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Free & BrEasy - Shivering Down Under



Sat in a bar on Hamilton Island being entertained by a talented solo rock guitarist, we marvelled at the different experiences we are having on this circumnavigation. Many cruisers spend years exploring and enjoying the delights of each South Pacific destination. In contrast, we have sailed from port to port, sampling the delights of each place like vintage wines, making notes should we return in the future. From volcanoes to coral reefs, isolated atolls to nightclubs, we are dipping our toes in the circumnavigation waters. Mind you with the Oz Crocs now more common as we head north up the Queensland coast inside the Great Barrier Reef, there will be no more dipping any parts of our anatomy in the waters!

Hamilton Island is part of the Whitsunday Islands about 50 miles north east of Mackay, which we reached after an enjoyable but blustery sail. Annabelle was full of smiles the whole trip! Hamilton Island is a designer resort which feels a little like being on a film set. There are virtually no cars and instead everyone drives around in electric buggies which move noiselessly through the streets. The harbour is surrounded by quaint shops, bars and restaurants, and is dominated by a futuristic building which the architect designed to look like a boat. The building houses the Yacht Club and restaurants with a bar on the "bow" jutting out into the harbour. New hotel apartment blocks dominate the town and everyone looks as though they have been "programmed" to have a good time! An aerial photograph of the Island makes suggests it is turning into an aircraft carrier as a aircraft runway has been built out over the water to bring in the holiday makers.

The crew of Free and BrEasy quickly got into the holiday mood. We started off by visiting the local Zoo to check if all the weird Australian animals are real or just the results of clever computer animation. Top of the list were Kuala Bears. How cute are they! They stared at us in amazement that we did not realise that all you need in life is an abundant supply of Eucalyptus leaves. We all wanted to take one home so it was a good job we had left Pedro the Polar Bear on the boat in case he was jealous! Next were the kangaroos and wallabies which thumped their way around their pens looking as though they were trying to find small change in their pockets. Finally there was an enormous crocodile, snakes and other reptiles, and we began to see why Australia is famous for its dangerous fauna. After the visit, Annabelle and Roger went to sample the G&T's at the Yacht Club while Alejandro and Michael climbed up Passage Peak, seeing wild wallabies and being warned about poisonous brown snakes on the way. It was dark on the return from the peak and we made loud footfalls as every shadow looked like a snake.

The blustery weather continued as we set sail to explore Whitsunday Island itself. A brief motor north west took us past Whitehaven Beach to an anchorage at Tongue Bay. From there it was a short dinghy ride and walk over to the whiter than white beach. The sand in Whitehaven beach is so fine that it is similar to walking through flour and it looks the same! This is the result of constant leaching action of the sea water on sand grains until only pure white silica remains. The sand was thought to originate from volcanic rock near Mackay which was formed into sand and carried by the sea currents to this particularly bay and nowhere else. It is so unique that the American Space Agency used it to make the heat shields in the Space Shuttle. The next day, a short even more blustery sail, took us up the west side of Whitsunday Island, north to Hook Island and a beautiful anchorage in Butterfly Bay. The Butterflies must have been troublesome because the pilot book mentioned "Bullets" coming down from the hills. We soon realised that this referred to powerful gusts of wind that stormed over the anchorage scattering the boat around their anchors. Roger was up early determined to check out the famed Whitsunday coral, with his snorkel. It was difficult to capture his exact words after entering the sea but they included "Its F-F-F-F-Freezing". The next day we motored round Hayman Island, north of Hook Island, and anchored in Blue Pearl Bay where it was Alejandro's turn to mutter "Estoy congelado". Despite the cold sea, which was inevitable as it is Australia's winter, we decided to have at least one scuba dive in Luncheon Bay on Hook Island. The coral was amazing but the experience slightly spoilt by underwater shivering! The log entry should be "unexpected outbreak of Shivering Down Under".

Enough was enough so we decided to head north for the 300 mile trip to Cairns on the Australian Mainland. On the final night in the Whitsunday area we anchored in Sawmill Bay and dinghied ashore for a 2 hour climb to the top of Whitsunday Peak. We were rewarded with fantastic views over all the islands we had just been to and instead of shivering we were sweating with the exertion. A novel sensation! At the start of the climb there was a monument to Captain Cook who discovered and named the Whitsundays. If he had arrived in winter I bet he would have named them the Shivering Isles!




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