I recently ventured into Queensland (my third state in Australia!) for the first time for a long weekend in Hamilton Island. No, I did not see a certain hit Broadway musical while I was there. No, it’s not named after the same guy who’s on the $10USD bill. Yes, the primary mode of transportation on the island is golf cart.
Wait, you didn’t ask about the primary mode of transportation? Well, you should have. Hustling around the island in golf carts is way too much fun.
My trip partners were a couple of friends who work at Epic Melbourne with me. We arrived late morning on a Friday with a return flight booked for Monday afternoon, taking advantage of the Queen’s Birthday (a public holiday here). Contrary to a lot of the traveling that I’ve done in the past, I had nearly no plans for the trip. I hadn’t done much research about Hamilton Island. I was on the trip for exactly one reason: Alex and Alli invited me to join them.
Lucky for me, I happened to sit next to a couple on the airplane with Hamilton Island experience. Ray and Marie were in their late fifties and happy to chat me up once we got settled on our Qantas flight. After exchanging pleasantries (we have a son your age!), we took each other’s movie suggestions and very much enjoyed our flight (side note: Qantas gave us a substantial snack and back of the seat entertainment. In economy class. For free. They will be getting my business again). During the descent, Marie gave me several suggestions for keeping island activities. All of those suggestions turned out to be on point. As we parted ways at baggage claim, I thanked them for the recommendations and they said “no worries, see you around!” I thought to myself, “that’s a nice sentiment, but no you won’t.”
Two days later. Alli, Alex and I are walking to the infinity pool near the condo we’re renting.
“Hi Ray! Hi Marie!” I exclaim as we happened upon my flight-mates. Somehow, even though we had met just two days previous, it felt like we were old friends.
“How you going, Ben? How was the sunset paddle?” Ray replied, a smile on his face as he realised that he was correct to say “see you later” instead of “goodbye” in the airport.
Of course this conversation continued, but I won’t bore you with more details. This anecdote illustrates two things: 1. Australians are very friendly. It’s wonderful. I feel so welcome when I am out and about, whether it’s buying a coffee or shipping something at the post office. I’m used to Minnesota Nice, but there’s some passive-aggressiveness that comes with that. You might call this Australian Amiable? That doesn’t quite roll off the tongue but it gets the point across. 2. Hamilton Island is kind of a strange place. It’s so small that you see all of the same people all weekend. Cockatoos are everywhere. Everything (including the island itself) is privately owned. Outside of walking, the only mode of transport available is golf cart.
However, strange is fine with me when the sunset looks like this:
And when the available activities includes stand up paddleboarding on the ocean:
I feel like I need to be honest regarding the photo above: it was extremely difficult to take. There was some chop in the ocean that day and my balance is less than impressive. I took several unintentional, wave-induced dives into the water throughout the course of our paddleboarding experience.
In summary, my trip to Hamilton Island was lovely. It was nice to be able to soak up some sun during the surprisingly miserable Melbourne winter and I very much enjoyed how much relaxing we did. Let shift focus to my Melbourne life. You may have already heard the big news, (unless you’ve been living under a rock ;) ) but here it is anyway: my men’s league basketball team won the championship! Actually I probably shouldn’t call it a championship. Aussies call it a grand final. Let’s try again: my men’s league basketball team won the grand final! I told my teammates that this gave me the right to a cool title: international basketball champion. However, I was corrected with an even cooler title: intercontinental basketball champion. I can’t believe I sold myself short like that. In fact, I’ve been selling myself short since 2011 when me and the rest of the Londomers took home my first men’s league basketball title. Mostly because it's fun for me to reminisce, let’s take a quick look at where my basketball career has taken me:
The Londomers. Out of the 120 or so Notre Dame students who were studying abroad in London in the autumn of 2011, we found 7 who wanted to play in a local men's league. After all, we needed to stay sharp for Bookstore Basketball.
House of Curds. Combining one of the first Netflix original series and what Wisconsin does best, this team was very aptly named for a group of millennials living in Madison. This team was full of of (mostly) Epic employees who wanted to continue to live out their basketball-playing glory days.
Just Play Bears. We all signed up to ball separately with an organisation called Just Play, which is where the name comes from. They allow you to sign up as an individual for rec sports leagues and place you on a team. For autograph seekers out there, we can often be found at Littlefoot Bar enjoying a pint after games.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I need to finish up because I need to head to the first game of our new basketball season. Next time I'll fill you in on the Great Ocean Road, Sydney and possibly my trip to the US in early-mid July.
Ta!
Ben