Our week at Airlie Beach & Hamilton Island (3)

MONDAY 24th Feb

Kelly drove the buggy over to the bakery at the marina and brought back coffees and lots of pastries and pies. We sat on the balcony and made a start on them and this attracted a few cockatoos. I shooed them off but noticed that one of them was eating a grape, which I then discovered had been fed to it by Asher, who didn't understand what a bad idea it was to encourage the birds.

Kelly, Miller and Asher then went out for a ride on the buggy while Jo and I decided to get showered and changed, but, before we did that, Jo carefully took the plates of pastries and pies off the table on the balcony, covered them in clingfilm and put them on the kitchen table which was well back from the balcony and past the TV viewing area.

After our showers we came back to the kitchen to discover that the cheeky, greedy birds had not been at all deterred and had helped themselves to a feast:

After clearing up the mess and securing all the bifold doors, Jo and I went for a walk - out to the marina then up the steep hills to a couple of viewpoints:

The middle photo above shows Catseye Bay and our accommodation building. Turning the camera round:

There were also plenty of these signs around:

Kelly kept the boys on the move - to Wildlife Adventures and other attractions and I joined Kelly and Asher later at one of the resort pools and a dip in the warm ocean - on second thoughts, that was yesterday. When the tide went out you could walk out as far as you liked. There were warnings of "seasonal stingers", it being the wet season, but there was no sign of any jellyfish and nobody was put off going in the sea.

Today we tried one of the other resort pools - a larger one with a swim-up tiki bar in the middle. One great thing about Hamilton Island is that all the resort pools are freely available to all - you don't have to be resident at that particular resort.

TUESDAY 25th Feb

We had hoped to get the boys on the Kids' ATV's but when we got there we discovered that it was only open on Mondays so we did the go-karts instead. We did the safety drill then squeezed these Formula One style giant helmets on - they were hot, heavy and sweaty. The karts had to be driven by adults so we had to ride on dual steering ones which were exceptionally heavy - especially round the tight bends:

Kelly really wanted the boys to experience a ride in an ATV. The only one available was a 4-seater driven by an instructor/tour guide round the island so Jo and I decided to leave and tackle the trail walks. The boys seemed to have a great time and were impressed to see where Johnny Depp filmed Pirates of the Carribean 5 and also saw where other famous stars - like Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift - had recently stayed.

We managed just one short dusty, hilly trail walk to Hideaway Bay:

There were warning notices about sharks and jellyfish and also this unusual one:

We had been scrutinising the weather forecasts as there was a tropical cyclone developing off the North Queensland coast and we were sailing back to the mainland tomorrow (Wednesday) before flying back to Adelaide on Friday. Albert was the first named cyclone of the season - thankfully it stayed well offshore but it could have had some effect on wave conditions - we would see tomorrow.

Our week at Airlie Beach & Hamilton Island (2)

SATURDAY 22nd Feb

Kelly decided she'd like to buy a top for tomorrow's crossing - just in case it's colder out at sea - and I joined her, partly to recce the walk down to the ferry port to check that we didn't need a taxi to get there tomorrow. Asher then decided that he would like to go too, so the 3 of us set off - and it was a fairly short walk down to the port and the marina.

From the port, we looked back at our resort:

The units with the blue roofs form the Wyndham resort that we were staying at.

Kelly got a hoodie and Asher a pair of water shoes. We picked up more snacks at Woolworths and headed back - and that was the extent of our excursions today. We had some visitors to our apartments:

This was far from the last time we would get a close-up with cockatoos. Note the turquoise seas beyond the marina - everywhere was like this. Was this an effect of the coral on the Great Barrier Reef?

We still had the occasional showers passing through but they were much less frequent than yesterday and mostly only lasted minutes. Everyone just carried on doing what they were doing. You could see the squalls coming and I caught this rainbow:

SUNDAY 23rd Feb

After breakfast we rolled our bags down the hill to the ferry port where there was some interesting art:

All the ferries are catamarans. Our journey was scheduled to last 85 minutes with 2 brief stops on the way to let off passengers. Jo and I sat at the back of the deck in the direction of travel while Kelly found a spot facing us where she and the boys could snuggle together. We knew the crossing was going to be a bit rough as it was windy but it was far from cold - even out in the open ocean.

