Monday, October 18, 2010

Incentive Trip Day 2 (continued) + Day 3

Thank you for all your comments :o) It really does keep me motivated to blog when I get some comments! OK, now that you've all come out of the woodwork to let me know that you really do want to hear about the trip, here goes...

On Thursday night, Skinny Shrek (thanks Karen, your nickname was perfect and has now stuck, although Dave says it wasn't what he had in mind!!), and 7 companions (amongst them Jared -Gareth's accidental re-naming by Cameron; Brad - our re-naming for Cameron; and lovely couple Terence and Tonya - a bit like Kath and Kim, only classier) went in search of a meal. We settled on the Gourmet Pizza place, but had to kill some time at the Tavern until a table was ready for us. We purchased liquid refreshments to kill the time:

We're all glowing from our day on the reef... that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

There are 9 restaurants on Hamilton Island - an Italian Place, a Seafood Place, a Steakhouse, the Tavern, Gourmet Pizza Cafe, 2 Hotel Restaurants, Koala Wildlife Cafe and the Very Fancy Yacht Club, plus a Bakery, Deli Cafe and Fish & Chip Shop. We didn't quite get time to try them all.Make sure you try the Pumpkin, Feta and Rocket pizza if you go to the Pizza Place. It's to die for! We had a really fun meal there, overlooking the Marina. When we got back to our rooms, we found our pillow gift. It was a decorated tin containing a NEW stamp set (from the new mini) an inkpad, 2 markers, buttons, mini library clips and a punch. All supplies for our make-and-take session the next day.
We woke up on Friday to bright sunshine and sparkling turquoise waters. Most of us chose to have breakfast in the Reef View Hotel each day, so there was always someone to chat to over brekky. Then some of the hubbies headed off to play golf on a nearby island while the girls had make-and-takes. Here we are, all chatting and stamping:
It was rather warm and very humid, so Jayne and Teresa found some handy sweat-blotters in our make-and-take packs (actually backing from the Window Sheets). The make-and-takes were really cute, and playing with new stamps (I LOVE the set we used!) is always heaps of fun, especially when all the hard work has been done for you!
Here's our table of happy stampers:
Ngaire, Jacque, Jayne, Joanna, Teresa and me.

There were a few of us dressed in Turquoise that morning, so we gathered for a photo:
Jennifer, Emma, Angela, Linda, Ngaire, me.

There was also a group photo taken, but that's going to be emailed to us, so I don't have it yet to show you.

We also swapped cards. It's such a relaxed swapping environment, compared to the frenetic swapping that goes on at Convention. This is what my swap looked like:

I've used the set "Growing Green" and tried to give it a Tropical feel using Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Sahara Sand and Baja Breeze. I used the Petal Card Punch to make a mini envelope, and there are 3 little tags with "Hamilton Island 2010" printed on them to slip inside. I did the background by dabbing a Baja Breeze inkpad on Marina Mist cardstock. The Squares are made using the 2 square punches and layering Whisper White on Whisper White. There were 19 Aussie Demos on the trip and 4 Kiwis, plus 3 guest Demos and Aaron and Emma also made swaps for us, so I now have 27 gorgeous new samples.

It was also the perfect time to get a quick photo with Shelli, overlooking those Turquoise WhitSunday waters:

After make-and -takes we were so hot that we decided to stay in and order room service to the Hospitality Room, where there are lounges and air conditioning! The Room is a real gathering place, and there was always someone to chat to, as well as loads of jars of American Candy to nibble on. It's also where we got to spin the wheel every day and win a prize, always cheered on by Angie and Kellie Sue, the wonderful organisers of our trip:

That afternoon was a good afternoon to explore the Island shops a little more closely (while I was a golf widow). When the boys returned a group of about 20 of us headed out for dinner at the Steakhouse, but again found ourselves at the Tavern when the Steakhouse couldn't fit us in. This time we just stayed there until we could no longer keep our eyes open!
We arrived back in our rooms to find another Pillow Gift, this time a clutch purse to match the luggage tags we were given with our Trip tickets....feeling very spoilt by this time!

6 comments:

  1. It was great reading about your fab trip away. I love your swap card. How do you come up with such great ideas all the time?

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  2. Never thought to leave a comment, but I certainly check your site daily to see what interesting things you are up to in Stampin Up World.

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  3. Love reading about your trip, I just adore your swap card-very 'Hamilton Island' (i'll have to assume that as I've never been) Hope your thud back to normality isn't too hard!

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  4. Great update - be sure that there are many like me who read and don't comment .... love your photos and your swap is just perfect.

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  5. Thanks for updating us.

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  6. Your swap is so beautiful! I think you did capture the tropical feel!

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