Cordie & I took a little getaway for a few days up into Queensland, Australia to an area known as the Whitsundays. We stayed on Hamilton Island (flew directly onto the island from Melbourne – see video below of example of an airplane landing that I took from a boat we were on) in an apartment looking out over the water. It was incredible. Being without internet and other distractions allowed us to really relax and spend some quality time together.
This Cockatoo came and sat on our patio ledge one afternoon for over an hour… was pretty spectacular.
The main room in the 3 bedroom apartment we stayed in for our time there.
On the island everyone drives buggies around instead of cars and without one it would be a very long walk to get most places. The place we booked offered one complimentary and we LOVED being able to explore the island with it >>>>>
We visited the Wild Life Center on two different occasions – the first was a tour of Australian Marsupials and mammals… we were the only ones without children but still thoroughly enjoyed it – got to feed a wallaby, pet a wombat (below) and another thing that looked like a giant rat but cant remember what it was called. There was a mother Kangaroo with her Joey… 8 Koala bears (they are rapidly becoming extinct) we got to pet and hang out with for a bit Bobby (below) was a two year old and quite nice and friendly.
The second time we went for their salt-water crocodile feeding! They are the dangerous kind in their species and watching this guy eat his chicken dinner was pretty spectacular.
One of my favorite things was snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef ( I hope you have heard of it) :)! Which afterwards we realized we should have gotten a waterproof camera or go-pro to document but you’ll have to take my word for it! The purple, orange, yellow coral was gorgeous with large blue fish, fish with ‘cheetah’ spots all over it, multiple schools of fish swimming beneath us! It was an amazing experience!
Whithaven Beach
Description from the tourism website: is a definite “must-see” in the Whitsundays. The crystal clear aqua waters and pristine silica sand of Whitehaven stretch over seven kilometres along Whitsunday Island , the largest of the 74 islands in the Whitsundays. It defines nature at its best and provides the greatest sense of relaxation and escape.
Pictures we took do NOT capture the beauty of this place – there are 7/8kms of pure white sand along the protected National Park!
The below video captures the color of the water a little bit better than the pictures… If you ever get the opportunity to visit here you most definitely should! We did a half day boat cruise tour which took us around some of the Whitsunday Islands for about an hour than had two hours on the beach with a shorter ride back to Hamilton Island.
They advise you to wear these protected stinger suits as in the summer months – transparent jellyfish lurk in the waters and has a very painful sting. We had a lot of fun putting them on and swimming in the ocean 
Iced Coffees in Australia are different than in the states… They come with scoops of Vanilla ice cream… dangerous 
