Life Down Under: Hamilton Island

We had the chance to take a vacation this year like none we've ever experienced before. We shared our adventures with our friends the O'Keeffe family. There were 11 of us in total so we ended up staying in a private residence on Hamilton Island in Queensland.

First let me tell you about Hamilton Island (I'd never heard of it until we moved here). It is part of Queensland's 74 Whitsunday Islands, check it out at: hamiltonisland.com.au. There is an airport and you fly right onto the island. When we landed it kinda reminded me of a cross between Disneyland's Adventureland & the island on Jurassic Park. There is a little marina with shops & restaurants. I'd never been to a tropical climate before, so it was super fun to experience humidity, heat, rain & geckos all at the same time!

There are only golf carts allowed on the island, no cars for tourists. We stayed at utopialand.com.

Our home away from home, while we're away from home!

This was The Clark Bungalow

Our own private pool in the compound!

We spent the first few days decompressing & just hanging out around the house & heading down the hill (always in shifts because we all couldn't fit on one golf cart) to the beach & swim in the resort pool.

Dan down at the Marina feeding the birds

Dan feeding a cockatoo after a workout

Cute little Chapel on the island

Checking out the Marina

The weather was warm & humid, yet it drizzled & rained. Not much sun those first few days & I worried if we were ever going to see the sun. So we ate our brains out instead! We made homemade pizzas in the pizza oven, Tracy & Mike taught us how to do a proper TimTam Slam (we'd been doing it wrong with cold milk!). We played the spoon game, a new favourite of ours & Tracy even prepared a menu & made beautiful lunches & dinners. One of my favourite dishes she made was an Open Faced Beef Kofta...yum!

Recipe for Beef Koftas

Open Faced Beef Koftas

Make up mix and keep in fridge until needed – serves 2

1 T coriander seeds

1 T cumin seeds

2 T olive oil

4 shallots, thinly sliced

1 garlic, thinly sliced

500g minced topside beef

1 lemon, zest only

1 egg

5T soft white breadcrumbs

1 T wholegrain mustard

2 Pitta bread

small red onion

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

2 baby cucumber

Greek yogurt

1 bunch coriander

fried shallots

Heat a dry frying pan over a medium heat and toast the coriander and cumin seeds for 3-4 minutes, shaking the pan frequently, until aromatic. Tip into a mortar and grind until fine with a pestle.

Return the frying pan to a low heat and add half of the olive oil. Fry the shallots and garlic for 3-4 minutes, or until softened but not coloured. Spoon into a bowl and chill in the fridge until cooled. In a bowl, combine the mince, lemon zest, egg, breadcrumbs, mustard, the shallot and garlic mixture and ground spices. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix until well combined. Preheat the grill to medium-high.

Spread the beef mixture over the pitta, pressing into a thin layer, leaving a 1cm border around the edge of the bread. Heat the remaining olive oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat, then add the pitta bread and cook for one minute, or until the underside of the pitta is just beginning to brown. Transfer the pan to the grill and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the beef is golden-brown and cooked through. Meanwhile, finely slice the onion into a bowl using a mandolin. Season with salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Thinly slice the cucumbers on an angle and place into a bowl. Season with salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. To serve, slide the kofta from the pan onto a serving plate. Spread a line of Greek yogurt across the beef, then top with the onion, cucumber, coriander and deep-fried shallots.

Pizza oven where Michael & Dan slaved for hours...

Down the stairs for a bite to eat...

BLT's with Tracy & Mick

Back up the stairs to burn off the BLT!

One day half of our group ventured down the beach for a walk, while the rest of us stayed back at the beach for swims in the ocean & pool. The first group discovered hundreds of hermit crabs along the shore, while the other group discovered that Lizzy had been stung by several jellyfish! Unfortunately for Jacinta, she had been stung the day before, so we knew what to expect. Lizzy was back to normal within the hour!

Hermit crabs along the shore

Hundreds of hermit crabs along the water line on the shore

Lizzy recuperating with an icy-pole and a bag of ice for her jellyfish stings.

As the days slowly grew more sunny we explored more around the island. Michael & Dan went golfing at Hamilton Island Golf Club, hamiltonislandgolfclub.com.au, and saw Australia's 3rd most deadly snake, The Coastal Taipan. It slithered across the front of the green on hole #2!

The rest of us went to visit the little wildlife zoo on the island, wild-life.com.au. It was a small zoo with only Australian animals, but the best zoo experience I've ever had! Because there were so few of us, we got great personal attention. This place was awesome! We got to hold koala's & snakes (not me) & you can go back as many times as you like with the purchase of one admission. We saw a crocodile, koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, skinks, snakes, cockatoos, dingoes etc. Definitely a must do if you ever get to Hamilton Island. BTW this is the place that Oprah went to while she stayed here on Hamilton Island.

Willy the Koala with Ben

Willy n Hannah

Me, Willy & Lizzy

Hippo the Wombat!

Hippo the wombat

Croc

Wallabies

Michael & Dan

View from the golf course

Michael O'Keeffe

After experiencing the koalas, I thought that would be the best part of our trip, but I was wrong! The day before we left we decided that since we were so close to the Great Barrier Reef it would be foolish not to see it. So off we went with cruisewhitsundays.com for the day to snorkel the GBR. We took a big boat out to a permanent pontoon located at Hardy Reef on the GBR. They have everything you need on the pontoon, snorkel gear, stinger suits (just in case it's jellyfish season), a slide that dumps you right into the ocean & they feed you lunch too! We were all a bit excited to snorkel, but had never done it before. Lizzy was amazing, she had so much fun! I did too, I just couldn't get enough & hope I get the chance to snorkel in warm water again. It wasn't just a physical experience for me, it was emotional as well & I was very aware of how fortunate we were to have this experience together as a family. It's those bonding moments that we will remember forever & I'm so glad we did it!