All bar me had taken Kwells as a precaution but only Asher seemed a little affected by the movement of the boat but he put on a brave face here:

First stop was Daydream Island:

Then it was Hamilton Island - first of all at the airport. The runway goes all the way from one side of the island to the other - a distance of just one mile which is pretty short, but we watched as some reasonably large planes took off and landed.

The other side of the marina - just minutes away - was where we got off. One of the hosts of our apartment met us and drove us the short distance to our property, which was in Catseye Bay, overlooking the beach. We had huge bifold doors to our balconies:

Visitors get round by golf buggies - hundreds of them - no cars allowed:

We had lunch at a marina restaurant then took the buggy on a short island recce:

One of the other notable features of the island is the number of wallabies everywhere. In the gardens beneath our accommodation, every morning a small team came out to clean up their poo from the grass. The other wildlife notables are the hundreds of cockatoos - more of them later. 

Our week at Airlie Beach & Hamilton Island - Day 1

FRIDAY 21st Feb

Chris kindly drove the 5 of us - me, Jo, Kelly and the boys - to the airport, leaving Old Noarlunga at 5 am. Chris didn't have enough leave left to join us for this holiday so he returned home to work - and also to oversee the work that was planned on the toilet block - while the rest of us were swanning away in North Queeensland again.

We flew in to the small but lovely Whitsunday Coast aiport (Proserpine):

It was a bit bumpy coming in and our pilot had to abort his first attempt at landing due to the high cross winds but we made it safely second time around.

The airport shuttle bus took about 40 mins to get us to our resort high up in Airlie Beach, overlooking the ferry port and marina. The 2 nights we had booked here had been done at the last minute as the original Air B&B that Kelly had booked was cancelled, as the property had been water damaged during the recent floods in the area.

I've commented before on how large Queensland is - Airlie Beach is almost 700 kms south of Port Douglas, where we had spent a week in January, but over 1,100 kms north of Brisbane. Definitely tropical.

Our resort was lovely and we had 2 adjacent rooms at the top of one of the buildings, each with large balconies that we could talk to each other from. The boys were very happy here - good wifi and an excellent pool and adjacent hot tub - what more could they want?

The restaurant and bar are next to the pool and are open fronted, but, happily with a decent roof to take the brunt of the regular fairly heavy showers we experienced on our first day. The rain never stopped anyone using the pool and hot tub, least of all our intrepid duo:

We took the resort shuttle bus downtown - a very short journey, but one that is very useful on the return back up the steep hill to the resort. Walking round the touristy town we came to the large outdoor lagoon style pool - similar to the one we had used in Cairns. Jo demonstrated the new top she had bought over her new swimsuit:

No restaurants for us in the evenings - the boys like to go online or watch a movie and snack/gorge in their apartments - and we were happy to do likewise, albeit with a couple of G & T's.

Last week in SA

SUNDAY 16th Feb

No photos taken so not sure what happened today. Suspect we stayed put and had a quiet day.

MONDAY 17th Feb

I suggested we go for a local walk this morning and Jo surprised me by saying we should tackle the hill opposite - going up any kind of gradient being Jo's least favourite and most complained about activity. So off we set - across the pedestrian bridge:

and up we climbed:

Multiple stops of course, but Jo made it to the top:

Now the decision is which way down? Three options - the first, to the left of the above picture has a steep gritty, slippy fiinish; the second, to the right, is the infamous Pipeline trail where I had a nasty fall last year - which still gives me shudders. The third option is just to go back down the trail we had just come up.

I described  the options to Jo to let her decide - surprisingly she chose the Pipeline option, probably because I had made a remark about exorcising my demons. Mostly downhill but including the steep and slippy Pipeline section itself. Careful baby steps and try to find the slightly grassy option to the side of the main track. There could be no holding of hands - I took the lead and Jo followed - even more gingerly than I did:

I said mostly downhill but there was one short but steep and tricky section:

Then we arrived at the scene of my accident last year - it's a rock wall with a few natural footholds:

Last year, I was on my own and doing this trail the other way round - clockwise - so I was coming down the rocks backwards when I lost my footing and tumbled head over heels before landing in the river reeds below this spot.

