I know I have been back for over a week now, but thought for the sake of posterity, that I would still post about my Incentive Trip Experience. This will be a long post, so grab a cuppa!
The trip was awesome! Achieving the Incentive Trip was a dream come true. And it lived up to my expectations!
One of the highlights of the trip for me happened on the flight TO Hamilton Island! There was a celebrity on our flight! GUY SEBASTIAN! AHHHHHHHH! Ok, I have calmed down now! How cool is that!
I was too polite to ask for a photo with him, but I did manage a photo of him in the background. Sorry to Ness and Yvonne who were I was pretending to take a photo of:
Guy Sebastian, in the flesh! He had a gig that night with one of the other corporate groups on the Island. He was awesome on stage too!
Here is the view from our hotel room, to the left:
And the other end of the beach, to the right:
Simply stunning!
We arrived on the Wednesday about lunch time and had time for a walk around. We checked out the beach with Jayne and Gareth. Jayne and I ended up with the bottoms of our pants wet after this shot, but we didn't mind - because we were on Hamilton Island on the Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip (5 days and 4 nights all expenses paid - how fabulous!)
Here is Cameron with Gareth, enjoying the Great outdoors:
We walked down the beach and found the dolphin pool (one of many on the island), a fondly remembered spot of Cameron's from a previous trip to Hamilton Island, in his youth. He tried to convince us that Dolphin's did actually swim in this pool when he visited. We remain unconvinced, even with the verification of his mother! Anyway - the view was so tropical I had to take a picture:
Later that night was the opening dinner. The food was nice but the company was even better. Here are some shots of the night:
Me with Alisa and Emma.
We raced home in the rain, to find our pillow gift for the evening:
A dry bag filled with oranges, trail mix, water and 2 waterproof cameras - preparing us for our day trip to the Great Barrier Reef in the morning. The weather was slightly dubious, and being the weather guru that he is, Cameron was well aware of the conditions. He decided to politely refuse the trip and remain on dry ground for the day. A very wise move!
The rest of us headed off to the Reef trip early in the morning. When they started handing out the sick bags about 20 minutes into the trip (before the rough waves hit) I knew Cameron had done the right thing. Over half the group enjoyed the facility of the barf bags in the 2 metre swell, with strong winds as an added bonus. I, on the other hand, loved the trip to the Reef! It was like a roller coaster, without warning. Wooo Hooooo! Of course, I couldn't really enjoy the trip in full spirit, because the suffering of those around me was so profound, AND, it takes 2 hours to get to the Reef, so it wasn't a short trip either.
Anyway, we made it the Reef and enjoyed snorkelling in our skin tight stinger suits. Thank goodness I don't have a shot of that to share with you. My stinger suit was Blush blossom in colour and completely see through, leaving nothing to the imagination! The snorkelling was great. The sea sickness tablets were in hot demand on the trip home.
Dinner that night was fantasitic! A small group of us headed out and ended up at the gourmet pizza resturant on the island. The food was outstanding and the company, wonderful. We had a brilliant night!
AND there is always more to come with Stampin' Up! involved - another pillow gift, this time a lovely tin filled with stamps, inks and other supplies for tomorrows make and take session:
Here is my table friends at the session in the morning:
We had so much fun creating together, but it was a little humid and so Theresa and Jayne used the tissue from our window sheets to dab their sweating foreheads! Too funny:
This is taking such a long time to blog, so I will endeavour to add the second half of my trip tomorrow.
Happy Stamping!
