Club Med Lindeman Island ticks all the boxes

IF you're looking for the wow factor – just make your way to Queensland's Club Med Lindeman Island.

Great escape ... Lindeman Island is perfectly suited to families, but certainly not exclusively a family destination.

IT'S hard to be critical of a resort that has views like this.

If you are looking for the wow factor at Club Med Lindeman Island just make your way to the eighth tee at the resort's golf course and here it is.

You are sitting atop a hillside that is part of a 690 hectare National Park, sandy beaches below, and if you are very lucky, there's whales whooping it up in Queensland's Whitsunday waters.

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Hamilton Island is the gateway to the Whitsundays. And as the Virgin Blue plane banks to line-up the runway you can see that in this part of the world, holiday-makers are spoilt for choice.

There's Hamilton Island itself, there's Long Island which offers three distinctly different holiday adventures, Daydream and many, many others.

So why would you choose Club Med ahead of the other options?

It's all paid for

For those that don't know, Club Med is an all-inclusive holiday, perfectly suited to families, but certainly not exclusively a family destination.

Once you walk into the resort, everything is already paid for. The food and drink, including alcohol, is covered as part of the tariff.

There's no hidden extras, but plenty of good fun surprises.

So that's one tick.

There's a strong emphasis on entertaining kids, giving parents some much needed time off to pursue golf, archery, tennis or just sit around the pool or pull up a lounge chair of the beach.

Another tick.

Every night the staff, lead by enigmatic Chef de Village (that's boss) Hendel Duplessy, put on themed shows (think Bollywood Nights) that help foster the overall sense of fun that Club Med is trying to generate.

In terms of staff, you will struggle to find more friendly and fun staff at any other kind of resort.

They work hard here, play hard (they socialise with the guests), and do everything with, what seems like, a genuine smile on their faces - even at midnight after listening to hours of my very bad karaoke.

So yes, another tick.

The resort also has an adults only area which allows guests without children to escape to the sanctuary of a fantastic spa and "quiet pool". So, yet another, tick.

Trapped in a time warp

But it's not all good news for Club Med Lindeman Island. The resort is in need of a fashion update. In terms of style and furnishings it is trapped in a time warp.

The showers still have curtains, there's no Foxtel, the in-room coffee is still Nescafe instant and the décor and soft furnishings (the curtains don't quite cover the windows so expect some early mornings as the North Queensland sun streams through) remind me of a Ikea-filled home in the 1970s.

At some stage there must have been a sale on lacquered pine timber, and this place got the job lot.

As Duplessy says though "if you are looking for white marble, this is not the place for you".

But on the plus side, it is all clean and tidy. And to be fair Club Med Lindeman Island doesn't claim to be anything other than a three star resort. And at that level it is pretty damn good.

So who is the typical Club Med Lindeman Island guest? Hendel, whose business card sums up his personality "If you can't handle it! Hendel it!" - says that the vast majority of guests come from Australia and New Zealand. If you break it down, it's about 70 per cent adults and 30 percent children and people tend to stay for a week.

He says it usually takes people about two days to get into the culture of a Club Med holiday. And I'd say a lifetime to forget the fun you can have once you let down your work guard.

FAST FACTS

Packages: Five nights per person - save up to 40 percent - including return airfares, transfers and taxes with Virgin Blue, accommodation in a twin share superior room, full board and all day open bar and snacking service, fully supervised Kids Club (4-11), nightly entertainment and a range of sports and activities with expert tuition start from (based on departure 30/11/09) $1768 (18+), $1338 (4-11), $1468 (12-17) from Perth, $1368 (18+), $938 (4-11), $1068 (12-17) from Syd and Mel, $1608 (18+), $1178 (4-11), $1308 (12-17) from ADL & $1210 (18+) $780 (4-11), $910 (12-17) from Bne.

Savings of up to 40 per cent can be had by bookeding from now until 30th September 2009 for travel until 19 December 2009.

Further terms and conditions apply.

More: To book please call Club Med on 1800 258 263

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