Our destination for today was Hamilton Island, one of the Whitsunday Islands off the east coast of Australia. It is a private island, complete with an airport, condos, private homes costing in the millions, a huge marina, hotels and a beautiful beach. The weather had turned surprisingly pleasant after the last few days of rain.
The Viking Orion anchored at a distance from the island and we were transferred to the marina by the ship's tenders. Once on the island, we decided to skip the lines waiting for the shuttle bus and walked up and over the center of the island to reach the beach. On the way we found a tiny wildlife park, with a collection of Australian animals, including koalas, kangaroos, wallabys and dingoes. Of course we had to check it out and it was definitely worth the admission. (The photo is of Jan with the koalas just over her right shoulder having breakfast of eucalyptus leaves.)
We continued on to the beach for a stroll, then decided to go exploring again. One of the highest points of Hamilton Island is the One Tree Hill, so we climbed it. The view atop was amazing; the trip back down was long and when we got back to the marina (a total of four miles) we were ready to take the tender back to the ship. Once there, we headed straight for the ship's pool to cool off and work out the kinks.
The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly. Today's lecture by the Resident Astronomer was on "Time - The Strangest Thing". While he was never able to give a firm definition of time, we got a thorough grounding on how time zones were established, how time is kept, and the role of astronomy in establishing the world's precise time.
Tomorrow is a full day at sea on our way to Brisbane. More to come...
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