28th of July, Cat's Eye Beach, Hamilton Island

On our first day at the beach, we needed supplies...There are 2 beach items shops on the Island. The prices are way up there, so if you don't have room in your suitcase, expect to pay top dollar...before we went we picked up some googles and snorkels, but the shops on the mainland didn't have enough,(winter stock in the shops).

So here is the beach, at low tide (obviously). It's easy walking out to the reef area. Hubby had his beach/water shoes, but the rest of didn't. I recommend taking them with you - before you land, we found out the hard way, on our last full day on the island.

It's a little bit of paradise.

Each day at the beach the kids collected a large selection of animals... which were leg go after.

There is a large pool, with a baby section, which lovely deck chairs (there are free check chairs all along the beach). All is free and unsupervised. The large toilets (super clean) are located near by.

At lunch time we had it all to our selves.

There are no big waves, so it was safe for the kids.

27th of July, Off to Hamilton Island, the Whitsundays

We went to Hamilton Island for 9 nights. On landing, the views and colours were breathtaking.

On the island the transport is by golf buggy or a free mini bus service.

The beach side of the Island and the hotel.

This is high tide, on the beach. At low tide it's easy walking in the water to the reef on the beach.

View from our house sized appartment. There are many choices of budgets for the island. We did it the cheapest way (which wasn't that cheap), with separate bookings for flights and accommodation. Ours was a large 2 bedroom appartment with 1.5 bathrooms, lounge room, large outdoor dinning area, a full kitchen and dinning area. It was as large as a house and came with a golf buggy. I tried to order food via Coles online, but after selecting my food, I was too late getting a delivery day - on the day we arrived. So I shopped in the only supermarket on the Island. We ate home almost every night, having fish, chips and hamburger two nights. The supermarket prices are out of this world... but cheaper than eating out every night. One day, while shopping I heard " okay if we buy the peanut butter, we won't have to by butter"... fresh fruit and veggies were ridiculous prices. The only bakery had fresh bread, but after it closed at 4pm, bread was limited in the supermarket... One afternoon, I picked up one of the last loafs and then swapped it with a man, I wanted the loaf he had and he wanted mine. We did take some things in our suitcases, like tea, coffee, sugar, honey, vegemite, pasta, rice and toiletries...saving some money.

A local welcoming us...Cockatoos are everywhere and very cheeky. One day one came it and stole some sugar from the kitchen. Near the fish and chip shops, they are like frenzied seagulls.

26th of July, Cronulla.

This was a rest day and hang about day... We met up with a friend and had a cuppa and pies for lunch.

The Pie Shop in Cronulla, has the best pies! I ate a lot of pies in Oz.

You can eat ice cream all year round in Australia.

Note to self: no blue ice cream for the eldest.

Playing on the beach.

24th of July, Pittwater

This was a big day of travelling, from Cronulla to Pittwater is was a 3 hour trip (one way), from one edge of Sydney to the other. 

Using public transport was the best way to get where we were going and it being a Sunday, it cost a maximum of $2.50 each. 

We got a train from Cronulla to Circular Quay, a ferry to Manly and a car to Pittwater. 

At Pittwater, our friends gave us all a wonderful day on the water, on their boat. We saw a seal, jellyfish, fish and sea gulls.

Everyone had a go at steering the boat.

This was the seal, he was too fast for me...

Lunch with the seagulls and jellyfish.

End of a fab day.

An amazing car at the carpark.