Thomas Family Road Trip: Daydream Island (9/4/12

After packing up and moving our caravan and car to the storage area at the caravan park, we caught the bus to Abel Point Marina to catch the ferry to Daydream Island. Unfortunately, a number of boats with passengers from a cruise boat arrived when we were scheduled to board. Needless to say we had to wait for all the cruise passengers to get off before we could board.

We finally boarded and arrived at Daydream Island after an half hour trip. We had a great trip over - very calm and the views of this part of the Whitsunday's was gorgeous. From the water Daydream Island looked beautiful - gorgeous blue, calm water and swaying palm trees. It was a lot smaller than we thought it would be. The island is only one kilometre long and at its widest point, 400 metres wide. On our arrival we were given a shell necklace and a nice cold drink. The kids thought this was great.

It was nice to get into our room and the air conditioning. Daydream Island, like a lot of the islands in the Whitsundays are owned by the one owner. This makes life very easy as you can charge everything back to your room, rather than carrying cash. There is only one hotel - Daydream Island Resort and Spa. We stayed in a garden room (us grey nomads went for the cheapest option!). It was fine for what we needed, pretty basic and dated, but clean and tidy.

Chloe and Ben were able to have a bath (rather than a shower) here - the first time since we left home. They made the most of it by having very deep bubble baths each night. Being in a hotel room also meant the kids had to share a queen size bed. Neither of them were too keen on this and mucked around at bedtime. So the first night Donna and Chloe shared a bed and Simon and Ben shared the other bed. This would have to be the worst night sleep any of us had had all holiday. The kids kept tossing and turning, Ben fell out of bed and the kids chose this night to both get up during the night to use the toilet - aahhh!! Needless to say night two and three the kids slept in the same bed and we all slept very well. The kids even slept until 7 one morning - something that has not happened for a long time.

The island has two main areas - the north and south. The north end has the hotel, day spa, three pools, water sports, two bars and two restaurants. The south end has a pool, outdoor cinema, a pool, a couple of shops and the Fish Bowl Tavern. There is a 700 meter boardwalk between the two ends. This became a well walked path for us, although we did make the most of the golf buggy transfer a few times.

There is a section of rainforest that starts at the hotel and ends at the wedding chapel at the south end of the island. We walked through the rainforest which was lovely. Also at the hotel, near the start of the rainforest is Lover's Cove, a beautiful sheltered bay, perfect for snorkelling. There is no sand on the beach, just washed up coral. We spent an hour or so sitting on the shore watching the snorkellers. It was windy the day we were there so the snorkelling conditions were not great.

We were all looking forward to a trip to Whitehaven Beach on Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately the wind picked up on Tuesday afternoon and by Wednesday morning it was SO windy. Our tour was cancelled, which was such a shame as we didn't get to see Whitehaven Beach, one of the top five beaches in the world (apparently). Whilst we were disappointed, we were thankful the tour didn't go ahead as the conditions were horrible and there is no way we would have been able to swim or snorkel.

We all enjoyed 19 holes of putt putt golf, with each hole being a different place in Australia. Out of the 19 holes, there was only three that we had not been to or will not go to on our trip - Cape York, Birdsville and the Black Stump. It was exciting for the kids to see which ones we had been to and talk about what we did at each place.

The kids found another great playground - Jumble Jungle Playground. A fair bit of time was spent here. The rest of our time was spent at the pool. The kids loved swimming under the bridges, going from one pool to the next and sitting in the spas. They were fascinated by the pool bar.

On our last afternoon the kids saw a green tree snake on the path around the pool. They were coming back to us, after being at the room. They were so excited to tell us, especially as they had to jump over it. They didn't even scream - very brave.

Ben made us laugh by referring many times during our stay to our "cabin" rather than our hotel room. Our kids are definitely camping kids not hotel/resort kids.

The downside of the island being owned by one owner is that everything is expensive on the island and if you want to eat, you must eat at their restaurants. Thankfully we had buffet breakfast included so we ate a HUGE breakfast each morning. Chloe and Ben thought they were in heaven - so many different foods and you could eat as much as you want! The pancake machine was a big hit.

The Fish Bowl Tavern became the eating place of choice at nighttime. Typical pub meals, great pizzas, kid friendly and expensive drinks! The staff were dressed as pirates, which the kids thought was pretty good.

We enjoyed our three days at Daydream Island, although in hindsight two days would have been long enough. The kids had an absolute ball and staying in a hotel was a new experience for them.

Unfortunately when we got back to Airlie Beach we discovered the gas on our fridge/freezer had gone out, which meant we had to throw out some food. Thankfully the fridge wasn't too full. A small price to pay for three relaxing days.

We had planned to head north to Townsville from Airlie Beach. We had a change of heart and decided we really wanted to go to Longreach which meant backtracking south a bit. Not sure where we will get to tonight....