Tropical Paradise

 Day 6 - Friday, Dec 26 – Boxing Day

The history of “Boxing Day” comes from days of yore in the UK. The servants who waited on their employers worked on Christmas Day doing all the things necessary to help the wealthy families have a nice Christmas. The families would then place leftovers and presents/gifts in boxes and leave them outside their front doors after Christmas. The servants were granted a day off and could pick up these items for themselves and their families.

Our Boxing Day morning was spent packing up for the next stop on our journey. But first, we had to take one more walk around The Rocks and Harbor (Harbour? I forget). The Rocks – a quaint area near the Harbor Bridge and Circular Quay – is filled with shops, boutique hotels and restaurants. Monica and Steve were recalling places where they had eaten 16 years earlier, and Steve recalled his days of being there on business trips with Lilly. Aaah! The nostalgia! 

We got our transfer from the hotel after taking one more longing look at the gorgeous view from our hotel suites. For Steve, it was almost certain to be his last. For the Helfrichs … well, only time will tell. 

At this point, I must comment on our 8-year-old Ruby trudging through the airport with her roller suitcase and a backpack that is half her size. She never asks for help and keeps pace with the rest of us. What a trooper! 

We flew to Hamilton Island (2.5 hours flight) toward the north end of the east coast of Australia. [Note: Recall that going north takes you closer to the equator and more tropical climes.] We got off the plane to a warm, steamy day. We then picked up our transfer to our nearby hotel – The Reef View hotel. The first impression is that it is very nice. When we got to our rooms (we stayed in separate rooms – me and Evan in one room and the rest of the Helfrichs in a two-bedroom suite), and we got our second impression, which was even better than the first. Standing on our balcony, I looked out over a beautiful and large pool (1 of 4 on the property) and across the beach to a calm bay with hills and small mountains covered with lush trees/vegetation. It is a tropical paradise – as nice as any view I have had from a hotel any place I have ever stayed.

 

We hurriedly put on swim suits and went to the pool/beach to see if we could rent kayaks or paddle boards, but the rentals shut down at 3:30; it was 3:35. So we went to a large pool area that had multiple “lagoons” and two walk-up and swim-up bars. Wow! All surrounded by the usual tropical environment – palms trees, view of the beach and ocean, etc. The only downside was that it was cloudy, and we could see rain in the offing. We got some adult cocktails, some kid mocktails and swam and enjoyed our drinks for about an hour before the rain came. And did it come. Tropical rain like you might imagine in … well … the tropics. It was 2-3 inches (our guess) in about 45-60 minutes. We went back to our rooms and got ready for dinner. 

 

By the time we left for dinner, the rain had subsided. The hotel staff told us it was the rainy season, and there are periodic downpours like we had just experienced. They seem to pass quickly – like in 30 minutes or so. They admitted the one we just experienced was particularly hard and prolonged rain. We selected a pizza place on the Marina a short walk from the hotel, which we did under umbrellas and a very light rain. No big deal. The grounds are meticulously kept, and the evening lighting was very pretty. Of particular note was a tree that populated many parts of the grounds that had multitudinous bright, red-orange blossoms. And, by the way, did I mention the wallabies roaming freely around the grounds? For the uninitiated, a wallaby is a smaller version and cousin of the kangaroo. That was an eye-catcher as well. [Note: In the foreground of the wallabies, there is a garden hose with a sprinkler that is watering the grass. I kid you not! Look closely and you will see water coming out of the sprinkler … this after a deluge that dropped an estimated 3 inches of rain on us!] 

    

It was pizza (Monica and Steve had a seafood pizza with shrimp, whitefish and calamari) followed by gelato from a shop that adjoined the pizza shop. We sat under an awning out of the light rain and enjoyed pizza and ice cream … I mean gelato. And speaking of eating gelato (or was it ice cream) … Barry reminisced about one of his early experiences at a Ruberg extended family event. When asked if he wanted ice cream for dessert, he replied that he was full. The whole Ruberg entourage looked at him like he was crazy, and Aunt Carol responded incredulously with, “What’s that got to do with eating ice cream?!” So, tonight, Barry ate ice cream despite finishing off everyone else’s pizza. But it was not his ice cream – he finished off everyone else’s ice cream. Go, Barry! Put on some weight!

We walked home in a light drizzle using hotel borrowed umbrellas. [Note: Barry and I decided that the local restaurants bought the umbrellas for the hotel, otherwise they would have trouble getting customers in the rainy season. Probably a good investment for them.