Celebrating 60 in the Whitsundays, Queensland

What had seemed like a cheap ticket deal changed at the check-in desk when we found out there was no baggage allowance included in the ticket. Delving deep into our pockets, we had to shell out 160 bucks. Next mishap occurs when Gen is pulled over by security and relieved of her trusty pliers from her photo bag. The plane is 40 minutes late taking off, so we worry for a while about a third mishap because we have 40 minutes between flights to connect in Brisbane, but off-duty pilots sitting in seats nearby explain the departure gate at Brisbane is close and easy - "You'll be right." Sure enough, all goes nice and easy.

Arrive by boat at Palm Bay with last rays of sunshine illuminating the crossing. Laid out before us is a coconut-palm fringed bay with bures nestling recessed in tended gardens. Tropics without suffering or as they say in the Brazilian Amazon: A selva sem sofrimento. Meet Dave the Caretaker, ex-cotton farmer and insect enthusiast from Kimberleys. Shown huge orb spider with orange fangs. Kurrawongs calling. Geckos gecking. Wedge-tailed eagle flying. Meet the biting bugs outside the bure. Inside, learn the timetable for electricity generator.

Discover bottle of champagne left by owner, Jonny, together with food we had ordered from Coles supermarket on the mainland. Out for an evening of bugging – see spiders and cane toad. Sleep to the rhythm of waves lapping.

Friday. Walk through dry tropical forest to long island resort on next bay. Rain showers. Large community of goggle-eyed beach curlews and bush turkeys watching tourists break open coconuts on the beach.


Saturday. Up at six and off in Dave’s old navy boat for a 10-minute ride to the resort jetty. No crocs here, but plenty further down at the Proserpine River.

Catch jet catamaran ferry via Daydream island to Hamilton Island Marina. Watch rain clouds thicken and chicken out of trip to the reef by phoning the agency and pretending to have missed the boat. Sip coffee by the marina and watch all the buggies rolling past. Get fit by getting lost and walking out to the airport, then return to the Resort Centre and watch graceful Asian kids doing aerobic dancing.














Walk over to the yacht club, sleek architecture jutting into the harbour,  and have an excellent celebratory meal – bucket of prawns  with superb caipiroskas plus glasses of chilled white wine – until catching ferry back at 2.35pm.



































Walked back across Long Island, passing the upturned cadavers of cane toads along the path, to the bure where a nap was in order.

Heard knocking in the toilet in the bathroom, lifted the lid and discovered a lovely green tree frog in the bowl resisting all flushing attempts by stemming its legs against the sides of the bowl and holding its breath. Left the lid open and, hey presto, the frog hopped out and allowed itself to be gently lifted outside onto the verandah. Dave mentioned that the frogs were forever getting into the water pipes and blocking the water supply until they had held their breath long enough to be flushed out.

Sunday morning spent lazing and dodging steadily intensifying showers. Phil picked us up and we had a damp crossing back to Shute Harbour to catch the bus via Airlie Beach circuit to Proserpine airport. Spent the three hour stopover in Brisbane airport with glasses of Pinot Grigio and pizza.