Dunk Is. - Beautiful one day, perfect the next

I once read an article written by a marketing guru, who criticised the Queensland Tourism Authority for discarding their slogan "Beautiful one day, perfect the next" and replacing it with "Where else but Queensland?" Last week, both slogans were appropriate, Queensland put on a show.

After finishing my Masters last year, I have felt a little flat. Two years with no break, and the stress of combining study with family,managing finances, church calling etc, culminated in a mid- week decision, "I need a time out, I need a holiday!"

As fast as a whippet, Jill had us booked. I had a week off and we were headed to Dunk Island.

Not the most exclusive island in the chain, but from what we read, the most family friendly. This turned out be fantastically true.

We left early Monday morning, after getting the house ready for any inspections for potential buyers while we were away. A logistical challenge, but we have done this so many times over the last 12 months, with the motivation of a 12 o'clock booking on the Mission Beach to Dunk Island Ferry, it went like clockwork.

A leisurely 2 hour drive on the Great Green Way, was a great way to start the holiday. 28 degrees and no hotter, a slight breeze and open road.

We arrived in good time,and found the ferry departure. With another 40 minutes to go, we cruised around Mission Beach and drove up to a resort we had stayed at once at South Mission Beach. A special surprise awaited, our first sightings of Cassowaries in the wild.

A Dad, and his 3 little chicks (that makes them sound small, they each stood about 4ft tall. ) Jill tells me she learnt that the Male Cassowary are the best dads in the world. The Mum takes off never to be seen again, after she lays the eggs, and Dad incubates the eggs and after they hatch, raises the chicks all by himself. His was a pretty calm, sort of a fellow, came right up to the car and banged it with his beak, just like what you see on African safari shows, except they are elephants. I was slightly concerned that at any minute he would tear our bowels out with his talons, as we have been warned many times, don't get too close. One of our favourite road signs, that you'll see up here, is a yellow triangle with a car and a cassowary head on, with the car banged up, and if taken to scale, you may expect to see a 2o foot cassowary. Jill shrieked with excitement, as if she had just arrived in Australia 2 days ago, and took a few pics. The drive back to the ferry, we crossed a small creek, with a recent crocodile sighting sign. We stopped and tried to see one but nothing there, that we could see,but that is the crocodiles' strategy, camouflage. A guy from Melbourne, I met while watching the soccer at the Island Bar, said he and his family were taking a swim on Mission Beach while waiting for the ferry, and a local said to them "I wouldn't swim in there if I was you mate, there's a 3.7m saltie that lives off the beach up near the estuary up there". He didn't swim for his whole trip, but apparently they don't go out to the island. I wasn't convinced.

The Ferry ride was all part of the fun, we had to catch it from the beach, not a jetty. So we waded through the waves up to the boat, they carried our luggage this way, Kawehi was carried as if she was luggage by the crew too. The boat started its engine, raised its bow and off it sped, the island in the foreground getting closer and closer, water crystal calm, on the gold coast a surfer would call it glassy, but it really sparkled.

The kids loved the ferry, it drove up the beach and got out just as we had embarked, through the waves, greeted by island staff in Aloha shirts "Welcome to Dunk Island" They gave us the welcome spiel, hotel, food, room, activities, I was reassured that there would be no "crocodiles", although he was new and had just come from working up on Lizard Island resort, where they unexpectedly spotted and caught two crocodiles, sunning themselves off the beach, but he said" but that's more North". The toads are travelling South, surely the crocs are too.

We were led through the new bar and dining area (rebuilt after cyclone Larry devastated the island in 2006) out to the view you see on all the brochures. I was pleasantly surprised that it looked exactly as the picture only better. The big pool with the Ulysses Blue Butterfly in tiles on the pool floor;the same pool that Spencer a few days later, dropped his billabong boardies arched his back and demonstrated a perfect arc as he peed into the lovely pool, in front of all the resort guests. I asked him later, what the people thought, he said"everyone was laughing at me" he loves to entertain. Jill was horrified.

Our apartment was a beachfront room, nice and modern, and literally 10 metres to the sand, another 10 metres to the water. We all wandered back along the sand to the cafe at the pool for lunch, Asian noodle 2 course menu, order away its all part of the package. We sat together by the sand and an umbrella and admired the view, blue green, clear calm waters, gentle waves lapping, blue skies, still, green Mount Kootaloo to the right, mission beach and ocean to to the left, island out in front 200m, and the rigid blue haze of the east coast of Australia, in the distant background, Yachts sailing, boats speeding, kayaks floating, people fishing and walking past with huge fish held hanging in hand, taking them to the chef, to cook for dinner later that evening.We couldn't believe that only a few hours before we were scrubbing windows, vacuuming floors. We literally have some of the best of Australia on our doorstep.

Jill took Brady for a nap, while Kawehi, Ollie, Spencer and I took the 500m hike to Muggy Muggy Beach, good for snorkeling, the reef is right off the beach. Deserted, calm, dark boulders either side, the kids felt like they were pirates, robinson crusoe, smith family robinson, they ran, jumped off rocks, swam in the water, threw rocks, found crabs and pools of water.

We decided to hike to the other side of the resort, visited the jetty cafe, and ordered drinks for all the kids, they loved the concept of ordering drinks and not handing over money. They could get used to this. We walked to the back beach after the kids jumped off the jetty, into the water if I didn't stop them,But onto the sand. I realised Spencer has no concept of height as he launched himself off two feet into the air and onto the sand below from 4 times his height. I jumped down, expecting him to be hurt or shocked, but neither"lets do it again" He's a crazy little fella.

