Hamilton Island, Australia - Anna Wu Photography

We bid our early morning farewells to New Zealand and headed to Australia; specifically, Hamilton Island, a small resort island near the Great Barrier Reef. It’s the kind of place where golf carts are the mode of transportation and housing comes mostly in the form of timeshares and hotels. On our agenda: SCUBA diving in the Great Barrier Reef, taking a little cruise out to Whitehaven beach, and hugging koalas!

Trusty golf cart; aggressive parakeets.

Unfortunately this post is lacking in the water-activity photos since I don’t have a water housing for my regular camera and took mostly very shaky videos with the gopro. But we went straight into SCUBA training on day one, which was just done in groups of four a swimming pool. Most of us had zero prior experience with diving, so it was pretty cool that we could still get out onto the water with just one day’s training. The real nemesis would prove to be the choppy waters, but more on that later… at the end of day one, we drove up to “One Tree Hill” for some gorgeous views over the island.

Day two was SCUBA day! We took a boat cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef, which ended up being the choppiest boat ride I’ve ever been on. I’m not usually too bad with motion sickness, but this was pretty intense, with half the boat seasick along the way. This image was taken when we were still within the barrier islands and the ocean hadn’t quite struck yet. Trying to drink tea on the back deck now seems hilariously optimistic in hindsight.

Gear up! We all snorkeled in the morning and then our group of four dived in the afternoon. Again, no underwater photos from me. But we did see a reef shark, some sort of spiky camouflage fish, and a sea turtle!

And we were even treated to a rainbow on the boat ride back.

On Day 3, we headed back into the open waters (much less crazy this time) for a shorter cruise out to Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays, which is often ranked one of the top beaches in the world.

We arrived on the opposite side of the island from Whitehaven.

After a short hike into the woods (beware giant spiders– thanks Australia), you can either branch left to go down to the beach or right to go up to an overlook.

We headed up to the overlook first.

Our happy group of eight!

And then those rain clouds in the distance caught up with us and it started pouring on our way down to the beach. Ha. Not ideal, and we only got 30 minutes total for the stop (so we basically had to leave after 10 minutes on the beach), but I suppose it was fun to see the beach anyway.

And then we finally reach our last activity for Hamilton Island and the only reason Evelyn came to this part of the trip: hugging a koala. There aren’t many places in Australia that still allow you to hold the animals, but one of them is on Hamilton Island!

Tada! Willie the koala. And with that, we say farewell to the little resort island and continue onward to Sydney! Recap the whole series here.

Visit Hamilton Island

SCUBA Dive in the Great Barrier Reef. No diving experience needed. If you don’t want to dive, you can also go on the tour and just snorkel. Our group was split half and half between diving and snorkeling. Based on what the crew said, it seems like our boat ride was pretty much as choppy as the water ever gets. If the crew starts highly recommending sea sickness pills, I’d definitely recommend taking them. And not just the “natural” ginger pills. Those were not effective. But fun fact! You can totally throw up through your regulator underwater. Not that I speak from personal experience or anything. =)
Cruise to Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays. It may have been the rainstorm, but this cruise didn’t feel quite worth it. It was about 3 hours in transit but only 30 minutes on the beach. The beach was beautiful (and would be even more so on a sunny day). But I’d opt for a longer duration beachside if possible.
Hug a koala. We opted for the breakfast with koalas option. A couple different koalas just hang out on potted trees in an open dining area while you have buffet breakfast. Then they call for ticket holders to line up and take turns holding the selected koala. You only get about 30 seconds with the animal, but it’s pretty cute. They are not as soft as you might imagine.

Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco but often traveling and working around the world. She creates beautiful, soft, and timeless imagery while capturing the most fleeting of moments. View her work at annawu.com, follow her daily adventures on instagram, or contact her to book your own session today.