sitting inside the resort's lounge or the open air restaurant and one of these birds will walk by looking for food. Food must be abundant for them. I saw one land on an unattended table by the pool and start in on the lunch that was left there.

Here is the sound of a curlew. And another more haunting sound of Curlew

A curlew  

 

Note the way its knees bend

Just resting

     The Living Reef: The Living Reef was an interesting pool of fish and other creatures. Every morning they would feed the sharks and rays while speaking about the reef and its inhabitants. Fascinating! Each day the talk was a little different. There was some interesting information. Apparently, sharks are very lazy when hunting prey. They don't want to chase their feed so they will just wait for an old or injured fish to come by and then grab it. Also they don't eat every day. "Bruce" the resident  lemon shark did eat once a day while we were there but we were warned that we may not see it happen. The reason that surfers are attacked is because from below, a surfer sitting on their board looks like the bottom of a turtle.

A Sand Shark

One of the resident marine biologists cleaning the Living Reef exhibit

Feeding the rays

Bruce, a non-aggressive lemon shark

A white cockatoo that sat on the wall of our ground-floor balcony

Colourful flowers

     I did a day excursion to go scuba diving, hoping it would be as good as I remembered from my scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef in 1980.  Cruise Whitsundays operates a fleet of fast catamaran ferries that deliver passengers to and from the various islands to excursions and the Hamilton Island airport.  They also operate Reefworld, a pontoon platform anchored at Hardy Reef, one of the shallowest reefs in the Great Barrier Reef chain and therefore ideal for snorkelling.

Sadly, the shallowness of this section of reef makes it susceptible to coral bleaching and being brushed by the fins of the thousands of snorkellers that swim over it each year.

The water is so warm that you don't need a wetsuit, but they provide "stinger suits" as protection against jellyfish stingers.

The view from their underwater viewing room.

A sea turtle between the ship and the pontoon platform.

This guy is very used to all the people swimming around.  That's me tickling his chin.

A clown fish

   
     Daydream Island may once have been a lovely resort, but it has become somewhat neglected.  It has new owners who were planning a major renovation in 2018, but in the meantime, many of the facilities are closed or poorly maintained, which detracts from the enjoyment.  Overall, it was a nice place to visit for the scenery and wildlife.

     A few days after we departed from Daydream Island, Cyclone Debbie, a Category 4 (the second-most severe type) made almost a direct hit. Due to the damage that occurred, the resort is now closed and the new owners have moved up their timeline for renovations.  It should reopen in 2018.  It will be a lovely place to stay at, although probably more expensive.