Island life
There is a category of wealth, coined by affluent Manhattanites, known as "Wheels up rich". That means you are so well off you can hire private planes at the drop of a credit card. Or even buy your own.
But the wheels up rich are just aspirational upstarts compared to the "buy your own island" rich, a rank occupied by billionaire Sir Richard Branson and the Oatley Family, founders of Rosemount Estate wine in Australia, and since November 2003, owners of Hamilton Island, a little piece of paradise just off the Queensland Coast of Australia.
The largest inhabited island of the 74 Whitsundays - a two hour flight from Sydney and one from Brisbane or Cairns - it is in the Coral Sea and within a boat ride of the Great Barrier Reef.
It has been a resort since 1982 but despite a steady programme of building, refurbishment and improvements which has resulted in five hotels, a range of three to five star holiday rentals and a bijoux harbour, 70 per cent of the 5km long island has been preserved in its natural state, which is lush, green and tropical.
Mindful of carbon footprints, there are no cars allowed. Instead everyone buzzes around in golf buggies. At night they are all parked outside the many restaurants along the harbour making it look like St Tropez meets St Andrews. Don't make the rookie mistake that we did and forget to take your driver's licence.
You can't hire a buggy without one. We had to have a photocopy hastily faxed over and were soon chugging up and down the roads like the little engine that could.
We were staying in the Reef View Hotel, which as the name suggests offers beautiful views of the beach and bay and other small islands.
Our room was more of an apartment, complete with kitchen, bathroom and spacious dining/living room downstairs, Upstairs there was a bedroom big enough for two double beds and a marble bathroom with jacuzzi bath.
There were glass doors leading to a balcony though it's wise to keep these shut when you were in or out to keep out the cockatoos that perch along the railings. We heard horror stories of them flying into rooms and tearing the furniture to pieces, even pecking the keys off laptops.
Due to some unfortunate overbooking we were obliged to move to the presidential suite for our final night, a two bedroom/three bathroom apartment complete with its own wrap around balcony with private swimming pool.
Unfortunately, after five straight weeks of sun, the day after we got there it started raining which meant it was too cold to enjoy it, but free canapes delivered to our door helped ease the hardship!
In spite of the downpour our planned Fantasea cruise to the Great Barrier Reef went ahead, though with the wind blowing at 15 knots it was choppy enough for the solicitous staff to distribute sea sickness bags, ice to suck on and cold flannels.
Our destintaion was Reefworld, a pontoon by Harper Reef which offered a variety of aquatic activities including snorkelling, diving, trips in a semi-submersible for people who wanted to view the deep blue without getting wet and even helicopter rides. These were popular for marriage proposals as there is a particular heart-shaped reef the pilot can hover above as passengers pop the question.
We booked a surf safari ($25) which meant that, dressed in wetsuits and full length protective "stinger" suits, we were pulled across the reef while holding onto a lifebelt in the company of a marine biologist.
Maggie, our guide, explained what we were seeing as we bobbed along face down in the water and even dived down to bring up interesting bits of coral for us to take a look at.
We were accompanied by Wally, a local celebrity and attention-hogging Maori Wrasse, who stuck so close to us we could touch him and kept getting in the way of our view of the other fish, butting into the pictures we were taking with our underwater cameras. Not so much a case of "where's Wally?" as "where isn't Wally?".
A buffet lunch had been served on the boat and afternoon tea was offered on the way back to the island. By this time the wind had picked up to 25 knots and the boat bucked and rolled like it was in the Perfect Storm. Sitting outside in the fresh air I was soon soaked from the spray but it made for a bracing trip.
The inclement weather meant that some of our planned activities, like a trip on the wire flyer, which looked like a cross between hang-gliding and abseiling, had to be abandoned. Instead we took a drive round the island, stopping off to watch a wedding on the pretty hillside church and heading up to the observatory on One Tree Hill, where you can gaze at the stars through one of five telescopes.
We broke off for a fish and chip lunch and some shopping down in the marina. Better apppointed than your average English rural village, it has its own post office, supermarket if you are self-catering, and laundrette, as well as a range of fashion boutiques.
A variety of restaurants stretch across the quay, whether you are in the mood for up-market italian, pizza, chinese or a 1kg T-bone from the newly opened steakhouse.
One of the most popular food attractions though is "breakfast with koalas". A BBQ buffet served in the koala gallery, you can tuck into your sausage, bacon and egg under the sleepy gaze of the bears clinging onto the eucalyptus trees just feet away. Unlike Yogi Bear they have little interest in sharing your food as they live off the leaves, consuming up to two and a quarter pounds a day and rarely drink. In fact their name is aborigine for "seldom drinks."
At the end of the meal there is the opportunity to get a picture of you cuddling a koala, an unusual keepsake from an unforgettable trip.
* Three nights in a suite for two people at the Reef View Hotel costs from $2,034.
For packages visit www.hamiltonisland.com.au or call +61(0)29433 0444 The Fantasea Day Cruise to Reefworld costs $195. For information about packages and family rates visit www.fantasea.com.au or call 07 4946 5111
