Club Med Resort Australia - Club Med Vacation Resort Queensland

Up the hill at the Club Med Lindeman Island sports centre, GO golf and tennis specialists run a series of lessons. Archery is very popular and a resident expert gives lessons to first timers. Don't be surprised if an expert turns up. On my last Club Med visit, we watched in astonishment when a guest from Paris unpacked his competition bow and calmly plugged 25 arrows into the bull of the farthest target. He repeated the process every morning of his week at Club Med!

A measure of any resort is how it handles wet weather. With our magic beaches, it's not hard for most Australian resorts to keep guests contented when the sun shines. But a dose of bad weather really sorts out the top spots from those spots which offer little more than bingo or boring videos when the rains come.

During my Whitsunday visit, two days of wind-laced wet provided the opportunity to run the bad-weather rule over Club Med Lindeman Island. It hardly missed a beat. In the pool, where the downpour didn't really matter, a Brazilian GO refereed an "Australia versus the World" water polo match. Nearby at the Sailing Shack, the beach boss helped a couple of Japanese honeymooners into their kayaks. Rain or not they were determined not to miss out on anything.

Around the bar, a Canadian GO master-minded a series of "brain games" attracting the interest of a stressed-out academic from Canberra, who declared at the breakfast table that she was at Lindeman for "a complete rest". Unable to resist, she was soon looking for a games partner. Enter a South Australian farmer who, resort rumour had it, was looking for a wife.

After sunset, Club Med really hums. You can dine a la carte at Nicholson's Restaurant. In the Main Restaurant, where guests select from a brilliant buffet of international foods, you have the choice of dining alone or joining other guests at a table of eight. Resort staff host many of the tables and help keep the conversation flowing.

Dining with strangers Club Med-style is a great way to meet and learn about people from other countries. The resort's friendly atmosphere helps guests to overcome their natural reserve and converse easily.

Most nights, following dinner, the GO team puts on remarkably professional stage shows. When the curtain comes down, the younger set heads up the hill to Silhouette's Disco and the older crowd relaxes in the cocktail lounge.

Around the bar, a GO talked about the televised celebrations at a recent football grand final with a couple of guests. Clearly concerned, she recalled, "they launched literally thousands of balloons. Doesn't anyone ever think about the pollution caused when they land and the wildlife that can die from eating them?." 

The team at Club Med Lindeman Island really seems to care.

Start: Club Med Lindeman Island, Australia
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