Truly Paradise

I was incredibly glad that Manon had invited me to go to Hamilton Island.  The island was a unique paradise.  It was every bit the tropical paradise that I had always imagined as a child.

Growing up, my family wasn't very well off.  We weren't poor, but money was still tight.  The idea of international travel wasn't really something I ever considered.  In those days, the idea of international travel was one that was very much limited to the wealthy or as a "once in a lifetime" trip.  In fact, it was very common for people to have never traveled overseas at all or to only have the opportunity to travel overseas once after retirement.  People would often save up their entire lives for the opportunity to go overseas.  Times were very different then.  Flights were extremely expensive and there really wasn't the same variety of options which exist today.  Discount airlines weren't around and there weren't a plethora of websites available to help people get better prices.  Instead, most people would have simple holidays down the coast.  We would stay at holiday homes of friends or at short term rentals a few hours drive away.  Sometimes, we would visit friends and family in other cities and even that would often involve long drives.  I remember we once went to the Gold Coast for a holiday as part of a work conference my dad was attending.  The entire trip was booked through a travel agent and much of the information we had been provided was wrong.

In those days, a trip to Queensland, in particular to the Whitsunday Islands was a dream holiday.  I remember my mum would sometimes bring back travel brochures of the Great Barrier Reef and we would all think about whether it was possible for us to one day go and visit.  We looked at the pictures of the luxurious accommodation and the incredible beaches and dreamed.  That dream trip never happened for us, but times changed and we were able to have some great trips after we moved to Singapore.

Being on Hamilton Island felt like a throwback to those childhood days.  The place still looked very much like the photos I looked at when I was young.  Cheap global travel has left places like Hamilton Island a bit behind the curve and it no longer has the same luxury appeal that it had back when I was young.  There's been a lack of capital investment, so everything looks a bit dated and even retro.

It was still beautiful.  If anything, I felt like the older style meant that I was able to enjoy this place as I would have had I come when I was a kid.  It was still the tropical paradise that I dreamed that it would be sitting in the cold house in Melbourne with my family.  The sun was warm and the breeze was cool.  The beaches were wide and people everywhere laughed as they swam and paddled in the water.  I could have stayed there for weeks longer if I had the chance.  Being here felt like completing a puzzle, or finally finding something you had lost a long time ago.  I felt like that little kid again, looking at the pictures with my family.