Qualia: Paradise Found

Bob and I have been fortunate to spend time at some really beautiful beach resorts. This includes stays in Jamaica, Cancun, Marco Island, Cuba, Key West, and North and South Carolina. Each resort has been magnificent in their own way and we have thoroughly enjoyed each. But Qualia in Hamilton Island, Australia, really takes 1st place. From the moment we arrived, we felt we were in the most beautiful place on earth.

Our flight to Hamilton Island on Quantas was terrific. We received an upgrade to business class, and had a very nice breakfast that we had not expected. The Whitsunday Islands lie between the northeast coast of Queensland, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef. There are 74 Islands in the Whitsundays, and most are uninhabited. Hamilton Island lies close to the Reef and wildlife include koalas, kangaroos, wallabies and kookaburras, and is the primary holiday destination for access to the Great Barrier Reef and the beach voted one of the most beautiful in the world, Whitehaven Beach. Qualia is a 5 Star luxury resort, and defines the word secluded. It lies in the Coral Sea. There are 60 pavilions scattered throughout the property, each carefully placed in the bush so that no other pavilion is visible. There are two types of pavilions, Leeward and Windward. Ours was Leeward, which is the lesser price option, and we had a stunning view of the water and bush. I can’t imagine what a Windward pavilion entails. Our pavilion included a living room, bedroom, bath and a large deck. Because the resort is so spread out, each pavilion comes with a golf cart for easy access to the beach, pools, two restaurants, a small, very expensive gift shop, and a spa. We were met at the airport by a guide who collected our luggage and drove us to the resort. Upon arrival, we were escorted to an open living area and all our reservations, interests, and dietary preferences were noted. We were oriented to our golf cart and escorted to our pavilion.

We took our golf cart out for a spin and ended up in the small town on the Island. Hamilton is very hilly, and the golf cart labored over some of those hills. Better it than us! There are lots of adventures to be scheduled here, and we had booked a helicopter ride over the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) with a stop on Whitehaven Beach for the following day. We had two full days on the Island, so left our second day open for relaxation. Our dinner that evening was at the less formal of the two restaurants, and we had a wonderful lamb rump and a trout. I was worried Bob wouldn’t like the lamb but it was incredible—best lamb I’ve ever tasted. We drove back to our pavilion and slept like babies.

Next day was our helicopter ride over the GBR. It was the smallest helicopter I’ve been in, just 4 seats including the pilot. Our pilot was David, who hails from Italy. He has been flying copters for 7 years and took us on a stunning ride over the reef. We got to see the heart reef, which is a coral composition that has naturally formed into the shape of a heart. The GBR is one of the 7 wonders of the natural world. It can be seen from outer space and is the world’s largest living organism. David tells us we will only see about 1% of it in our flyover today.

For some reason, I don’t seem to get air sick in a helicopter. Weird, huh? Maybe its because when I do this its always flying over something incredible, like the Island of Maui, a glacier in Alaska, or the Grand Canyon and now the GBR. We were blessed with a beautiful clear day. The GBR is full of color and looks surreal. As we flew over, David pointed out some large turtles leisurely swimming in the gorgeous surroundings of turquoise water. The reef is not very deep and as you see the edges of reef areas you can see the drop off into much deeper blue water. This is the deep blue of Finding Nemo fame, and it was easy to imagine Marlin, Dory and Nemo cavorting in the waters below.

Our next part of the journey was to Whitehaven Beach. This beach has clear white silica sand and the waters surrounding it are as many shades of blue as can be imagined. We landed directly on the beach and David set out a beach umbrella, beach blanket and a cooler of water and champagne for us near the chopper. He then made himself scarce for an hour. We swam in the warm, beautiful water, marveled at the sand which barely sticks to you even when you’re wet, and doesn’t get hot, even in the hottest sun. We found a half-buried coconut in the nearby sand and Bob had fun talking to Wilson. We left the champagne alone, drank water, keep up on the sunscreen (Australia sun burns you very quickly), and just enjoyed the hour. Finally David came back, loaded everything into the copter and flew us back to Qualia. Ticking off the GBR was a bucket list item, and we were so fortunate to be able to see it on such a beautiful day.

That evening, we headed to dinner, and were ushered to a table on the lawn with a spectacular view of the beach. As the sun went down, we were startled to see a few large bats flying in, out and around the trees just a few feet away. This quickly turned in to many, many bats, careening overhead. They had a wingspan of about 2 feet, the largest bats I’ve ever seen. For about fifteen minutes they flew overhead, looking for insects. Our waiter told us this is a regular evening occurrence. We had another terrific dinner, jumped into our golf cart and began to head back to our pavilion.

But what is that, up ahead? Wallabies! Several of them, feeding by the side of the path back to our room. We stopped, watched them for awhile, tried to get good pictures in the dark, then started back toward home again. And more wallabies! And more! Now we know what makes noise in the brush outside at night. Then a group of long-legged bush stone curlews stopped right in front of us, so more pics. We decided to drive around for a while to see if we could spot any other animals, and were rewarded by a 3 foot orange snake crossing the road in front of us. We couldn’t identify him, but were told later by one of the staff that we should be glad we stayed in the golf cart because he was likely poisonous. More wallabies and curlews, and it was clear this place is really alive at night. The curlews look almost prehistoric, with piercing yellow eyes, and they stared at us as we stared at them. They reminded me of the little bird like creatures that attacked Wayne Knight’s character in Jurassic Park, and I began to get uncomfortable waiting for that froth of neck ruffle to pop out before they attacked! At that point I remembered that there are lots of things in Australia that can kill you! Luckily they were harmless. We also saw something that looked like a possum chasing the wallabies but we couldn’t be sure as he was pretty fast.

Next day we decided to adopt the beach bum strategy and after breakfast, spent the entire day on the Qualia Beach and at the pool. We scored two beach chairs under an umbrella (that Australia sun!) and lazed the day away. Once back at our pavilion, we reluctantly started trying to pack for departure tomorrow, and were rewarded for our efforts by one of the best sunsets ever. The sky turned every shade of orange and yellow, the bats filled the air, the birds yelled and sang. We heard kookaburras laughing at us. We also kept an eye on a large spider web spun near our deck, but Mrs. Spider never showed up and we gave her web a large berth. Later, we ordered dinner to be served in our room, and went out again after dark in our golf cart to spot animals. We found the wallabies and the curlews, who, thinking we were getting a little too close, hissed at us, reminding me again of Jurassic Park.

We decided we really would be quite happy to cancel the rest of the trip and just live at Qualia, but realized it would break the bank, so reluctantly had our last breakfast. A cheerful young man came in a cart, picked up our luggage, never complaining about the weight, and shuttled us off to the Hamilton Island airport, another tiny one, and they never said a word about Bob’s full bottle of water.

Hamilton Island, and especially Qualia is the bomb, and now I have to add it to my willingness to return here. Queenstown and Qualia. I’d love to come back. Another upgrade to business class on Qantas, and we’re off to Melbourne.