Perseverance and Pentecost Islands

We were staying on Hamilton Island and on Sunday did the walk to Passage Peak which overlooks the Whitsunday Passage, named by Captain James Cook in 1770.

Portuguese explorers may have been the first Europeans to visit this part of the Australian coast, but for the record it was Captain Cook, then a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, who passed through these islands on his first voyage around the world in the Endeavour. On the night of 1 June 1770 he anchored off what today is Mackay, and two days later sailed through a blue stretch of water dotted with islands.

'Indeed the whole passage is one continued safe harbour,' he noted on the morning of Sunday, 3 June. It was Whitsun, the seventh Sunday after Easter and the feast of Pentecost, so Cook named it the Whitsunday Passage and one of what he called the Cumberland Islands -- Pentecost Island.

Quite a challenging walk but very rewarding at Passage Peak.

Spectacular views. Many islands in the Whitsunday group, popular for yachts and cruise boats. One of our favourite places for a holiday. Hamilton Island is one and a half hours flying time North of Brisbane in Queensland.