A day trip to Neil Island

A day out to Neil Island
It was a lovely day for a boat trip, clear skies and windy… What do I mean… yes the boat trip to Neil Island takes two hours and the sea was in full swell, I mean to say it was rough! The boat rolled around in all directions and it was not long until the 8 passengers on board including myself found themselves turning a little green around the gills 0_0
However, after two hours we arrived at the quiet little quayside and as I was the only westerner I was required to register my presence on the island at the police station (a tiny little building 100m away from the jetty with a small thatched area for the duty policeman to sit and guard the ‘holding cells’). Well it was just a formality and soon over…
Next down a winding road, which ran out of tarmac after no more than 2km and then petered out completely in a grove of hardwood trees surrounding a newly completed tourist resort - the last 200m was a gentle stroll through pineapple and banana trees growing amongst the rain forest… Emerging onto a pristine, white beach untouched by human footprints until our arrival - it was beautiful and consisted of an arc of beach running around the headland of the island, this meant that you could stand in the sea and have two warm waves washing over you from different directions as you admired the view - stunning. The sea was a dark turquoise with cresting waves rolling onto the beach with a strong backwash sucking the sand right out from under your feet leaving you unbalanced while the clouds filtered the suns radiance in angelic rays of light. All in all, a bit like a piece of paradise on Earth. We all enjoyed our relaxed outing for the day before heading back for another two hour boat ride - luckily for us the captain of the vessel decided to go the other way around the island and it turned out to be much calmer, so much so, that several of us could sleep on the deck of the boat as the sun set.
Finally, on returning to Havelock Jetty, we found that the gates were locked and the island apparently closed 0_0 - so using our initiative we scaled the wall, while others simply walked around the gate via the beach!! And met our drivers on the other side to take us back to our huts… Just in time to see the gate key arrive… :)