Goodbye Whitsundays!

Shane and the kids in
Daydream Island's pool

We've managed to fit a lot in since our last posts from Hook Island. We visited a site, part of the Ngaro Cultural Trail that winds over a number of Whitsunday islands, with 2,000-year-old aboriginal rock art on Hook Island. It was well-presented and worth a visit (although had it been as long as the trek up to Whitsunday Peak, I may not have been as impressed). We then moved around to Daydream Island, picked up one of their mooring buoys and spent time ashore swimming, watched "Rango" at their outdoor cinema (what a strange, strange movie!), kayaking (for Shane and Cam) and generally people-watching. The kids in particular enjoyed Daydream and I'd recommend it as a stop-over to other cruisers. Everything feels very relaxed, there is lots to do and see, and it isn't expensive to pick up a buoy.

The kids doing knot-tying practice

We continued our circumnavigation of Hook Island, spending time at the very beautiful and popular Blue Pearl Bay and Cid Harbour and the less popular but still gorgeous Macona Inlet before berthing at Hamilton Island, where Haydee was adopted by two girls on KBG. After overnighting there, the kids and I left Shane on Hamilton for 3 days (the poor boy) and flew to Sydney for my cousin's wedding (congratulations Nikki and Steve! enjoy the Cook Islands!), returning yesterday to a spic and span boat with freshly painted engine mounts, clean and waterproofed dodger and bimini, and lots of other maintenance jobs done. We left Hamilton shortly after the kids and I got back and moved across to Shute Harbour where we're now moored 30m away from a sunken boat that we're told has been like that for 2 years (!) as the owner, we assume, wrangles with an insurance company. All you can see is the top metre or so of its mast. Unbelievable.

Whitsunday Trip Map

If you have a close-up look at our trip map you'll see lots of crazy blue spaghetti between Hamilton Island, Airlie Beach and Hook Island marking our travels around the Whitsunday islands. I think it's safe to say we've done the Whitsundays, at least until we're on the way back down again. It's been fantastic - it is a stunning part of the world and we've been lucky to spend so much time here - but it is time to move on again. Bowen, Townsville and Hinchinbrook are the next major destinations as we approach the half-way mark on our trip. I'm not sure Shane is going to be easy to lure away from here as I think he still wants to catch his spotted mackerel's brother, but my theory that all the bareboaters here over the school holidays caught all the Whitsunday fish may hold sway yet!