Sun, Kangaroos, and Crying Men

Today was our first time bushwalking on the island. It was fantastic and we came across some interesting characters like these two:


This is a mother kangaroo and her joey. We didn't get too close because we didn't want to disrupt or scare them, but with this being the first time either of us have seen a kangaroo in the wild, we are very excited!


We walked off the trails a couple times to check out the remote beaches.


Warning: this image may contain from (tree) nudity.


My second favorite color green. Is it bad that money is the first? Shame on my capitalist self!


Don't be fooled, the water was freeeeeezing. Camille dared me to sit in it. That was a mistake!


It was pretty sunny, but nature was kind enough to provide us with some shade. How kind!


We came upon this large creek. The water was much warmer than that little creek I sat in, thankfully.


The roots of the mangrove trees reminded me of miniature cypress knees that grow in the swamps of Florida (back home).


With it being so bright out, it was stunning to see how dark it could get deep in the bush.


I have been a fan of ferns since I was a kid, exploring the forests of Florida and the Carolinas (back in the states). The ferns here were surprisingly softer than the ones I am accustomed to, however.


Have you ever tried limboing a tree? My bruised butt doesn't recommend it.


With another deviation to the beach, we found this lone starfish in need of rescue. We helped it back into the water.


This place is made for photos!


We came across a bunch of other kangaroos. I always imagined them much bigger. They are super cute, but either-way, we kept our distance out of respect (and slight terror, haha).


This guy really scared me. When they look at you like that, you know you better keep an eye out.


I am not sure what these fuzzy thing were, but they reminded me of the hats royal guards wear.


Check out the view on the way home! The sunsets here can bring tears to the manliest of men's eyes.

(***We did not take any of these photos, and I don't think any of them are from Hamilton Island, though they are from some of the other islands. I just found these online.***)

We hope you enjoyed the photos. I took so many but didn't want to overwhelm you with too many. I can post more if you would like, but I think I posted the best of them. Let us know in the comments and we can post more.

Also, we have been going through your emails and will be doing a segment tomorrow where we answer some of your questions and respond to a good chunk of the emails. We got so many so we won't be able to respond to them all, unfortunately, but we will try to cover as much as we can. Until then, Cheers!

Thursday Theater

Each Thursday I will put up a new video montage of my exploits. This is not the only video feature each week, however, as there will be others...like Tourist Tuesdays. For this Thursday Theater you will see our arrival to Hamilton Island, the house, the local beaches, some guy that looks like Jesus, a kid tripping over his own legs, a sun burnt visitor, and a fish with an identity crisis. Enjoy.



(This video is from a trip I took over a year ago to Beijing and Bali. It is not really of what I described above, as this is just a sample blog and I am not really on Hamilton Island...yet ;).)

An Introduction

Hello everyone!

My name is Eby and, as most of you may know, I have been hired as the island caretaker for the beautiful Islands of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. I will be blogging here regularly for the next 6 months, so bookmark this page and check back often! Not only will I be writing about my adventures here on the island, but I will have photo and video features that I will add weekly.

I also want to make sure that you understand your part in all of this. Yes, you have a part in this too. This is not going to be just one-way communication, it is going to be interactive. I want you to tell me what you want to see and give me feedback on what I am doing. Do you want to see the fashions in season with the yachtsmen during the Hamilton Island Race Week yachting festival? Do you want more underwater photos? Maybe you want to see the nightlife or the surfing or the spas? I am working on a weekly video feature that involves island visitors answering questions candidly about their experience. I will solicit question from you and have you all vote on which to use in a poll. So this experience is as much your as it is mine.

Now let me introduce the characters you will see a lot of over the next 6 months.

This is me (Eby):



I am from Florida, but moved to New York City to attend New York University's Stern School of Business (for Marketing) and have been here ever since. I have worked in Advertising and Social Media, so I am very knowledgeable of social networking, blogging, photo blogging, and the like. I am a skateboarder and have been making videos for the past few years, both about skateboarding and about thing have have nothing to do with skateboarding. I have brought my own equipment with me to make the best of the video experience. I have a blog that I have been maintaining for the past few years and am excited to bring that experience to this new audience.

And this beauty is my girlfriend, Camille:



Camille will also have a feature where she gives her take on the islands (the female perspective, for you ladies). She was born and raised in New York City, went to Hunter College for Sociology, and works in advertising. She is an animal lover, health conscious, a cook, and one funny lady.

We haven't been on the islands for very long, but from what we have already seen in this short time, these islands have been under-rated for a long time. I hope that you will come visit the island and pay us a visit. Anyone that does will most likely make it onto the blog. Click here to find deals.

Drop us a line at [insert email address here].

Cheers!
Eby (and Camille)