This was published 14 years ago
Celebs and money: island in a spin
It's the first time I've ever paid attention to the in-flight safety presentation.
Bianca Dye, former radio jock of Nova 96.9 fm fame, is at the front of the plane giving the demonstration.
'Virgin Friend' Tania Zaetta.
Apparently, should something go wrong, I should place the oxygen mask over my breasts.
I gulp the last half of my champagne.
I am on flight 1283, the first Virgin Blue flight direct from Sydney to Hamilton Island in Queensland and a group of Australian celebrities - Dye, Mike Goldman, Deni Hines and Tanya Zaetta - called "Virgin Friends", have come along for the trip.
Some of them were also invited as guests on V Australia's inaugural flight to Los Angeles, although a spokeswoman for Virgin Blue declined to say whether or not the "Friends" are paid to attend.
My hopes of meeting an international celebrity are dashed when I am told that Ben Southall, the English guy with the Best Job in the World, will not be on Hamilton Island this week.
Apparently, he is on the mainland, opting to meet the premier over the boisterous Mike Goldman, from and .
I am however excited to travel with fashion guru Melissa Hoyer.
Having been shivering in a coat and scarf to sweating in a singlet over the space of an hour, I wonder if my shoes match my outfit - she puts my mind at rest, they're fine.
Phew.
Following a cruise around the Whitsunday Islands, the journalists are herded onto a mini-bus for a media tour of the many renovations and new constructions being erected on Hamilton.
The "Virgin Friends" however, zip off in golf buggies to soak up the sun.
We stop at the newly renovated Toucan Tango's, now given the classier, yet less hospitable name, Sails Restaurant and Veranda Bar.
My ears prick up as I process the words "explore" and "freetime", and I fling my shoes off and head for the beach.
I've missed the feeling of burying my feet beneath the sand during Sydney's winter months.
Parked beneath the shadow of palm trees, I wriggle my toes, inching them deeper and deeper into the cool, damp sand until only my ankles are visible.
This moment, disturbed seconds later, is the only time I spend on the beach on this tightly scheduled trip and we board the media bus again.
After financial woes in the 1990s which saw the island fall into receivership, Australian billionaire Robert Oatley, former owner of Rosemount wines and owner of Wild Oats (the wine label and the Sydney to Hobart-winning yacht), bought the island in 2003 for around $200 million, and has re-invested the same amount.
Hamilton Island is now under construction with a new yacht club, to cater for the island's yacht Race Week in August, as well as a new golf club and a recently built exclusive resort.
While I haven't been given the chance to gauge the culture of my surrounds, I quickly learn that money is what makes this place go round.
I question whether there is anything deeper than the dollar.
But as I walk into my room at the Reef View a large well-cushioned bed beckons. A spacious balcony overlooks the glistening Whitsunday waters and the view convinces me of the beauty of the place.
The water is calm, rippled by a subtle wind, rolling it rhythmically towards the shoreline rocks.
The sun hits the water so fiercely I clench my eyes shut and feel cool tears run down the sides of my over-heated face.
The water is dotted with mainly uninhabited islands, covered in dense bushland, the deepest shade of green.
They vary in size, shape and height and the smallest one I have seen yet is just hundreds of metres away from my hotel room.
I begin thinking of ways I could afford to buy it one day.
I put this dream into the same category as my childhood fantasy, of finding an injured koala and raising it as my own - never going to happen.
The day ends spectacularly, with fireworks, a performance by Deni Hines, and some well wishes from the Whitsunday Mayor Mike Brunker.
He concludes his welcome speech by hoping we all have "the s---s" on the flight home.
Only in Queensland.
IF YOU GO:
For details on Hamilton Island and accommodation: visit http://www.hamiltonisland.com.au/.
Or call: 13-73-33 or vacationhamiltonisland.com.au.
For details on Virgin Blue's direct flight from Sydney to Hamilton Island visit: http://www.virginblue.com.au/.
Or call: 13-67-89.
For details on the Reef View Hotel: visit: http://www.hamiltonisland.com.au/default.asp?action-article&ID-609.
Accommodation rates at the Reef View Hotel range from $330-$1250 per night.
The writer was a guest of Virgin Blue, Hamilton Island and the Reef View Hotel.
AAP
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