The back beach is where we discovered one of the many joys of the week, 14 foot catamarans, white blue and green, with Dunk Island written on them, the kids loved it, and Jill too. I can't believe she trusted me out in the waters half way between Bedarra Island and Dunk.

The first trip we did, it seemed as soon as it was our turn, the wind died down. I thought it was just my hopeless skills, which I was pretty certain was the case after 20 mins and moving maybe 10 m, with the aid of the paddle. The kids were bored and wanted to get off. But after we finished we were told the wind had dropped to 5 knots and we were in a somewhat protected cove. But we were back the next few days. Ollie, Spencer and I finally got it out at 18 knots and did a bit of tacking, if thats what its called, anyway we caught the wind, and that little catamaran sped. A real treat, off to our right, we saw something blow up out of the water, it looked like a little whale at first, but as we caught his distinctive face, it was a Dugong, the chances of that, it was headed straight for us, we only saw it for about 10 secs, and then we lost it, but that was just fantastic.

The first night we were off to dinner, 3 course menu, the kids again able to order whatever they liked, and when asked later about their favourite part of the trip, "the restaurant." I read an article by a travel writer who had visited Dunk, and was surprised at the comments he got when he got back from his 3 week trip, instead of "you look tanned, great, rested, fresh" it was "mate are you okay, you've put on a few kilos" We felt the same way, so much food, the buffet breakfast each morning was great, one night we had a seafood buffet for dinner, but it was the apex of the food curve, the point we realised we couldn't sustain this kind of eating, that night I had half a plate full and a few desserts, what a waste, there was so much great food, I just couldn't do it any longer. We came down after that and figured out a way to balance it out. But we kept active to assist with digestion. Jill was hiking Mt Kootaloo every morning getting up at 6 am, taking a good 90 minutes to the top and back, with great views as an additional reward. The third day, Kawehi, Ollie and I did the same hike, but we added the circle island hike, an 8km hike all up, Kawehi and Ollie did it all amazingly well, and we even ran for almost half of it. We learnt that, an eccentric Englishman, was working at the newspaper in Townsville, was told by his doctor that he had 6 months to live, he was so stressed and overworked. So, he quit his job and moved with his wife to Dunk Island, settled, built a shack and lived for the next 26 years. He wrote a book while he was on the Island, called "Confessions of a Beachcomber" which is apparently a classic in the world of wanna-be island castaways and nature lovers. Everything on Dunk Island and Mission beach is called Banfield something, drive, parade, shopping centre, all named after him. Also the top of Mount Kootaloo held a communications tower during the war, which we saw the rusted ruins of on our hike. It sent via morse code, positional sightings of Japanese submarines and other fleet, along the coast of Northern Australia. The soldiers hiked up to the top and camped, on a 24 hr watch, where they would switch and be relieved by their mates who would be at base camp, swimming and fishing. If you had to go to war, this is surely where you would want to be posted.

We swam everyday, the beaches so nice that it seemed a shame to even want to swim in the pool. At low tide we could walk out a good 100 m, with all the kids including Spencer, and they were jumping, flopping backwards, diving, out in the middle of the bay, soft sand under their feet.

We played racquetball most nights, that was so great, we thought, "that's what we need in our home, a squash/racquetball court". We gave each kid a racquet and a ball, including Brady, shut the door, and they would have gone on for a good 4 hours if we hadn't stopped them, balls and racquets flying everywhere. Ollie had figured out that you just drop the ball and then whack it. Spencer, he would throw the ball, then chase it down like a heat seeking missile, throw racquet and body at the ball on the ground, in an attempt to send that ball as far and as hard as he could.

Dinner we booked in each night at 6pm, so we had perfect sunset views across the water, purples and oranges and fading blues. It was more than perfect.

One night Jill and I, went to the Bingo at the bar, it was very family oriented, the kids were baby sat, we thought surely we would win something but no. The last game was, you kept standing if none of your numbers are called out. We thought, well surely this is our game based on the the previous rounds. Jill was in the final two still standing, the prize a free cocktail from the bar. Not much use to us, we'd go virgin, but she was still determined to win something, even if we had to give it away. She lost.

But other than that, for the whole trip, we felt lucky, really grateful for such beautiful surroundings, there's so much to do, if you get out and do it in Cairns and surrounds.

The day we were to leave, it was over cast and raining, as if the island that the kids fell in love with was sad to see them go. We finished with hot chocolate and soft drinks at the jetty cafe as we waited for the water-taxi, this time it was rougher and the ferry jumped and rocked side to side, the waves crashing us onto the beach, the boat backing in reverse. Car keys delivered at the beach, luggage, delivered into the car, and we were driving away almost 60 secs after getting off the boat. Simple service, done well. What a great trip that was.

We took the long way home, and arrived home with 5 mins to spare before we were called saying there was a showing for our home scheduled in 5 mins. We hoofed it, packed the car again with everything we had just taken out, opened the windows, curtains, turned on the fans, cleaned the floors and waved hello to the new owner (we hoped) of our house as we drove out through the gate. We just made it. We accepted his offer the next morning. Celebrations for a house sold, a fantastic trip and memories for our family from the "Isle of Peace and Plenty" Dunk Island, which was beautiful the first day, and perfect every one after that. Where else but Queensland? Come on up for a holiday, we'll see you soon!

*photos all found online-our photos may be coming soon.