We had originally intended to reach this spot and then go back the way we had come as the next section after this, if we carried on, is a narrow slippy path high above the river. However, I had told Chris that we would be back before 1 pm and it had been slow getting to this point so the shortest, quickest option was to carry on anti-clockwise. That was a decision that proved to be a scary one for Jo, who spent most of the time on all fours, clinging to whatever she could find above her.

We survived without any damage this time.

After dinner that evening, Jo and Asher went for a dip:

TUESDAY 18th Feb

Chris had a meeting in the Somerton area of the city this afternoon and offered to take us there if we wanted another beach walk, and he would pick us up after his meeting finished - an offer we gladly accepted.

Chris dropped us off at a nice beachside cafe and Jo and I had a spot of lunch before heading along the beach northwards towards Glenelg, arriving there about 40 minutes later. Glenelg is well known to us, having stayed there a couple of times. Whichever beach we go to, we have to do a walk to the end of the jetty - and this was no different:

We walked past our former accommodation and the restaurants and bars round the small harbour there, until eventually it was time for cold beers at the Stamford Hotel:

WEDNESDAY 19th Feb

Another "no photographs" day for me so I'm guessing not much happened? I think we took a stroll round to Long Shot cafe for a bit of lunch and then crossed the road for Jo to take this one of me beside the local book exchange, which I've been using regularly:

THURSDAY 20th Feb

It was the day before our next little adventure - a week up in North Queensland's Whitsunday Islands - and Jo's swimsuit was shot so we drove over to Big W at Seaford and got her a new one. After that we headed to Port Noarlunga and, for the first time parked south of the pier.

The plan was to beach walk to the Onkaparinga river mouth but I spotted a trail through the dunes that would hopefully lead us a bit further up the beach. It was hot - and so was the sand. We were both wearing flip-flops (aka thongs) on our feet and it felt like walking on hot coals at times. The sand was very soft and it was a bit of a climb up the dunes so we were both pretty knackered by the time we eventually arrived on the beach:

The decision now was whether to carry on towards the river mouth:

 - or head back to the port for some cold beers. As we hadn't intended a long walk today we hadn't taken water with us, so it was a no-brainer.

Back in Port Noarlunga, it was mid-afternoon on Thursday and a surprising number of licensed establishments didn't open until 5 pm - or, worse still, not until the weekend. We ended up in Drifters, which worked out pretty well in the end.

Another week has passed

A couple of folllow-ups to the comments on my last post - both of them good news:

Jo is back to being fully fit again and we managed to find alternative accommodation for our first 2 nights in Airlie Beach next weekend - https://clubwyndhamairliebeach.com.au/.

The return ferry to Hamilton Island (3 nights there) is also booked as is the shuttle from the airport to our resort on Friday. We have an early departure from Adelaide on Friday and we still have to arrange transport to the airport but otherwise we're pretty well sorted. Let's hope the weather behaves.

It's been an up and down week weather-wise here. On Wednesday we hit our highest temperature so far of this holiday - 43 C (109 F). On that day the local media reported that Adelaide was the hottest city in the world. This weekend it's cooled down quite dramatically with the thermometer just creeping in to the low 20's today (Saturday) with a similar forecast for tomorrow, then rising again over the next few days.

I got further confirmation that my next pre-assessment appointment for my knee operation has been scheduled for Monday 10th March - the day after we get home! The operation itself has to take place within 8 weeks of the pre-assessment which would make it early/mid-May at the latest.

Now for the daily diary:

WEDNESDAY 12th Feb

Although Jo was no longer feeling sick, today wasn't going to be a day for long walks. Apart from the need to break her in gently, the forecasters had warned us of the excessive temperatures we were likely to face, so it seemed like an opportunity to visit our favourite, almost posh, supermarket - Pasadena Foodland. We marvelled at the huge range of ingredients, the bakery etc and did some shopping, had some lunch while listening to the girl playing piano.

We took back some goodies for Chris, Kelly - and us - not forgetting the boys. Here they are on Miller's bed, tucking in to iced doughnuts:

THURSDAY 13th Feb

Jo was feeling much better today so we headed south to Aldinga and the beach there, which is a bit more rugged than the other beaches slightly north of there with their miles and miles of golden sand leading gently down to the warm Southern Ocean.

