Hamilton Island, Queensland, Australia: No slouch at geography, I'm hard to fool. But I have to admit I'd never heard of Hamilton Island before spotting it on this cruise itinerary.
Hamilton is one of the 70-some islands of the Whitsunday Island group, and one of only 3 which are inhabited. Much of the chain, which is next to the Great Barrier Reef, is part of an Australian National Park and is protected from development. "Whitsunday" is a Sunday after Easter, I can't remember how many weeks after they said it was.
We took a lagoon cruise which was low-key but pretty, and then rented a golf cart, locally called a "buggy," to explore the island. The carts, imported from the States, have driver controls on the left hand side even though traffic, in Australia, drives on the left and thus their cars tend to have the driver's controls on the right. The buggy was fun to zip around in.
Hamilton is a very pretty place, lots of megabucks yachts in the marina and knockout view homes dotting the hillsides. There is a supermarket too, an IGA if you can believe it. Hamilton is sort of a Kauai in miniature, but dryer.
There is lots of (re)construction going on. We asked and learned it was repairs of cyclone damage from last summer. For those who don't know, hurricane=cyclone=typhoon, depending on what ocean you're in. All three are big, circular tropical storms that beat up any landfall they make.
We learned Beatle George Harrison had a place here, one of many wealthy folk who spend time here when it's cold and dreary at home. There seems to be no indigenous population with whose resentments one is forced to deal, a problem that exists elsewhere.
