Last day on Daydream (D32)

Today is my last day on Daydream Island. I have had massive highs, but today is briefly a low. The credit card malfunction situation has come home to roost, I'm going to have to find a way of paying my, by now, huge bill. You don't notice when you put everything on the room. I wont go into the tortuous details, sufice to say I ended up getting my friend Andy to settle it. He's a solicitor, which is irrelevant here. What counts is that he has card that works.

I spent the day 'on island' due to needing to sort out the card situation. My day started with breakfast. It is my favourite place to people watch. Their expressions, who they are with, what mood they're in. Big people always have big breakfasts, I don't care what the adverts say. The most interesting thing for me is that Aussies look, dress and eat exactly the same as we do.

One mother is still cutting up her son's food, and he's 30...only joking. Laughing couples, quiet couples, excited kids, told off kids.

I forgot to say before, but about the only entertainment 'on island' is Bingo. Yep. At five o'clock every afternoon people gather, collect their cards, and away they go. When I first saw them the number 66 was called. Instantly everyone started clicking their fingers. 22 and everyone started clucking. Bizare. I didn't have a go, so maybe I'm missing something.

There are helpful people all over the place wearing brighly coloured shirts with fish pictures on them. They are always saying 'g'day' and ' how's it goin'. I think in a colder climate they'd be wearing red blazers.

Some of the other stuff is just a bit corny or tired. There are three polynesian type statues of men with an unlikely story (mystery) attached to them. The 'nature walk' has only one brief explanation plaque.

On the other hand it does boast the largest man made lagoon in Australia, probably. There are live corals and lots of different fish, including sharks and stingrays. Yes, the real thing. They do take this bit seriously and do it well, with educational tours and demonstrations. You can get in and feed the fish if you like, and have the big fish swimming around your ankles and eating out of your hand. Not for me though.

So apart from the card not working and the other one being out of date, and the food being terrible, and the resort being a bit naff. Apart from all that, I loved it. I'm back at the Mermaid restaurant and have a prime position looking out at the mermaids just in the sea. There's a lovely breeze and all the angst of the day has gone.

The food is again hardly edible, score 6\10, which is also what I give Daydream Island. So if you come to the Whitsundays you'll love it, but go to a different resort.