My husband and I and our 2 sons age 11 and 8 will be vacationing in Australia next April. We want to spend about 5 days of our 3 week trip on an island with beaches and snorkeling nearby. A friend stayed at Brampton Island years ago with her family and highly recommended it. Now I hear it is catering mainly to adults. Any suggestions.

Hi Akclub1,

I think you might find Daydream Island will suit your situation the link for it is below:

http://www.daydreamisland.com/

Another island that would suit would be South Molle Island and the link for it is:

http://www.southmolleisland.com.au/

I used to go to both islands quite regularly when I was growing up in north Queensland. They have changed a bit since then but Daydream went through a complete refurbishment a couple of years ago, they closed the whole resort for about 8 months whilst it was redone.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Paul_S

We've taken our kids to Brampton (once, 2002) and to Heron Island (4 times, most recently 2001) starting from about age 8 until the oldest was 17. They absolutely loved both places. A bit more variety of things for kids to do on Brampton, but the snorkeling is nowhere near as good. My bet that they would pick another return trip to Heron over Brampton next time, if we should decide to go.

I too was concerned about the "adults only" image that Brampton now has. But not a problem - there were other kids there, not just honeymoon couples.

I agree with Ralph, both islands would be ideal with two sons, aged 11 & 8. Brampton Island gets a lot of honeymooners, and its a beautiful island. Lots of coconut palm trees (was once a coconut plantation). Even though there are honeymooners on the island, families with children are still welcomed, and catered for, especially by the staff, with childrens adventure clubs, etc.
Heron Island is something special, in that you see coral as soon as you step off the beach.
Have you looked at each respective website, to see what is offered?

Daydream Island is one good choice for a family. The hotel is newly-renovated, and they cater almost exclusively to families. Our kids were 7 and 11 at the time, and they had a blast. We hardly ever saw them, as they were booked for activities in the, 'Kids Club', for the whole day. The island itself is quite small, no more than 3km long, so you can pretty much walk wherever you want in a short time (a little shuttle goes around as well). There is also a good selection of restaurants, from a kids-only buffet, to a family buffet, to a nice cafe, to an elegant restaurant. I can't compare Daydream to the other choices listed here, but it sure worked for us.

Thank you very much for the info. We researched the islands you sugested and really like Daydream Island and Heron Island. We are now waiting on rates quotes from both and checking availability. Thank you very much for the help.

akaclub: Before you rule out Brampton, let me say that, from what I've seen and read, it has perhaps the most beautiful walks in the Whitsundays - around the island to secluded private beaches and up to the summmit of Brampton Peak with its magnificent views over the island chain. The fact that Daydream has a shuttlebus that goes right round the island may be nice for some, but that would bother me. Brampton has quite a large resident population of kangaroos as well.

RalfR, Thanks for the additional info on Brampton Island. I am going to do some more research on it and look into rates and availability. I like the fact that there are beautiful beaches and good walking trails. We live in Alaska and do a lot of hiking so our boys definitely do not need a shuttle bus to take them around a small island. Plus my boys would love seeing kangaroos. My original concern with Brampton was the adults only image but since you said they cater to children as well and there were other children there when you visited puts them back near the top of my list. Thanks again.