Hamilton Island Queensland

The Pacific Aria cruised from Brisbane to Hamilton Island. The ship moored out and tenders took us to Hamilton Island for the day. It was beautiful seeing the morning sunrise from the ship

It was great having a balcony on the ship. I was able to see everything in front of me day and night, and I enjoyed the solitude. The tenders took us to the Island, and I was lucky to meet two travelers from Argentine to spend the day with.

Hamilton Island is one of the Whitsunday Islands in Queensland, Australia, close to the Great Barrier Reef. Most of the car-free island is covered in bush land, and the coast is fringed by coral reefs. Tours offer up-close sightings of koalas, kangaroos, wallabies and kookaburras. Trails lead up to Passage Peak in the east, with views of the surrounding islands. Hamilton Island is the largest inhabited island of the Whitsunday Islands in Queensland, Australia. It is positioned approximately 887 kilometres (551 mi) north of Brisbane and 512 kilometres (318 mi) south of Cairns. It is also the only island in the Great Barrier Reefwith its own commercial airport

Hamilton Island was purchased in 1975 by Keith Williams and Bryan Bryt. In 1978, Keith Williams commenced construction of Hamilton Island Harbour and the resort complex shortly after. The resort opened in phases between 1982 and 1984. In 1985, a fire destroyed most of the central portion of the resort complex, which was completely rebuilt by 1986. The current Whitsunday Holiday Apartments opened in 1986 followed by the current Reefview Hotel in 1990. In 1992, the resort was placed in receivership and between 1995 and 2003 it was owned by BT Australia and managed by Holiday Inn for a portion of that time. In 1999, the five-star Beach Club opened.

Bob Oatley an Australian winemaker and his family purchased Hamilton Island in 2003. Bob Oatley first noted the potential of the island when he cruised past the island aboard a yacht when Keith Williams was in the early stages of the development of the resort. Following an investment and development program the Oatley family now offer holiday destinations there

From the Jetty, there is a free tour bus that comes every hour to tour the island. It takes you up to the Lookout climbing some very steep roads, and back via the Hotel complex to the Jetty. There is a shopping centre with a Supermarket, ice cream parlor, restaurant, and a few tourist shops. The marina is crammed with expensive yachts and the island has spectacular views.

There seems to be a ‘deadness’ in the island. There were no birds, or wildlife and this may be the reason…the wildlife has been culled for tourism..The hotel foyers were packed with serious, almost sullen, faced tourists waiting with bags for departure. The bus driver told us, he can transport over a thousand tourists a day to the airports, so people are always on the move here…and he is one bus.

In September 2016, it was reported by news media outlets that the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) had issued Damage Mitigation Permits(DMP) which resulted in over 1,000 animals being culled on Hamilton Island between November 2014 and May 2016 by the Resort’s operator. Over 18 months the cull resulted in the death of 599 common brushtail possums, 393 agile wallabies, 36 pied currawongs, 35 sulphur crested cockatoos, 3 torresian crows and 1 laughing kookaburra.