1/ Catseye Beach 2,24,29,30,31/ Whitehaven Beach (wearing Lover bikini) 3,4,18,19,23/ Ferry whitewater 5/ Early morning shooting by Catseye Beach 6/ Potentially the cockatoo who stole my Lover bikini top! 7,8,28/ Catseye Beach (wearing Lover bikini top I used to own…) 9/ Le Specs showing me permanent sunset skies 10/ Sunrise 11,25/ Weekend read (wearing Zimmermann bikini, Michael Kors watch, Karen Walker sunglasses) 12/ Qualia’s poolside 13,14/ My first oysters at Qualia 15/ White crochet details (wearing Zimmermann dress, Jacquie Aiche rings) 16,17/ Beachside with my boy 20/ Embracing the blue skies 21/ Early morning shooting (wearing Lover skirt, Asos dress) 22/ White sandals 26/ Five minute dip! (wearing Zimmermann bikini) 27/ Incredible sunrise 32/ HappiJess!
Do you ever have one of those endless, exhausting days that leave you feeling empty…. only to reflect and think “hmm, it wasn’t too bad”. I always try and live life reminding myself what is valuable- what is worth worrying about and letting pass. I know this all too well with travelling by myself, to never have too many expectations, and the only thing to expect is for things to go wrong, which they will. But sometimes, once a year or so the rationality slips away and just leaves you drained.
Missing our flight from Melbourne to Hamilton Island by 10 minutes was completely my fault reading the ticket’s time wrong. There was only one flight per day, and the next day’s was full. I initially thought I would write a longer rant about it but in summary- after no help from airline or hotel staff we flew to Brisbane, flew to Mackay, hired a car and road tripped to Airlie Beach, renting a random room at 10pm and boarding the ferry 7am ferry to Hamilton Island.
This would all be fine, but with extremely limited time to spend together, it was costing us more than (way too much!!) money. Looking back just the next day while we were finally enjoying our 48 hours on the island I remember thinking “well, that was worth it.” Just like the corny quotes that fill my room poetically point out; travelling isn’t about being and staying somewhere, but the ability to adapt to a changing route and ending up enjoying it. And at least I got to unexpectedly show off some other parts of Australia that I hadn’t seen yet either!
It was my first time to Hamilton Island and it definitely has the soaking sunshine, clear blue waters I was longing for, with easy access to the Great Barrier Reef and all Whitsunday Islands. Apart from finally being able to spend time together, realising a cockatoo stole my bikini top was definitely the highlight!