Incentive Trip Day 1

I'm sipping champagne in my Coral Sea View Room in Hamilton Island at the moment (sorry, I just had to rub it in a little for those of you sitting at home! I'll try not to do it again...NOT!). We left home bright and early this morning, and had brekky at Sydney Airport with some other fellow travellers. It's always like a big reunion and catch-up session....a big part of the fun! All the Melbournites, Canberrans and Sydney people were there, and we hopped on our flight with Guy Sebastian (yes, really!!) and arrived in not-very sunny Hamilton Island a couple of hours later. Our Hotel is only a few minutes drive from the airport, in fact everything on the island is only a few minutes drive. There are no cars here, just a few courtesy buses and lots of golf buggies. Here is the view from our room:

Not bad!! Hopefully we'll get a sunnier day so we can see the sea looking really blue.

After dropping off our bags, we stocked up on US candy in the Hospitality Room and spun the Prize Wheel (Shimmery White paper for me!). Oh, and we also browsed through the NEW Summer Mini ....OMG Lots of gorgeous stuff coming!!!

Then it was time for some lunch. Here I am with Teresa, Miriam and Claire, having lunch by the pool:After lunch, the plan was to head down for a walk along the beach, but Tanya ran into people carrying lots of chocolates in the lift, so of course we had to investigate! We found a Food Convention being packed up, so we helped them clear some excess stock!!

After unloading our booty, we headed for the beach, only to be thwarted by heavy rain. Plan B was to hop on the Courtesy bus and take a tourist trip around the island. Here we are looking gorgeous and very touristy in the bus:

The sun did come out, so we were able to go for a walk along the Marina.
Pre-dinner drinks were in our room. Here are the girls, all looking glam:

Emma, Tanya, Teresa, Jo, Jayne and me

Then over to the Outrigger Restaurant, which was gorgeously decorated for us. We were even treated to a Fireworks display on the way, along with a Parade of dancers and drummers (which was all part of the Food Convention thing, but we were happy to enjoy it anyway!)
This was our table at dinner:

Jennifer and Dave Baugh, Donna and Jeff Calley, Teresa and Tanya.
Lots of laughs and chat over a really yummy dinner. We were even entertained by a cheeky possum. Here's the possum:
Just kidding - that's Kim, climbing on her chair to avoid the possum. Here's the possum, running away to avoid Kim:

After dinner it bucketed down, so we had to make a mad dash back to the Hotel. But worth it, when you find a pressie on your bed! Here's me, aka drowned rat, with my gift:

It's a special waterproof bag to take on our Surprise activity - a Reef Cruise tomorrow! Inside are underwater cameras and snacks to take with us. Let's hope the weather improves!!
It was getting late by this time, but we couldn't finish the day without singing Happy Birthday to Tanya. Teresa even brought her a slightly squashed cake from Canberra :o)

Now I really must get some sleep. It's after midnight, which is after 1am Sydney time. I've been up since 6am this morning and have a 6am start tomorrow too!

I'll be back with more hopefully tomorrow