This place is our birthright as Australians. Why don’t we love it more?
This is an awe-inspiring place, a masterpiece of the natural world.
Hopping off the front of the speedboat, there’s an unmissable sound as our feet hit the beach of Blue Pearl Bay. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch comes the noise of our shoes as we trek from the sapphire waterline to a rocky spot where we deposit our towels.
A look down shows us the cause of this commotion: we are walking on a beach comprised entirely of coral, or at least the white remnants of old coral, washed up over millennia to form a beach.
We feel like ancient mariners discovering this hideaway for the first time, for this little cove on the western side of Hayman Island feels so secluded it’s as if nobody has been here before. Indeed, there is no one else on the beach. Just us, and our crew, who have brought us around from the InterContinental Hayman Island.
“I feel this calls for champagne,” says someone in our party, enthusiastically ignoring the fact it is barely 11am, and so the crew sets off for the hotel to retrieve a bottle or two of Moët. They’ll be back in an hour or so, enough time for us to explore the reef off the beach while the bubbles chill. We strip down to our swimmers and step into stinger suits (not essential in the cooler months but useful as sunscreen), then don fins, masks and snorkels and waddle into the water, where an aquarium’s assortment of tropical fish are mulling about metres from the shore. With our guide Jose keeping an eye on us, we enter a magical world. An incredible array of fish appear before our eyes: huge coral trout, playful Maori wrasse, truckloads of clownfish, fusiliers, surgeonfish, parrotfish, batfish, giant clams, big colourful corals and even some baby spotted stingrays. Underwater magic? It really could not be any better than this. And when we drag ourselves out of the water after two hours, there really is champagne on ice on the beach. Here’s to us, then.
It has been touch and go whether we could do this little snorkelling venture today. Blue Pearl Bay is only 15 minutes from the resort but the weather has been suspect. Squally winds, cool temperatures, rain and choppy seas have made our days on Hayman not entirely picture perfect. It seems the old marketing slogan, Queensland: beautiful one day, perfect the next, isn’t reality any more. In 2017, Hayman, along with other Whitsundays resorts, was devastated by Cyclone Debbie. It has taken a while for the region to recover. After Debbie, Hayman closed, reopening in 2019 under the IHG Hotels & Resorts umbrella.
Last year, a series of plush beachside cabins were added. The $135 million restoration seems largely cosmetic, for the sprawling mid-’80s resort buildings and oversized pool remain. It feels quite retro, and it’s hard to avoid the sense that a big, unwieldy resort like this would probably not be built today. The Whitsundays are, in fact, littered with the corpses of resorts past, with at least six – Brampton, South Molle, Great Keppel, Double, Dunk and Hook islands – lying in ruins. So tourism is difficult here, but in an era of global over-tourism maybe that’s a good thing. Visiting feels exclusive, like being offered a rare treat. This sense is highlighted for us the day after our snorkelling expedition when we book a helicopter ride to view the most gorgeous parts of the Great Barrier Reef. We take off from Hayman towards Hardy Reef, a 13km-long marvel that’s one of the world’s most spectacular places. Soaring over this huge patchwork of coral, and water so vibrant and clear you can see giant rays and turtles cruising along in the shallows, we can only gape in wonder. Our pilot points out an atoll that has become a cherished attraction: Heart Reef.
This living atoll, 17m in diameter and discovered only in 1975, is in the shape of a perfect love heart. We duly coo over it, this beautiful thing shining in a fleeting period of dazzling sunshine. A few minutes later we are again besotted as we hover above Whitehaven, a 7km strip of sand often declared the world’s most beautiful beach, because it is.
It is raining again by the time we finish our expedition on nearby Hamilton Island. But, exhilarated from the flight, we barely notice the drizzle. This is an awe-inspiring place, a masterpiece of the natural world.
My only question is why we Australians don’t love it more.
Checklist
Getting there: You can fly direct to Hamilton Island from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns. From Hamilton it’s an hour’s ferry to Hayman Island.
Stay: Hayman’s tourist roots go back to the 1930s when it opened for camping. In the 1950s, aviation pioneer Reg Ansett built the first resort, which was destroyed in 1970 by Cyclone Ada (sounds familiar). The 182-room InterContinental Hayman Island Resort spreads over thee main wings (haymanisland.intercontinental.com). The decor is in muted coastal tones. The pick of the accommodation is the new villas, which have beach access and plunge pools. My one-bedroom Hayman Suite is a vast 92sqm, with sea views. It is an impersonal space quite removed from the main part of the resort. Pool rooms might be cosier. From $590.
Eat: Choose from six restaurant, bar and cafe options. The pan-Asian Bam Bam restaurant is a favourite with dishes like prawns in XO and a Thai beef salad. Breakfast is by the resort pool, glorious in fine weather.
Do: Snorkelling is a must; the hotel can arrange day trips and adventures that leave from the Hayman Island jetty. Half-hour helicopter expeditions cost $500; the price is worth every cent. See reception for bookings.
Help is at hand: For this expedition I am indebted to Virtuoso (virtuoso.com), a collective of high-end travel agents who specialise in creating extraordinary experiences. Virtuoso agents do everything for you, from booking flights, transfers, experiences, restaurants and more. They can also help with delays and problems. Having a pro by your side really does make a difference to the quality of the trip. As we found here, some carefully chosen activities can transform a potentially damp and dreary time into an unforgettable adventure.