Whitsunday Islands

We arrived from Byron Bay by air and then made our way by ferry to Daydream Island in the Whitsundays. It is the smallest resort Island in the group of 74 islands and is stunningly beautiful. You can walk from one end of the island to the other in about 15 minutes and experience another wonderful view at each turn. There are lots of Kangaroos roaming around the lawns where they seem to be employed in keeping the grass short. It is a family oriented resort - it is a bit like centre parcs with no need for a dome over the swimming pool.

We had our first clear view of the night sky as we lay on the beach after dinner. Orion was upside down and we had our first view of the Milky Way. Beautiful.

We left Daydream in some considerable style - we were tendered out to a racing yacht "Broomstick" (how appropriate) which was anchored offshore and set off on a high speed tour of the inner islands. The yacht was over at 30 degrees much of the time as we raced along at about 15 knots. I got the job of helping to pull up the mainsail and ended up falling over on my backside when it turned out to be lighter than I anticipated. Needless to say everyone thought this was hilarious and one of our fellow travellers caught it on video. Look out for the clip on "You've been framed".

The islands look a bit like the Western Isles would if they were relocated to the tropics - fabulous sandy beaches and steep sided islands.

The yacht deposited us at Airlie Beach - a real party town. The party had to go on without us as we had a 5am muster the following morning for a luxury rail journey to Cairns. Unfortunately, the best laid plans ( of mice and men (to quote the Bard on his day)) gang aft agley - a story which I shall recount in the next instalment.