Hamilton Island is one of the Whitsunday Islands just off the east coast in Queensland and is close to the Great Barrier Reef. It is a mostly car-free island, predominantly covered with bush, and by-in-large a resort island. I have seen beautiful images of this area on a clear day, however the time I spent here was filled with clouds and rain. Thus, kayaking was the perfect thing for me to do on Hamilton Island this day because of the weather.
Meeting the group of kayakers I would be with for the 4 hour adventure. Since I was traveling solo, a kayak parter was assigned to me. She is somewhere in this frame but I hadn’t been coupled with her just yet.The torrential rainfall was great because everything was perfectly warm, the rain, the ocean and the air were all about 85 degrees F (or 30 degrees C). My partner had incredible strength. She was so strong that it required little effort on my part for the 4 hour excursion. Since she was unable to turn around, it was only the other kayakers that could see how easy this was for me.My kayak parter took this selfie image. Her name was Polina and she was from Belarus. Great accent, funny and one hell of a great paddler too.Bummer for these sailors. This ship ran aground in early 2017, but gave the appearance as though it had been there for years. As soon as the insurance pays off, this rusting and rotting carcass will be salvaged and removed. My guide said that the crew was safe when help finally arrived but that the crew was extremely drunk. He wasn’t sure if they were drunk before the crash, or if they were so upset that they went on a major bender after the collision.
Onto Billabong Sanctuary in Townsville, Australia. The animals here seemed to be enjoying the warm hard rain that persisted all day.
This sign, amongst others are prominently displayed near the crocodile areas within the Billabong Sanctuary.This specimen was approximately 12-14 feet in length.A group just enjoying the rain.Nice coloring on this one.The signs are serious. It’s easy to imagine that someone might stumble and the child on their shoulders could go right in as the chainlink fence is only 4 feet high. What a feeding frenzy that would cause. I bet some sick people would buy tickets for that. Better yet, the Sanctuary could use convicted offenders of crimes against children and sacrifice them. I would pay up for that.Cutest by far of all the animals I have seen.Close up of the “Mona Lisa” of koalas. For some reason she gets more attention than the other koalas. I believe I can see why. She’s a bit inscrutable, just like the woman in that famous painting hanging in the Louvre.Koala cubs at play.
ever coming home???
Just a few weeks more. I’ll be in touch.