My three sisters and I visited HI in early Dec 07 and had an absolute blast!! It was just what we needed; we left the kids home with the guys and off we went for three nights and four FANTASTIC days!
Overall, the whole experience was wonderful. Sure, it's definately a tourist island and not really a secluded, quiet escape, but it is definately relaxing and so beautiful - even better than the pictures. Being a tourist island means that they have really perfected the whole touristy thing - everything is very convenient, well run, clean and efficient. The staff were (generally) exceptionally friendly.
We left Adelaide at 7:50am (via Bris), and within minutes of getting off the plane our luggage was loaded into a waiting coach. We arrived at the hotel and had checked in (make sure you request an early check in) by 11:45am. No hassell whatsoever. We were really glad that we had decided not to go onto another island, because it would have cut into our 'holiday' time.
All up, including airfares, accomodation, cruise to Reefworld, sunset kayak, target shooting, meals and buggy hire it came to about $1400.00 each - not bad!! And we didn't 'skimp' on a single thing.
We stayed at the Whitsunday Holiday Apartments which were clean, quiet, well maintained and quite spacious with a good a/c. It had a KS bed and three duvans (which are like couches, but double as beds). If you can, make sure you pay the extra for a sea view (not just for the awesome view) but because the garden view rooms don't get serviced daily, and it was great to come back to a clean tidy room each day.
The beds certainly weren't as comfy as home, but hotel beds never are! The view from the hotel was amazing, but to be honest we hardly spent any time at all in the room, as there was just so much to do. Probably the only thing that could have been better was the location - next time we would probably like to stay a bit closer to the marina, because we found that we ended up there quite a bit. The Palm Bungalows looked quite cute and had a better location.
We went on a sunset kayak which was lovely (and not too strenuous!). I think it was about $20.00 and very good value. The water is just so clean and a beautiful aqua colour. At the half way point everyone stops and you're given a glass of bubbly (although to be honest, the wine was a bit of a cheapy!).
Reefworld was fun (a little bit touristy though I must admit, but I didn't mind at all; at least it was run professionally) and the staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful. When one of my sisters felt a little seasick the staff seemed genuinely concerned. The snorkelling is great fun and the stinger suits aren't really that bad!
We hired a buggy which I totally recommend, because although most things are within walking distance (and apart from the fact that it's lots of fun!), too much walking in the oppressively muggy heat isn't fun all the time!
There are several beautiful swimming pools everywhere (but none have fences, so you would need to be absolutely vigilant if you took young chidren), and we spent quite a bit of time swimming. The beach looked great but we didn't go swimming for fear of stingers, although there were lots of people (and tiny little children) in the water without stinger suits. To be honest, I wouldn't risk it (even if the risk is very remote) because a bite could really ruin your whole holiday.
I Couldn't believe how many people were sunbaking everywhere!! And, I have never seen so many sunburt people in one place before, so a word of warning, make sure you put on tons of sunscreen regularly. Heaps. Don't forget. The sun is a lot harsher than in Adelaide.
Cocktails at the lookout was really nice, you don't need to be there right on 4:30 pm as we found that it wen't till around 7pm (from memory). Very informal and a great pre-dinner drinks location.
We had the free photo shoot done with HI Photography and they turned out quite nice. The prints were very reasonably priced, about $20.00 for an 8 x 10.
Crazy karaoke on Sat nights is exactly that and definatly worth going to!!
About the food now, FANTASTIC!! Romano's and the Beach House were AWESOME!! Maybe we were just lucky, but I would go back to HI just for those two places! And, we all eat out regularly, so our standards are very high.
Pasta at Romano's was about $32.00, but it wasn't your everyday pasta, it was like no pasta I have ever had before (in a good way) and the location is lovely.
By far our fave meal (of all time!) was at the Beach House. My goodness, it was absolutely divine, out of this world and the best meal I have ever, ever, had. Everything was so perfect, the meal, the service, the ambience, etc. etc., I really didn't care that I paid $52.00 for a steak. It was so worth it, and if I'd paid $80.00 for the steak I still would go back again. It's a very romantic place, and even though they were fully booked, it was very quiet and peaceful - you could see the waves lapping on the beach. A table on the balcony is really nice, and I think it's worthwhile booking well in advance so you don't miss our.
We found that Toucan's was best for breakfast, not as much variety as the Reef restaurant, but the chef was friendlier and it wasn't as busy - so a bit more relaxing. Toucans is more of a family restaurant and at lunch time it gets a lot busier. Still nice enough though.
We weren't overly impressed with the pizza place on the marina, really overloaded with chesse, so wouldn't recommend it and wouldn't eat there again.
Overall, we didn't find the food and drink prices too bad - after all, you are on an island, so you need to expect that things are going to be more expensive. But, even though Romano's and the Beach House were expensive, it was well worth it. If you wanted to do something cheap, you could buy groceries from the little supermarket, which wasn't much dearer than the 7-day supermarkets in Adel.
If I had a choice, I would rather 4 days on HI and really 'live it up' and do / eat whatever than do it on a budget over 7 days. But that's just personally.
Anyway, perfect place, perfect holiday, absolutely recommend it for anyone who wants to have a great time with good, professional service and no hassels.
