Hayman Island, the Great Barrier Reef, and squeaking along Whitehaven Beach!

As our time in Australia was coming to an end, we had yet to see one of the places on our bucket list — the Great Barrier Reef.  Of course that covers over 1400 miles of territory, so we had to figure out where to go.  After a little research, we decided on Hayman Island.  Hayman Island is the most northerly of the Whitsunday Islands that are off the coast of central Queensland.  We had heard about the resort there and thought we would give it a try. Getting to Hayman is a pleasure unto itself.  First you fly from Sydney to the Great Barrier Reef Airport on Hamilton Island.  The views of the reef during the last part of your flight and approach are awesome.  From there, one of the Hayman Island private yachts picks you up for the one our journey to the resort, passing by a number of islands along the way.  The resort itself is large, but it is arranged in such a way that you feel like you are in a nature preserve (lots of rainforest gardens, ponds, and seascapes. There are multiple restaurants, including one that does a nightly tasting menu (we spent a lot of time there!).  In fact, on one evening, Glen had one of his best wine tasting experiences ever.  Because of our hanging out at the tasting menu restaurant, he got to know the sommelier quite well and they had a lot of philosophical discussions about wine.  One evening, after dinner, the sommelier asked Glen if he would like to join him in the wine cellar to discuss their plans to introduce more “rest-of-world” wines to their collection.  Well, 2.5 hours later, Glen came reeling back to the room after drinking some truly outstanding Australian wines!

Of course, while you can do spa treatments or just lie on the beach, we wanted to be a bit more active, especially regarding the Great Barrier Reef.  We took a cruise with CruiseWhitsundays about 30 miles away to Knuckle Reef Lagoon.  There they have a permanently moored barge that includes a dive center, a sun deck, an observation area that is down below the water in the reef, and a water slide (a little something for everyone).  A sort distance away is a floating platform with a helicopter that took us out for an aerial view of both Knuckle and Hardies Reefs — including the world famous Heart Reef.  The views were spectacular with all the brilliant colors.  Sadly, we also saw parts of the reef that had bleached.  We hope they can recover…  After we returned to the platform, we did a dive.  Since Deb wasn’t certified, she went with an instructor.  What’s great is that most of the beauty of the reef is shallower than the 40 foot limit they put on non-certified divers.  It was a very full day filled with beauty.  It was time to go back to the resort and drink some more wine!

On another day we took a float plane over to Whitehaven Beach, located on Whitsunday Island.  This 4+ mile stretch of sand is regularly rated as one of the most pristine beaches in the world.  The sand there is brilliant white and is made up of 98% pure silica that has been deposited over millions of years by the prevailing currents.  An interesting circumstance due to that sand composition is that you squeak while you walk in it.  Because of it’s pure white color, it also doesn’t heat up, making a long stroll very pleasant even on the hottest of days!  We spent a pleasant afternoon there and were wonderfully provisioned with all sorts of goodies and champagne.

We were sad to leave the resort and the reef.  Both were beautiful and I hope we return some day!

This entry was posted in Australia, Queensland, Travel, Uncategorized