Hamilton Island During COVID Restrictions

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For the last five years, our Sunshine Coast family of five longed to visit Hamilton Island, but either the timing was wrong or accommodation was always fully booked well in advance. This year, with QLD state border closures and restrictions, our lucky stars were definitely shining on us. We had our pick of accommodation. This was the first green light. Furthermore, our teenagers didn't have any exams in the last week of Term 3 at high school. This was the second green light. It was also the last week of non-peak prices before school holidays commenced. This was the third green light. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance and booked 4 nights/5 days at Bluewater Views 11 Hamilton Island holiday home costing $2200. The stars were truly aligned in our favour. Unfortunately, return airfares from Brisbane would have cost us $3000, so we decided to drive up to Port of Airlie instead. Then it was a quick one hour ferry ride (about $500 return) courtesy of Cruise Whitsundays before we landed plonk in the middle of paradise.

A young man greeted my husband by name as we walked up the ferry jetty with luggage in tow, but somehow he completely ignored the rest of us. It wasn't like I was expecting to be greeted by Ricardo Montalban from Fantasy Island (one of my favourite TV shows when I was growing up). Call me old fashioned, but people generally like to be acknowledged, especially when visiting new places and especially after spending lots of money to get there ... and especially when it was my money! Sadly, this was not the only incident where a staff member was lacking in customer service skills. Even on our departure, we received not even a single farewell from staff and we were the only family leaving the Island on that day. (Managers take note, train up your staff to be courteous to guests).

Feeling kind of deflated, I watched another young man instruct my husband how to use a golf buggy all in one breath. Interestingly, my husband told him that he had never used one before. But that didn't deter the young man to give us a few seconds of his precious time. At this point, I thought it was odd that there were no other guests arriving at the same time as us and yet we were somehow not even given the time of day to learn how to use the golf buggy (which was a complimentary bonus with our holiday home accommodation). The young man vanished and another two staff members took our luggage in a van and drove it up to our holiday home. Then I realised that I wasn't going to fit in the buggy as it only has four seatbelts. I watched my husband drive off with my kids and waited for his return. Half an hour later it was my turn to have a buggy ride. There were so many streets, no wonder my husband got lost along the way to pick me up.

Then to top it off, Sails Restaurant rang my husband's mobile to let us know that the free kids meal burger that we ordered one week ago would not be available. So we had to cancel our dinner reservation, as my youngest is a very fussy eater. At this stage, I was thinking SCAM. But when I saw the view from the oversized balcony, all my negative emotions just drifted away. The calming serenity of turquoise water, majestic palm trees and distant islands put me back into my happy place. It was truly mesmerizing. Even the faint sound of a baby crying and the neighbour's loud heavy rock music didn't bother me. High ceilings and an enormous tiled lounge area framed this incredible ocean view which was the focal point of the home.

The property also has a lovely saltwater lap pool, but the water was so cold that I could only do six laps before I needed to get out and jump straight into a hot shower. The queen-sized beds were extremely comfortable but the fridge would make incredibly loud noises at night which woke me up several times on the first and second nights. On the third night, I gave the fridge a nudge every time the noise woke me up. On the fourth night, my nudging did the trick and there were no more noises. I slept like a log.

The full-sized kitchen was extremely convenient, but the oven didn't heat up in the middle and took ages and so I could only use the top grill to heat food such as oven fries. There weren't that many eateries open because of COVID restrictions, so we ended up eating lots of yummy pizzas from Pizzeria and Gelato Bar, and bistro food from the Marina Tavern. Breakfast items were purchased from the IGA and Bob's Bakery at the Marina.

When you think about it, a property is like a human partner. It's not until you actually live with the person, that you find out about their quirks and faults. Even though the property had views of the ocean, there wasn't anything luxurious about its contents. This observation could be applied wherever we went on the Island.

But the most annoying things about the Blue Water Views 11 property were:

The noisy fan which automatically turns on when the light is switched on in the two bathrooms.
The toilet flush buttons are really small and we had to get a plumber to replace the flush buttons in the kids bathroom because they got stuck.
The L-shaped lounge suite has one part which didn't face the TV. It would have been better to put a second TV in the main bedroom.
No mirror in the walk-in-robes.
No dish rack to dry dishes.
No complimentary shampoo/conditioner or hand sanitiser.


The best things about the property were:

Sunbaking in private on the sun lounges on the balcony to catch the western sun.
A bathtub to soak your sore legs from doing all those water sports and exercise.
A cold lap pool to numb your sore legs from doing all that exercise.
Super spacious.
The gorgeous view from the balcony when eating your breakfast.
Wall mounted air conditioners in the lounge and main bedroom.
Heaps of towels and beach towels.
A laundry to do all your washing.


Hamilton Island is one of those rare places where you can do as much or as little as you want. It caters for most tastes and is perfect for families and couples alike. Besides tennis, hiking, kayaking, snorkelling, windsurfing and catamaraning, you can also book tours to other islands, jet ski tours, and sunset cruises. Unfortunately, the water sport activities need certain weather conditions before they will let you go out during high tide, so it's best to book multiple days of accommodation.

Catseye Beach is the perfect spot to laze away on white plastic sun lounge chairs and netted hammocks under the shade of tall tropical palm trees. Nature lovers will adore the bushwalking, gardens (snakes, lizards, kangaroos, magpies, cockatoos, and green ants) and the beach at low tide (where there aren't any rocks) is where you can spot small hermit crabs scuttling across the sandy shore. Opportunities for photography are endless except for when the weather is windy and overcast which was almost every day.

Tips for families when holidaying on Hamilton Island:

Bring gaming devices for kids to play with on the ferry.
Fill empty spaces in your luggage with extra toilet paper.
Bring your favourite food items that you know you won't be able to get from IGA.
Make sure your kids know how to drag their luggage suitcases behind them in an orderly fashion. You don't want to look like the noobs we saw arriving on the Island on the day of our departure with their kids falling all over the place.
No need to bring wads of cash as shops were only accepting credit card payments "for your health and safety."
Bring binoculars so you can get an even better view.



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