Day 1 - 24 February 2021
For the first time in my travel career, I have never booked a holiday one day before I jet off the next day ๐ I didn't feel ready as normally I'd plan and book my own holiday at least 3-6 months prior to make my trip super perfect. This time it was actually my partner who has done all the research and planning which was pretty nice to sit back and relax๐ We stayed at our friend's place in Pyrmont the night before as we had to drop off our fur baby, Pixie with them. Our flight was at 11am with Jetstar which was delayed by 30 minutes. At the gate, there were these 2 Jetstar staffs who check people's carry on bag to make sure the weight doesn't go over 7kg and cus I was super smart and wanted to do the right thing, I bloody lined up to do the check which ended up having to pay $65 as we both had 2 bags each over by 3kg! If I didn't go to them then we would have been able to get away with it๐ซ Or if I pre-booked the extra kg then it'd have been $45 or check in bag would be $15. So yeah, had to learn the hard way lol ๐
The airport was actually busier compared to last November when we went to Uluru so this is a good sign for travel for sure.
We landed at Hamilton Island airport at 12.30 which we also had our ferry connection to Port of Airlie which took another 1.5 hr. If you were to stay at some of the fancy hotels like Beach Club, Intercontinental etc you'd have complimentary pick up as well.
When we got to Port of Airlie, we had maccas, bought some snack and drinks for our day trips and caught a cab to our accommodation at Mantra Croc Club which was about 5 minutes drive. The check in staff was super friendly and even congrats us on our 12 year anniversary๐ Our anniversary is on 23 Nov but whenever I go on my holiday or book my clients, I always put a note that it's special occasion and most hotels would do something nice for you. In our case, we got a bottle of red in our room ๐พ
The room is spacious and clean. Not my usual type of accommodation but we had $450 credit with Qantas to use and this one the most decent one on their site. For 4 nights including breakfast was $721 so we ended up paying $271 after using the credit so $68/night with breakfast for 2 of us is not bad. Breakfast here is $25/person if you book it separately so make sure to get the room rate with breakfast as it's worth it.
At 5pm, we went for a swim and the water was warm. Scott thought it was a heated pool but it wasn't as the sun was that hot that kept the water warm! We had cocktail by the pool and got ready to go have dinner with my Thai high school friends who were holidaying at the same time by coincident. Since it was their last night they wanted to party on which we would have joined them but we had an early start the next day so had to be responsible ๐
Day 2 - 25 February 2021
Breakfast was a buffet but we weren't allowed to do it ourselves due to covid19 so just had to choose whatever we want and the staff got it for us. Then we headed back to the marina to do our day trip to Daydream Island which was about 30 minutes by ferry.
When we arrived at the island, we were told to go to the Transit Lounge which the staff gave us a day guest wristband and a map. No explanation or nothing which was a bit odd so we ended up looking at the map and see what else we can do.
Our first stop was 10am feeding the fish session which there was a guide who explained to us about how they take care of the marine lives on the island. Then we decided to check out Lovers Cove which was a nice little coral beach and do some snorkelling.
What I'd highly recommend to get are:
- A full snorkelling face mask which breathing under water was so much easier, you can talk and it didn't fog up.
- A pair of snorkelling shoe which protect your feet , can take into the water and swim. They are also great for some light hiking trail.
- A bottle of Rose, cheese and dips to snack after your snorkel.
Lunch was included with the trip which we got an entree and main each at Inkstone Kitchen and Bar. Their Salt & Pepper Crusted Squid was amazing๐ Drinks wasn't included.
After lunch, we checked out the other side of the island which also had an open air cinema, a church and small size swimming pool. We hiked through their rainforest trail for 20 minutes and went back to Lovers Cove for another swim. This time no one else was around so we got the beach to ourselves ๐ Around 4 ish we checked out their man made underwater observatory which was built 2 years ago. It was very pretty and you can do yoga here as well!
Before we caught our ferry at 5.45pm we had a quick swim at the pool bar with some cocktails to complete our day๐ธ
Day 3 - 26 February 2021
Disaster is probably the best way to describe today trip and I wished I cancel the sailing tour we did.
It started to rain all morning but stopped for a bit after we got to the marina for our sailing tour. When we checked in, I asked the staffs what were our options if we want to cancel and they said no refund and we can change our date only once. We were there for 2 more days but the weather forecast said raining all week and the staffs said our day was probably the least rain so we decided to go ahead.
After we sailed off for 30 minutes, it started to rain again and didn't really stop. Our first stop was at Whitsunday Island and checked out Whitehaven beach. While we were hiking up the tree covered some of the rain which was okay but when we got down to the beach....... boy oh boy the rain was like thousand of needles and it came in all direction so that was fun....... NOT๐๐ง
We were meant to be picked up to go back to the boat at 1pm but by 12pm, everyone was over it and the crew picked us up earlier.
Lunch started soon after but imagined this, 70 people on board with ind