Hamilton Island is one of 74 islands comprising the Whitsunday Islands, off Airlie Beach, some 5 hours drive north of Rockhampton. As a holiday destination for those wanting to stay by the ocean and explore the Great Barrier Reef, it is a superb place to stay as much of it is uninhabited and only a few islands offer accommodation although a few more are accessible for wild camping. We stayed in an apartment overlooking Catseye Beach and we had free use of a golf buggy during our stay which proved very useful.

On arrival the weather was dreadful, with torrential rain and flooding

The island has a network of footpaths which go to a few viewpoints and beaches on the other side of the island. There’s one such viewpoint overlooking Catseye Beach.

At one end of the beach is the “torremelinos” quarter where young holidaymakers stay in tower blocks and crowd together on a thin stretch of beach. At the other end, the classier accommodation has a much lower population density and access to a private pool and beach area. The island is mostly wooded, with only a narrow stretch being built-up and most of the wilder areas can only be reached on foot

Tali joined us once the weather had improved and we booked a few boat trips out to explore the area, the first being a trip to snorkel at one beach and then spend a few hours on the well-known Whitehaven beach.

Whitehaven beach is supposed to be the whitest beach in Australia due to the size of the sand particles which also means it is never too hot to walk on the sand. It has a small campsite in the trees, this is for campers who can be dropped off by boat, together with all the supplies they need, for a few days of solitude and communing with nature. It is truly a beautiful place

Our apartment attracted it’s fair share of wildlife

The cockatoos are beautiful but have a very harsh call and are easily persuaded to accept tidbits of food, a grave mistake as they have a very good memory and keep on returning for more. The thick-knees are odd birds, largely subsisting on beetles which mysteriously fell from the sky onto the lawn in front of our back door. The tree behind us often hosted Laughing Kookaburras, the Australian species of kestrel, Pied Currawong, crows and occasionally Rainbow lorikeets. A few days after Tali arrived we went to the only restaurant on the island to have an entry in the aussie equivalent of the Michelin Guide, the Chefs Hats for a superb tasting menu, preceded by drinks on the deck watching the sunset and the fruit bats flying out to the mainland to feed

Our next trip out was on a sunset BBQ cruise

And then the big one, a 2 hour trip out to the outer reef, the most productive and biodiverse of the reef habitats. Here there was a pontoon from which we could all snorkel the fabulous coral reefs and there was even accommodation so people could stay overnight. The trip was busy so staying overnight would have a lot of advantages, mainly having time to explore the reef. There was a semi-submersible so even non-snorkellers could see something

It was a good but long day out

The next morning was a very hot walk up to the highest point on the island, Passage Peak

Hamilton Island and the whole area is stunning

Our final trip out was to catch dinner, a group of 8 were taken out to secret locations to catch reef fish. Sadly, for everyone else, the female contingent on board caught by far the most fish, with this one nearly making the grade but was too small to keep

The only fish legally ok to keep was this one so 3 happy people got off the boat. Tali was informed by one of our male colleagues that it was pheromones what made the difference…illustrating the uneasy balance between modern day thinking and ancient myths about women and boats..However, it made for good eating that night!

New Years Eve on Hamilton Island was a subdued affair, certainly at our end of the beach and after the obligatory firework show around 7pm, things were quiet. We celebrated by having our resident chef cook up bugs and prawn risotto..

The final walk was the longest, over to Escape Beach on the other side of the island. It was very hot and the paths were empty but the effort was worthwhile as this is a beautiful spot

Our holiday was over, the next day we headed back to Rockhampton, once again in the pouring rain, Tali to prepare for work and us, to repack for the nth time and head south to Sydney and Perth.