A Very Busy Day

Tuesday 21 November

Visiting islands for two nights and one day, doesn’t actually give you lots of time to look around and do things – as we found on Dunk Island. So this morning, rather than laying in, we were up and out by 07.00 to go to have breakfast with the koala bears. We We arrived slightly early, but soon several children and pushchairs arrived and in we went to the Koala Gallery – a café with a barrier to one side which was filled with eucalyptus branches and old tree trunks made into a climbing frame. Four koalas were clinging to the tree trunks, three asleep, and he fourth munching on the eucalyptus leaves. And he munched most of the time we were eating. It is no wonder they sleep for twenty hours a day, eucalyptus leaves contain a toxin that makes them sleepy and lethargic. They also have no predators, because their bodies are so full of toxins that any other animal eating them would be very ill, and probably die.
Seeing these furry creatures up really close was fun, but their claws used to keep their balance on the tree, or rip branches from the trees to eat, look very powerful.

From here, we returned to the hotel and took an ”orange” shuttle bus (the ones to marina only are called “green”) which is one of the two buses used to take service staff from their homes on the island to work – they have built large complexes of apartments for staff living on the island, complete with pools, and recreational facilities. They are for two people, unless you are over 40 when you can have single occupancy. Some of the staff still commute every day via Shute Harbour ferry, .but the majority “live in”. The shuttle in the evening is called “purple”.

This bus was driven by the only female bus driver on the island – Carina – who came here a few months ago to visit, and decided to stay a while. She returned to Sydney and put her belongings in storage, and is now happily esconced on the island, driving any of the buses or minibuses serving the community. There are few cars here (petrol would have to be brought over from the mainland) so everyone drives golf buggies. These race around the island, reminding me of “smart cars” on the roads back home. They probably only have a top speed of about 30 mph, but when they are racing around they look lethal. Strangely they are left hand drive, as they drive on the left too, so you quite often see very young children clinging on, on the road side of the vehicle. No one seems to worry – seatbelts – what are they here? On our tour around we visited One Shot Hill where Carina kindly stopped for a few minutes to let all the tourists take some pictures out over the bays around the island, the golf driving range –out into hoops in a lake, where the balls float and are collected at the end of the day, the local cement works and quarry, for their extensive building programme, a wind glider – a glider on a wire (a bit like bungy jumping) only the wire is fixed at both ends and the glider slides down the wire – wobbling in the breeze and looking quite precarious. Our hotel, having 18 floors, is the tallest building on the island, most of the resorts are bungalow style living, all with huge pools – because of the jelly fish.

Today there were two “freedom of options’ choices on the programme – dinner (for which we were given vouchers to choose from four different restaurants – we paid last night) and an activity. When Jenn told us about the choices for this afternoon, seventeen of us chose to go to Whitehaven Beach, a paradise beach backed by tropical rain forest right down to the white sands about half an hour’s boat ride away. Embarrassed she said there were only ten places and we would have to have a lottery. After a few phone calls, she managed to wangle the extra seven seats, so we were all going. So we were back from our bus ride in time to collect our swimmers and water and get to the marina to board the boat. We had lunch on the boat, while it was still in harbour – another salad buffet, which was very tasty - as the captain warned us there was quite a swell in the strong winds blowing off shore and people sitting on the top deck at the back of the boat were going to get wet! – that was us!!! They give out ginger tablets to anyone who thinks they may feel wobbly, but you have to see a doctor before they will give you “Kwells”.

We set off at a sedate pace in the harbour, but as we got out into the sound, the captain revved the engine and we were away. It wasn’t many minutes before we got our first drenching, as the boat rocked up and down and rolled from side to side. We were passing through the same area that James Cook sailed in the 1770’s and it was quite remarkable to realize he would have seen the same as we were seeing today, as only a couple of the 74 Whitsunday Islands are habited. The rest are just large lumps of rocks, rising from the sea (which is extremely turquoise again) covered in rain forest, down to the sandy coves and rocks, where the waves pound in. We had thought it might be showery today, after a bit of cloudy start, but the sun was shining very warmly as we sped along for about half an hour.

When we arrived at the beach – the boat, of course, could not get right inland - you had to travel on the raft (a flat platform with a small engine, which carried about 40 people at a time right on to the beach. We ‘landed’ and found a shady spot for Colin, as temperatures were soaring again, and coupled with the reflection off the white sand, it would be a burner. He listened to his MP4 player, under a palm tree for the rest of the afternoon. We had collected stinger suits again, for swimming, so I donned mine – it was very difficult in sandy conditions – and went into the beautiful waters. But it was very cold – much colder than when we had been out at the reef, so I decided the best idea was to just sit at the edge of the waves and build sandcastles. The tide was going out at first, but in fact, ‘turned’ while I was ‘playing’ and the waves, previously little ripples, became much larger and more aggressive, soon washing my sandcastles away. There were organized games for the more energetic of the party, like beach cricket and volleyball, but I passed the rest of the afternoon laying in the sun and puzzling. I love sandy beaches, and to me this was heaven, but I understand it’s not so much fun for Colin.

All too soon we were being called back up the beach to repeat the ‘rafting’ process. As we stepped on to a platform at the back of the boat, our legs and feet were hosed down, to prevent sand being carried on board as much as possible. We were given fruit cake before starting the journey back, which was not nearly so choppy, as the captain was able to sail through the troughs. We still had a few waves overboard as we went through the Solway Channel, a rough stretch of water guarding entry to this paradise island, but by the time we got back in the harbour we were dry.

We were cramming everything to this one day, and tonight just before sunset (about 17.30) Jenn and Tom were having drinks for everyone in Romanos restaurant at the marina, as five of the party – Cynthia, Fergus, Ruth, Helga and Ludo – were leaving the tour tomorrow morning. We will miss Cynthia, Fergus and Ruth as we have traveled with since Ayers Rock, and the “deaf” couple will definitely miss Helga and Ludo, who have stepped in and guided their compatriots along.

We arrived to find a plentiful supply of white, red and sparkling wine, with crisps and doughnuts? – strange choice for “nibbles”. But when everyone arrived, conversation buzzed – it was the first time that most of us were together (four were on the sunset cruise and Henny and Poul didn’t feel too well – a sore throat virus is circulating now) but we all took the opportunity to find out more about our fellow travelers. By not eating together each evening, we miss the chance of meeting everyone socially. The time passed too quickly as we had only spoken to a few people, but we had booked dinner at the Red Emperor, the only Chinese restaurant in town, and one of the eateries that would take our “option” vouchers. So we said our goodbyes to those leaving and departed, along with several others in the party.

As we were using our vouchers we were offered a choice of three set meals. We chose Menu B, which included dim sum, spring rolls, chicken and sweetcorn soup, lemon chicken and singapore noodles – all favourites from home. There were a few other dishes too, and although we munched our way through quite a lot, the portions were huge, and we probably left more than we ate! Which was a shame as it was delicious – not up to Slimy Slug’s standard but very tasty. Even Colin couldn’t manage the dessert options – he must have been very full – so we just had Chinese tea. We had had some more wine, so were feeling quite light-headed as we boarded the bus back to the hotel – to prepare for another early morning tomorrow.