That's how the other half live

We were blessed with wonderful weather for our cruise around the Whitsundays.

Our day started out with a courtesy coach picking us up from our caravan park. Five nights there and we didn't move the motorhome once! On to Abel Marina to hop onto The Voyager.

Now that we're out of the peak tourism season, a lot of things either aren't running or are different to their usual. Our tour was one of them, but it was a good change. The big, new boat was being fixed up, so we went out on the older boat. As one of the crew said, "Same head, different hat." We got the same tour, just on a smaller older boat and at a cheaper price. I'm not complaining.

We "set sail" and stopped first at Daydream Island to pick a few more people up. Off again, and onto Hook Island. We disembarked and marvelled at all of the colourful tropical fish in the clear waters just under the pier. One of the crew threw in some bread for them (and gave some to the kids to do the same) so we could get a really good look. There were even a few Maori wrasse down there, which are very distinctive, big blue fish with huge lips. We got into the Coral Viewer, a semisubmersible, and headed out to look at the fringing reef. There weren't a huge amount of fish on the reef (that we could see anyway) but the different varieties of coral were more interesting and beautiful than I would have thought. Spaghetti coral, stag coral, plate coral, brain coral, elephant ear coral.

Back on shore, we walked to the resort for a bit of snorkelling. Now as I have mentioned before, it is stinger season, so we were all given lycra stinger suits to wear in the ocean. Even little ones for the kids (well you would hope so!). How cute are they? Maya reminds me of Cathy Freeman circa 2000:





We fitted the kids with life vests so they could float around with their snorkelling gear, not having to worry about the swimming part. Most of the group headed out with some of the crew to feed the fish, so Nick went to have a look while I stayed shallow with the kids. Maya looked incredible, floating face down, kicking around - she didn't come up for air for ages! Eli didn't like the sensation too much and wanted me to hold him. After awhile, Maya and Eli were ready to get out (and into the resort pool), so Nick and Nate went out to the fish feeding together. Nick was surprised how nice snorkelling was. He hadn't thought it would be anything special. Nate was so high on the experience afterwards that it was all he could think or talk about. He is very much looking forward to snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef.

Once we got back on the boat, we headed for Whitehaven Beach. It was voted (by whom I'm not exactly sure) as one of the top 10 beaches in the world. With all of the hype, it was anticlimactic getting there. Nick wonders how a beach can be in the top 10 when you can't even swim in the water without a special suit on. It did have the necessary components: white sand, tick; turquoise bath water, tick; free from development, tick. It unfortunately also had loads of leaf litter all over that white sand which really took away from the scenery. It was fun to watch all of the little fish in the shallows though, and at one point I could see a dark thing about 10 metres away, moving in our general direction - so I stood up and found myself looking at what looked suspiciously like a small shark. It was pretty cool.

Our next port of call was Daydream Island again, but this time to get off and have a wander around. The kids posed with the mermaid:



We enjoyed a smoothie at the bar, a swim in the lovely resort pool, and a play at the cool playground.

Nate snapped some pictures on the trip back home, including this candid one of Maya and me making funny faces:



It was a good day, especially the snorkelling. It was fun (and shocking) to see the multi-million dollar mansions and $6000 per night resorts on Hamilton Island from our boat. The scenery was beautiful - tropical islands popping up out of the clear blue sea. It was something to do once, to see what all the fuss is about. If I ever go back to the Whitsundays, it will be to stay on Hamilton Island.