Saturday March 18
We left Hamilton for Hayman on an 11am transfer which was delayed until about 11:30am due to the late arrival of a flight from Sydney which had connecting guests. The 1 hour cruise to Hayman was a great start - with drinks flowing and a snack box.
After checking into our beach front suite and unpacking we had a bit of a siesta then did a recco of the resort checking out the bars, restaurants, snorkelling tours and shop (where we bought a bag of chips and a six-pack of beer which was much cheaper than the mini-bar).
After showers we went for dinner the Pacific restaurant - which has 5-star prices and 4-star service - we both had the coral trout which was excellent. Then it was off to bed.
Sunday March 19
As forecast it started as a sunny and windy day but by the time we finished brekkie it was very overcast with some blustery showers. This weather continued for the rest of our stay.
We got into an island routine - breakfast, rest, swim and pool time, lunch (sort of), walk/hike, showers, happy hour, dinner, off to bed.
Tonight we had dinner at Amici - which we preferred to Pacific - due to the better atmosphere - we each and an entree then shared a Pizza - all good.
Monday March 20
The weather was pretty much a repeat of Sunday - with a few more squalls, we had saved a banana and a mandarin from breakfast which we turned into lunch - we did have a beer and a G&T at the pool after burning a fair few laps. In the afternoon - we, by sheer luck, took a hike up to the Whitsunday lookout without getting rained on - 1+ hour return - due to the earlier intermittent squalls - the dirt track was a bit wet, but not muddy, which was fine except our runners needed a big clean on our return.
We had been booked dinner at BamBam (Asian fusion cuisine) as when we booked some weeks ago it was the only restaurant open on Monday; however, at some point they decided to also open Amici so we went there instead. Dinner was a bit mixed - we started with foccaccio and grilled patron peppers which were so hot they took them off our bill, for mains Dieter had some sort of lamb which he did not rate too highly, I had seafood pappardelle which was excellent - it came topped with a (half) of a giant grilled bug.
Tuesday March 21
It was blowing a gale - 40-80 k’s wth some rain squalls - making beach activities a bit of a non-starter (e.g. SUPs, kayaks, catamarans, etc). We did our now regular mid-morning pool tour - burning laps and relaxing under the shade looking out to sea. We had a couple mandarines, snafued from the breakfast buffet, for lunch. We tried to do an afternoon walk but turned back early when another rain squall moved in.
After happy hour we had dinner at Pacific again - OK but not excellent - service seemed a bit ‘stressed’ like our previous visit.
Wednesday March 22
It was prety much a rinse and repeat of Tuesday - pool time and walk followed by dinner Amici - entrees and shared pizza. Pictured below are the Hayman residences - up on the cliff-side - $10K per night.
Thursday March 23
Time to go - after breakfast packing and lazing about we left on teh 1pm “luxury launch” for Hamilton - unfortunately our Virgin flight back to Sydney was delayed from 14:50 to 16:10 - a bit of wait in the Hayman provided mini-lounge. We finally walked in the door at nearly 9am - too late to go out for dinner as all local restaurants had already closed their kitchens - so it was cheeese on toast for dinner and off to bed.