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Date: May 2005
Location: Mackay, Queensland Australia
A lemon, lime and bitters sunset was being served on this Mackay
afternoon.
Gently stirred, not shaken, white clouds met a burnt orange before finishing a rusty red, and plunging into the Coral Sea.
Dean Martin's mellifluous voice was like a cocktail umbrella on a perfect Mackay day, as we toasted the coast at the Marinas Lighthouse seafood restaurant.
The next day I would find myself in a beer appreciation course at Brampton Island. I could almost taste the tautology.
With 31 beaches - one for every day of the month - Mackay's coast plays an integral role in the region better known for its platypus and rugged rainforest than its lobster mornay and Wednesday night habourside diners.
Mackay's northern beaches are among its most revered, and a stay at the Whitsunday Waters Resort, about 20 minutes north of the city, is confirmation of this status.
The four and a half star resort is perched on the edge of the Coral Sea and a mere hop, skip and jump away from the Eimeo Pub, which offers panoramic views of the coastline.
On the other side of town, one of the most beautiful beaches is the celebrated
Casuarina Beach, a 1.5 km sandy
stretch along which kangaroos feed at sunrise and sunset.
Situated at Cape Hillsborough
Nature Resort, it's a 40-minute drive from Mackay past the notorious leap
where legend has it an Aboriginal woman jumped from a cliff with a white baby
in her arms.
The woman died but the baby miraculously survived the drop.
The 10-acre resort, established in the 1950s, offers 100 campsites, rustic beach huts and motel-style accommodation, deliciously sandwiched between national park and beach.
Ashley Collins, who co-owns the resort with family members, says it is the walking tracks, which pay homage to the Juipera Aboriginal people and their bush tucker survival skills, which always make me leave with a smile on my face.
Every beach you go to, there will be a vista of the islands, he says.
We are the only business in Queensland which is an island in a national park in front of a beach.
The business started from the beach where they used to drop people off by boat.
At the other end of the spectrum, Brampton
Island, about an hour away from Mackay by boat or 15 minutes in a light aircraft,
offers all the relaxation of the mainland with splashes of style.
Part of the P&O family, Brampton continues to undergo a multi-million dollar facelift with a more subtle, contemporary colour scheme in its generous 109 rooms.
Gone are the garish shades more reminiscent of last century which saw the birth of the Brampton beat campaign.
Not that the island has lost any of its rhythm.
At night, join staff for an impromptu jam session in the Brampton bar where the mellow sounds of the didgeridoo match the languid melody of waves breaking just off shore.
But its probably the cocktail menu which best reflects the island's graduation to subtle sophistication.
Sure you can still order the perennial Pina Colada, but one suspects a new stick drink off the menu would serve the reputation much better.
Better still, join the resort staff in a beer appreciation course, where you can spend two delightful hours, in the name of research of course, matching a number of amber brews to food.
Indeed, this fine afternoon we matched a pilsener with a smoked salmon but most delightful of all, was the revelation that there exists a beer in this world with which one can eat chocolate.
Could life get any better?
According to my travel companions, who spent the afternoon wrapped in coconut and honey in a Brampton coconilla body treatment, apparently so.
At the southern end of the Whitsunday passage, Brampton Island is one of the few islands which unveils white sand at low tide and from which you can snorkel directly off the beach.
Brampton Manager Jason Kruse believes the island is the uncut diamond of the Whitsunday group.
And after a few beers, I'll drink to that.
For more information:
Mackay Tourism
Tel + 61 7 4944 5888
Brampton Island
Tel +61 7 4951 4499
Whitsunday Waters Resort
Tel +61 7 4954 9666
Cape Hillsborough Nature Resort
Tel +61 7 4959 0152
- By Christine Retschlag
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