First we had to get down from the cliiftop to the beach via this staircase:

Jo is checking her vital signs on her watch and perhaps already worrying about how she's going to get back up to the car.

Don't be misled by the photo above - it's not all rocks - there's plenty of sand, interspersed with what looks like a form of coral on the beach. We walked south for a while and, just as we were heading up a fairly gentle slope back to the clifftop, Jo spotted something dark moving around in the water. It was hard to make out what it was at first - could it be our first ever shark sighting? As the object moved a bit closer to the beach and we made our way to the water's edge, we finally recognised it as a large seal having fun rolling over in the sun:

Staying on the clifftop promenade, we drove the short distance north to Port Willunga and the well-known Star of Greece restaurant where Kelly and Chris, pre-kids, had first taken us for our 40th anniversary so many years ago. Since that time, the expensive restaurant has added a kiosk extension for quick and easy - and much cheaper - eating - and it's there we went this time.

Kelly was going to be late home from work so I had booked a table for 5 of us back at the "Oldy" - the local pub/hotel/restaurant - somewhere the boys always enjoy going to:

FRIDAY 14th Feb

Kelly and Chris thought they were going to a Fringe show this evening but they were a month out - the show was on 14th March, not February! No alternative Valentine's Day plans were made - it would have been too late anyway to get a reservation at anywhere decent.

Jo and I thought it was time to jump on the train again and head in to the city. We headed to the Botanic Gardens to see the exhibition there of glass scultpures by Dale Chihuly, who, apparently is internationally renowned. 15 exhibits dotted throughout the park on a mapped trail - this was the last of them:

Earlier, Jo had a rest at one of the fountains:

Leaving the Gardens, we took the tram 3 stops back to the Railway Station, walking though to the riverside for lunch again at the Malt & Shovel which has a lovely view of the river, parklands and the Oval. We shared a cheeseboard for lunch with the obligatory beer sampler paddle:

After lunch it was back on the tram again, heading westwards this time to Thebarton and our first visit this holiday to my favourite pub - the Wheatsheaf Hotel & Brewery (http://wheatsheafhotel.com.au/).

Back in Old Noarlunga it was Friday evening and the gin bottle was opened again - as were the beer cans and wine bottles as we nattered round the kitchen island.

SATURDAY 15th Feb

As earlier indicated, it's been a relatively cool day and Jo and I haven't left the property, working our way through our books. Chris did the shopping this morning and was working on the garden and pool area this afternoon prior to joining his friends at a DJ Shadow gig this evening.

Kelly had a busy day too - usual Saturday cleaning chores and taking Asher to go-karts this afternoon while preparing for an early start tomorrow - big works meeting.

Jo update

It's now 2 pm Tuesday 11th Feb here and I'm happy to report that Jo is a little better today. She's still in bed but in the last hour has managed to eat a small piece of dry toast - not a lot, but a sign of progress.

In other news, Kelly got an email from the owners of the Air B&B at Airlie Beach that she had booked for the first 2 nights of our upcoming Whitsunday Islands holiday. The floods there had caused a lot of water damage to the property and they needed to get it fixed, so, regrettably, they had to cancel our booking. So now we're on the hunt for an alternative.

One thing I noticed when we were up in the tropics a couple of weeks ago was that the sun didn't really cast a shadow in the middle of the day - it went straight down to your feet.

It's very hot again and tomorrow they say we're going to be hitting 40+ C (104+ F). I went out for another cycle this morning and it was hard work but I believe it's going to cool down a bit by the weekend. Here I am at Perry's Bend on the Onkaparinga River - just a few kms to go:

I received an email overnight from my knee surgeon's secretary who seemed a little confused about one I had sent her back in August prior to our going to USA last year. I've put her right now but I liked the fact that she got in touch again and had correctly noted that we return from Australia on 9th March. Fingers crossed that I get an early appointment. We haven't made any arrangements to go to USA this year and won't do so until I've had the op.

No outings today - obviously. Kelly's out at work up north all day and Chris left for the city at lunchtime. Miller is very independent and comes home from school himself but it's always nice that somebody is at home when he gets here at 3:15 pm - and today that's us. Asher is at the after school club (OSCH) and Chris is picking him up at 5 pm.

That's you up to date again.