11 September 2005 (Day 6 – Hamilton Island to Perth via Brisbane and Melbourne)
We flew out of Hamilton Island this afternoon.
The Lonely Planet guide to Australia says you’ll either love or loathe Hamilton Island. We don’t think that it is that cut and dry. Hamilton Island is a lovely spot, but if you spend more than five days here you’ll either run out of money, and/or things to do. The staff are all very polite and treat you like royalty, but you pay for that! The majority of the staff are young and there seems to be a high proportion of Kiwis here.
A few other things about Hamilton Island – the main form of transport here is golf buggies. They are everywhere but the cost of hiring one is $90 a day! Needless to say we did not get one – you really can walk everywhere here – there is only one small hill that causes problems. Apart from that, you can get a taxi for $2.50 per person or wait until after 5pm and there is a free shuttle service from the marina to the accommodation areas.
Birds – there are cockatoos, pied currawongs and seagulls all over the island. The cockatoos and pied currawongs constantly fly around the hotel and land on the balconies and they’re not afraid. There are signs up everywhere requesting you not to feed the birds. If you can’t stand cockatoos and pied currawongs, don’t come to Hamilton Island!
We checked out of the hotel and left our bags with the porter and then walked down to the Marina Deli for breakfast, where Daniel had Eggs Benedict with ham, whilst Helen had Eggs Benedict with salmon.
On the shuttlebus from the hotel to the airport, the bus driver wished everyone a safe journey and consoled us that rain was predicted for Hamilton Island that afternoon! We boarded the plane at Hamilton Island and took off. Flying over the Whitsunday Islands we got a great view – that is until we went above the cloud cover. It seemed like a rather quick flight, even though it took two hours.
We waited in the terminal for about an hour, having lunch at one of the takeaway places. Boarding the flight to Melbourne we noticed a few people who were on the flight from Hamilton Island. We left Hamilton Island and it was 24°C. We arrived in Melbourne and it was a wet 7°C!
With about two hours between arriving in Melbourne and flying out to Perth, we went to the Virgin Blue Room. It cost us $5 each to go in but it was good to get out of the busy terminal for a bit. Even better was that we decided to have a massage each. It cost only $20 each and it was great. Whilst Helen had her massage, Daniel played on the Playstation – but not very well…. must be getting too old to figure out these new fangled games!
We were going to get something to eat in the Blue Room, but they had run out of some of the best stuff, so we decided to try and go back into the Terminal and grab some pizza that we had smelt earlier.
When we left the Blue Room we saw the line waiting to go through security checking. It pretty much filled the foyer. It looked as if we would spend the half hour until our flight boarded in the que – but it moved pretty fast and we got through in about ten minutes – despite having to go back because Melbourne has been the only airport where they consider ring binders to be weapons of mass destruction. Those clips can hurt!
We raced to the place that served pizza and had dinner – Daniel also had a spinach and cheese filo. We boarded the plane to Perth – a full load, with one couple with their two toddlers that we saw getting on the plane in Hamilton Island. A long day for them. The poor mother looked as if she needed a holiday – still!
In cramped conditions, we flew for four hours, arriving in Perth a little ahead of schedule. On the flight we ordered two bottles of red wine. We drank one whilst filling out our dive logs for the snorkels we did in the Whitsundays and then slept – well, Daniel did and Helen claims not to have slept but the snoring from her said otherwise!
After picking up our bags that had ceremoniously dumped on the carousel (by some miracle the plates didn’t break!), we got a transfer to the Bel Eyre Comfort Inn, just ten minutes down the road from the airport. It was easy to fall asleep tonight. Whilst the clock said 11pm, our body clock was saying 1am.
The Lonely Planet guide to Australia says you’ll either love or loathe Hamilton Island. We don’t think that it is that cut and dry. Hamilton Island is a lovely spot, but if you spend more than five days here you’ll either run out of money, and/or things to do. The staff are all very polite and treat you like royalty, but you pay for that! The majority of the staff are young and there seems to be a high proportion of Kiwis here.
A few other things about Hamilton Island – the main form of transport here is golf buggies. They are everywhere but the cost of hiring one is $90 a day! Needless to say we did not get one – you really can walk everywhere here – there is only one small hill that causes problems. Apart from that, you can get a taxi for $2.50 per person or wait until after 5pm and there is a free shuttle service from the marina to the accommodation areas.
Birds – there are cockatoos, pied currawongs and seagulls all over the island. The cockatoos and pied currawongs constantly fly around the hotel and land on the balconies and they’re not afraid. There are signs up everywhere requesting you not to feed the birds. If you can’t stand cockatoos and pied currawongs, don’t come to Hamilton Island!
We checked out of the hotel and left our bags with the porter and then walked down to the Marina Deli for breakfast, where Daniel had Eggs Benedict with ham, whilst Helen had Eggs Benedict with salmon.
On the shuttlebus from the hotel to the airport, the bus driver wished everyone a safe journey and consoled us that rain was predicted for Hamilton Island that afternoon! We boarded the plane at Hamilton Island and took off. Flying over the Whitsunday Islands we got a great view – that is until we went above the cloud cover. It seemed like a rather quick flight, even though it took two hours.
We waited in the terminal for about an hour, having lunch at one of the takeaway places. Boarding the flight to Melbourne we noticed a few people who were on the flight from Hamilton Island. We left Hamilton Island and it was 24°C. We arrived in Melbourne and it was a wet 7°C!
With about two hours between arriving in Melbourne and flying out to Perth, we went to the Virgin Blue Room. It cost us $5 each to go in but it was good to get out of the busy terminal for a bit. Even better was that we decided to have a massage each. It cost only $20 each and it was great. Whilst Helen had her massage, Daniel played on the Playstation – but not very well…. must be getting too old to figure out these new fangled games!
We were going to get something to eat in the Blue Room, but they had run out of some of the best stuff, so we decided to try and go back into the Terminal and grab some pizza that we had smelt earlier.
When we left the Blue Room we saw the line waiting to go through security checking. It pretty much filled the foyer. It looked as if we would spend the half hour until our flight boarded in the que – but it moved pretty fast and we got through in about ten minutes – despite having to go back because Melbourne has been the only airport where they consider ring binders to be weapons of mass destruction. Those clips can hurt!
We raced to the place that served pizza and had dinner – Daniel also had a spinach and cheese filo. We boarded the plane to Perth – a full load, with one couple with their two toddlers that we saw getting on the plane in Hamilton Island. A long day for them. The poor mother looked as if she needed a holiday – still!
In cramped conditions, we flew for four hours, arriving in Perth a little ahead of schedule. On the flight we ordered two bottles of red wine. We drank one whilst filling out our dive logs for the snorkels we did in the Whitsundays and then slept – well, Daniel did and Helen claims not to have slept but the snoring from her said otherwise!
After picking up our bags that had ceremoniously dumped on the carousel (by some miracle the plates didn’t break!), we got a transfer to the Bel Eyre Comfort Inn, just ten minutes down the road from the airport. It was easy to fall asleep tonight. Whilst the clock said 11pm, our body clock was saying 1am.
posted by Daniel & Helen at
7:58 PM
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