The Whitsunday Islands

Our friends, The Davison's, arrived from India last Saturday. Chris works for John Deere in Inida on ex-pat assignment from America and they decided to take one of their rest and relaxation trips to see us in Australia before we depart. (We're not so sure about the rest and relaxation part of the trip though . . . they are coming to see The Perry family after all!!) Their plane arrived later than scheduled on Saturday evening and on Sunday both families headed back to the airport en route to Hamilton Island for a 4-day trip to the Whitsunday's.

We stayed at Daydream Island Resort & Spa, one of the islands located in the Whitsunday's. It was a beautiful location with lots of things to keep us busy and with a welcoming and friendly family atmosphere. The Daydream Outdoor Aquarium was very unique and is believed to be the world's largest, man-made living coral reef lagoon system. It's a complex and stunning network of reef lagoons containing thousands of tropical fish, live coral species and diverse sea creatures such as sharks, sting rays, anemones, sea cucumbers and star fish. We enjoyed watching the barramundi and sharks be fed on several mornings, as well as getting to explore the many unique star fish and sea cucumbers in the lagoon. Most of the species we were able to view from this lagoon system are often unseen by humans in the natural environment as they live at great ocean depths. Some of the other additional perks of the island that we enjoyed include watching a movie at the open air cinema one evening (Chris & Bryan were able to do this), swimming in one of the many pools, and hiking through a rainforest located on the island.

The highlight of the trip though was taking a one day cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef. We booked all of the kids into the Skipper Club on Daydream Island for the day so that the adults could enjoy their one day out . . . kid-free. We rode out to Knuckle Reef with Cruise Whitsunday's Great Barrier Reef Adventure. (On our way to the reef we were also lucky enough to catch a quick glimpse of a humpback whale migrating north.) Once we reached Knuckle Reef we all decided to go snorkeling. It was nice but alot of work as the waters were somewhat choppy and difficult swim through. We then all decided to try scuba diving so that we could get down deep to enjoy one of the 7 Wonders of the World. None of us had ever tried diving before so this was a new experience. AND it was spectacular! It took a little while to get used to breathing under water without panicking but soon we were all swimming near the ocean bottom checking out the beautiful reef. We like our first dive so much that we decided to go for a second dive before leaving the reef . . . and enjoyed it the second time even more than the first! It was definitely an experience that we will never forget.

After four days in the Whitsunday's we headed back to Brisbane to explore and share our city with The Davison's. More to come about the rest of our trip . . .