Now THIS is more like it....
08 December 2007 | Great Keppel Island, Queensland
We've finally reached somewhere that looks like an Island paradise and I am starting to get a feel for what the Whitsundays will be like. Arriving at this small Island with its beautiful white beaches and crystal clear water is a welcome change from a lot of the dusty rural towns we have seen.
I finally got the holiday cocktail Jay had been promising me since we left the Gold Coast at the main resort which was filled with visitors. The resort was nice but as tends to be the case with Island resorts with such easy access from the mainland, it was full of a lot of people sitting looking at the beach and drinking. We found a nice bar on the beach to have a couple of sundowners away from the youngsters who were drinking until they dropped, (been there done that).
This is also the first place where we have been able to snorkel and see something interesting. Unfortunately, the coral is bleached and there were few fish but what was there was interesting and we happily snorkelled for hours. Jay also purchased a bathysphere at Gladstone so we can look over the side of the boat without having to get in the water. We went out around the underwater observatory just off Great Keppel Island and we saw the most fish we had seen so far. The most massive gropers you have ever seen (well, I have ever seen).
We also circumnavigated the Island in our inflatable which gives you some idea of the size of this Island, it's really quite small. We found heaps of beautiful, secluded, white sand beaches, one of them already had a nudist couple installed who did not welcome our intrusion, the lady hid behind a rock until she was sure we were out of sight. On our way around Great Keppel we found a number of private holiday homes for rent and also a bizarre tree covered in floats and buoys that had obviously washed up on the beach. It was like a weird kind of Christmas tree, we pulled in for a closer look and found nets hung like hammocks, fry pans and other cooking utensils and in the rock face of a cliff cutting off the beach a space containing deck chairs, eskies and other items. It was strangely still and quiet and there was no sign of life there. We figured people from the Island camped there or people from the mainland had set it up to camp there.
We didn't realise before going to Keppel that there was so much there. We thought that it would just be the main resort and lots of Island to explore. What we found was several other resorts, private holiday homes, dive shops and even a pizza restaurant. We dined at the pizza restaurant one night and found that it was very popular, especially with the staff from the main resort. It looked like a family run business and had a great atmosphere.
We stayed at Keppel for about a week. It was nice to be in a place where everyone is on holiday and therefore happy. But the further we've been heading North the less boats we see and the boats we do see are heading South. We've decided to head back South, with the cyclone season fast approaching it seems like the smart thing to do, so we want to be back on the Gold Coast for Christmas and New Years.