Are We There Yet ???????

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Well, our second day on Hamilton Island was an eventful one to say the least. The island has only a couple of beaches and the one at our hotel was OK but we thought we had found a better one. We had seen a beach called Coral Cove on the other side of the island that looked pretty good so we decided to give it a try.
The mode of transport on the island is golf buggy and there are hundreds of them bombing around. When I say bombing I mean tooting around at about 2 miles an hour. The island is very hilly so in some parts you have to get out and push !!!!!
Anyway, we hired a buggy for 24 hours and set off in search of Coral Cove. Caire was not brave enough at the start to drive the buggy so I was in charge. Seeing all these buggies driving around reminded me of some sort of retirement island where all the oldies go to die and tootle off to bingo every day.
Anyway, I digress .... We found Coral Cove. The book in our room stated "a short steep climb and then a winding trail to the beach". WHAT A LOAD OF C**P!!!!!!
This was like climbing Mount Everest in 32 degree heat. It also failed to state that it was a miles hike.
There we were in our swimming gear and flip flops, traversing a rocky hill in the searing heat.
The down bits were as steep as the up bits and the trail was loose rocks and gravel. To say we nearly went arse over tit several times was an understatement.
We finaly reached the sumit ... sorry, beach, and WOW. Not a sole in sight. We had this gorgeous stretch of sandy beach with crisp blue water all to ourselves. Stuff of dreams.
We laid our towels down and prepared to bake. We had also been informed that there were nasty stingers in the water so we were a little sceptical about venturing too far into the water.
If you can imagine the scenario - perfect beach, all alone, hot and sunny, NO WAY TO COOL DOWN !!!
The heat got to us and after about an hour and a half we gave up. But we had to climb the trail again to get back ........
I think we both lost about 2 stone just walking back.
Straight back to the hotel and in the pool .... Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Why we thought that was a good idea I don't know.
As we had the golf buggy for the day we decided to take in the "famous sun set at One Tree Hill. After trundling up there at 1.5 miles per decade we were treated with a jazz quartet sing classics,3 million buggies all lined in a row and a bar.
We got our drink on and picked our spot for the sun set. Ibizia this was not. It sounds like we are complaining a lot but believe me we aren't. Although the weather was a bit pooey which meant you were not going to get a good sunset but the sun set behind mountains which meant you saw diddly squat !! After the ants chewed their way through my open wound from the FFI's I sustained the previous days we called it a day and climbed in our octogenarian people carrier and headed back.
This place is a bit like Manchester - if you don't book a restaurant several weeks in advance your out of luck.
Therefore our choices were limited for an evening meal. After a pizza the other night our only choices were Chinese, Steak or pub food. After looking at the cattle market that was the Steakhouse we went to the Marina Tavern for some good 'ole pub food.
Limited choice and only 5 minutes to get our orders in we both settled for burgers.
Half way into our burgers the 'Krazy Karioke' started and boy was it krazy!!!! All the young 'uns come here when Mam and Dad aren't looking so it's a like Brannigans on a Saturday night but with less class!!!
The karioke got too much so we ventured back. 2 minutes down the road and the karioke song of choice was ....... 'Love Is In The Air' - SPOOKY. That's 3 times that a song we chose to be played at our wediing has been played on this trip. Baby G must be with us !!

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Photos

pic 1
Castaway .....

pic 2
The instructions for the ridiculous beach trek !!!!!!

pic 3
Hamilton harbour. Smell the money !!!

pic 4
Beach buggies by sunset

pic 5
Lemis Hamilton eat your heart out ?!?