Time for a Whitsunday Hayman Island feast!

The food is the problem.

Not the quality, rather the quantity.

The Fontaine Bench is set so two guests can dine in the kitchen as the chefs go about their nightly business.

We are seated on a raised platform, off to the side and we can see everything that is going on. We can hear everything but, best of all, we can smell everything and taste it.

At this stage we have been here for about three hours. We have finished the first six courses, plus the matching wines. While they are supposed to be tasting plates, in reality each course is getting bigger.

The crayfish was slightly bigger than the tomato cannelloni with sheep curd. The confit ocean trout with braised endives, fennel velvet and carrot reduction is main size, if not bigger.

When enough really is enough

I plead with sous chef Anthony Healy: “Enough.”

He assures me that we are almost there.

“Just the lamb saddle and a few desserts to go. Take your time. You have all night,” he insists.

Thanks to the television food industry, chefs are now celebrities and the chance to sit in the kitchen is proving very popular.

“The concept came about in November 2009. The idea was to create a dining experience that is different from most others, something which showcases our culinary talents on Hayman and this also offers a great opportunity to try our grand menu of La Fontaine,” Healy explains.

“I endeavour to run a cool, calm and relaxed kitchen. I always inform guests that we don’t change any aspect in the way we work when guests are dining in the kitchen,” he says.

“Our guests on Hayman Island are always amazed to see just how much work goes into a service. By the end of the dinner, they have a new-found respect for what we do.

Second to none

“The produce we use is second-to-none. All our seafood is flown up daily from Sydney seafood markets, where we get the first pick of the produce. We use some live produce like yabbies, abalone and crayfish. Our meat also comes from Sydney and is air-freighted to us. We use Andrew’s Meat. Some of our herbs are grown on the island and where possible we use local-sourced product and also organic produce from Simon George, our fruit and vegetable supplier in Brisbane.”

Hayman Island has long been one of the highlights of the Whitsunday Islands. The most northerly island of the chain, it has an area of about 400ha and boasts 8km of coastline.

The first resort, the Royal Hayman Hotel, was built in 1950. It closed in 1985 and the new Hayman opened its doors in 1987. It’s still reinventing itself, with the latest instalment the opening of the Beachfront Suites.

We had one night on Hayman Island during our Whitsunday weekend of luxury. But it is fair to say that when we left the resort, we left in style.

Take to the skies

The Air Whitsunday seaplane, sent to pick us up and drop us off on the reef, roared into the harbour. We could have met it by boat, but that would have been too simple. Instead the pilot steered it out of the water and up on to the land to meet us.

When your day starts like this, you know it is going to be a good one.

Air Whitsunday is a small company that takes guests, about eight at a time, out to a private pontoon on the Great Barrier Reef, where you can swim, snorkel or dive in your own aquarium. At times, for as far as you can see, there is no one else around. We have about an hour in the water here before our pilot skims the plane across the water and flies us to the world-famous Whitehaven Beach, now even more famous after the Big O’s recent visit.

We again land in the water and wade through a rising swell on to the beach for champagne, sandwiches and fruit. There is no doubt that this kind of thing is expensive, but there is nothing that can compare with it. It is world-class luxury. It is pure indulgence. And it is something we will never forget.

Air Whitsunday can tailor the trip to your needs, so we decide to head to the Peppers Resort on Long Island for lunch. We stayed there a few years back and my wife rates this as her favourite holiday destination. We sat by the pool and had a great lunch before checking out the resort’s bigger, more up-market, new mountainside rooms. These are a great addition to the beachside bungalows.

Saving the best for last

From there we headed by helicopter, as you do, back to Hamilton Island’s qualia resort.

Qualia is without doubt the Whitsundays’ most stunning resort. This is a resort you could pick up and put anywhere in the world and it would be considered five-star. It’s that good.

From the great hall to the intimate seclusion of the private mountainside suites with water views, qualia surprises you, because it is better than you expect. To be honest, better than most of us have ever encountered.