My heart is full as I write this, as our missing piece is back in place: Jenna and her significant other Connor have joined us here in Australia! They left Atlanta on Thursday 10/30, changed planes in both LA and Sydney, and arrived today in Hamilton Island, Whitsundays in Queensland at 2:30 pm on 11/1! These loves have had a helluva few days of travel, and we are so grateful they got here safely and with on time and relatively smooth flights. I felt like my heart stopped today when I saw them walk into baggage claim- I was sooo happy to get them here, as this is the longest we’ve ever gone without seeing Jenna. Joy!!

Rob and I packed up and left our cute little Airlie Beach condo this morning and headed to the ferry station, where we caught our ferry to nearby Hamilton Island (HI). Hamilton Island sits in the Great Barrier Reef, and is a big travel spot for many Aussies, as well as being a recommendation from multiple friends back home. Immediately on arrival, we could see why everyone loves it. It is 2.9 square miles of gorgeous.

We are renting a VRBO condo here, and upon arrival we found a rep from the rental waiting for us at the docks with a sign with our names on it (felt like celebs!) . He took our luggage and showed us to our golf cart that comes with our rental (the whole island uses electric golf carts!) and showed us to our rental place. He explained to us all about the island, gave us a guide with all the places to eat, shop, and play on the island, and gave us info on the Hamilton Island app (!!) we can use to find out information and events and make reservations for things. Wow!!!

We LOVE our condo here! It so pretty and well thought out, has its own washer and dryer (which after weeks and weeks of travel, we SO appreciate), and has amazing views. We opened the door to our light-filled space, and the first thing we saw was a white cockatoo sitting on our porch railing, peering in the sliding glass doors at us!! 😍😂

We got our things settled in the condo, jumped in the golf cart, and made the big six minute commute to the airport to go pick up Jenna and Connor, who were arriving by plane. They were such troopers after all that travel, and were far more alert than we would have been!!! We all golf carted back to drop off their luggage, then to a late lunch and the grocery store for staples.

As we were driving around we realized Jenna (as always) brought her good animal juju with her, and we saw tons of birds and wallabies all over the island!! So cool!!

We took a nice walk on the beach near sunset, and Jenna and Connor managed to power through until after dinner before crashing. It was a really great day, and really perfect to be able to share his with them.

Thanks for adventuring with us!