Incentive Trip Day 4

We were lucky enough to wake up to more sunshine on Saturday - our last full day on Hamilton Island. After brekky we headed down to the Marina for a 3 hour return Trip around the nearby Whitsunday Islands. It wasn't a Stampin' Up! activity, but there were about 20 of us on the 2 boats. The tour company warned us of strong winds and swells, so were were a little apprehensive waiting on the dock. Here's Alisa, Jayne and I: Thankfully our fears were not realised, and the trip was more the up and down bumpiness, rather than the swaying and rolling that had made everyone feel ill. It was actually heaps of fun zooming across the water with the wind in our hair. Here's Joanna and I, and you can see our Hotel (the taller building) in the background:
We arrived at Chalkies Beach first and did some snorkeling off the beach. Visibility was a lot better than it had been on the Reef on Thursday, and we saw lots and lots of fish and some amazing coral formations. Next we made a 5 minute boat trip across to WhiteHaven Beach, recently voted the Number 1 Eco Friendly Beach in the World. I can see why -it has 7km of the purest white sand I have ever seen, and is completely unspoilt. Here's Dave and I at WhiteHaven:

We returned back to Hamilton Island and just had a light lunch (not wanting to spoil ourselves for the final night dinner, which is always spectacular). We washed the salt and sand off, and spent a leisurely afternoon in the Hospitality Room, spinning the wheel for the last time (I ended up with 2 rolls of ribbon, a gel pen and Shimmery White cardstock from my 4 spins) and helping to finish off the candy (a tough job but someone had to do it).

Joanna and I discovered we have very good taste in clothes (and both shop at the same exclusive boutique):

I thought that it might mean that we would be paired up for our afternoon adventure, but no. We all had to gather in the Reef View Lounge for instructions at 4:15pm. Names were drawn out of a bowl and we were put into teams. We were with Angela and Paul Sargeant, and we named our team The Bluebottles (we were all in blue, and one of our first stops was to pick up some liquid refreshments in blue bottles, plus a BlueBottle is also a type of jellyfish). Here we are in front of our buggy:

We were given instructions on driving the golf buggies around the island, and we had to answer questions and pick up clues along the way. Here we all are listening intently:

It was heaps of fun exploring the island for the next 2 hours. There were plenty of stops to make, questions to answer, and SU! staff members to find (who had gifts for us - we scored a pack of 12x12 cardstock, an inkpad, Rhinestones and a new stamp set), and plenty of time to take scenery shots as well. Our last stop was back at the Reef View, where we were given a little bag of alphabet stamps. We had to spell out the name of our dinner location using the stamps. It was CUHATYLB, with the clue to use one letter twice - YACHT CLUB. Once everyone had finished, we hopped in our buggies to the Yacht Club. It's an amazing looking building on the Marina, and we enjoyed aperitifs outside on the balcony watching the sunset.
me, Theresa, Yvonne, Kim, Liz, Bec.

Our tables for dinner were beautifully set with floating candles and shells, and at our place setting was a Fijian mask and a card saying "See you in Fiji". We were seated with Alisa and Craig and Pam and Dennis for the 3-course meal (Craig wearing the Fijian mask):

Now, last Incentive Trip I got in trouble for making people hungry while reading my blog, so this year I've been careful not to show you photos of food, but it wouldn't be the same if I didn't show you any....so here's my entree, an amazing cucumber salad, decorated with tiny edible flowers:
Even the plate was amazing! So, at least I showed you something healthy ;o)

When we returned to our rooms, we found our last pillow gift, a bag to match the purse and bag tags:

Quite appropriate that it was turquoise, to match the water! We all looked very stylish the next day at the airport.

Here's one last shot of the turquoise Whitsunday waters from our Hotel Room, as it looked on our last day (much better than it was looking on our first day!):

Thanks for re-living the trip with me. I hope you've enjoyed experiencing it vicariously. If you are thinking that you'd love to go on the next Incentive Trip, I really encourage you to try. Seeing Jayne's account of her first trip was what inspired me to aim for it, and you have nothing to lose by trying! It really is an amazing experience, and well worth all the hard work to get there. I'll be in Fiji, and I'd love to share it with you!