the great escape

I just had to get away. If I had to spend one more day locked inside with a screaming baby because of the rain I was sure I would do something that would see me on the six o’clock news that night. My husband suggested a tropical escape but I did not want to be on a plane more than three hours with said baby. Lucky for me, my husband is not a native and remarked: “Why do you Aussies always fly to Fiji when you’ve got the Whitsundays right here?”

I told him about the great Australian myth that it’s cheaper to fly to Fiji than to Queensland but Jetstar’s website soon sorted me out. I was amazed at how cheap I could get to Hamilton Island. We got a great family deal at Club Croc on Long Island and a few days later I was in heaven. No cooking. No cleaning. No bills. No phone calls. Just me, my family and a five-metre walk to the beach.

I lay in bed looking out at the turquoise water through green palm trees on my fresh white sheets and decided I was never going home. Or getting up. But the buffet breakfast with pancakes and fresh fruit followed by a swim in the ocean made it worth the effort.

I could have gone to the reef or gone sailing or kayaking or some other exciting activity but all I wanted to do was nothing! Lie, sleep, eat, swim. I’m an old-school backpacker who’s used to fitting a whole country in before lunch. I never knew doing nothing could be so sexy.

Hubby had bought one of those inflatable rings for bub and he just bobbed around the pool as we bobbed around the pool bar drinking cocktails. Even feeding bub (who’s not so sure about solid foods yet) was a picturesque fantasy. Later on, the lorikeets came down to feed out of our hand and after dinner we walked back to our room along the beach as the sun went down. With bub in bed, we sat out on our porch and watched the wallabies jump by and got to know our neighbours over a few takeaways and late-night nachos.

We were only gone a few days but it felt like a lifetime and my “angry mother syndrome” got washed away by those beautiful blue waters. I’m now slightly obsessed with Jetstar and have become a Jetmail subscriber. We’re off to Surfers Paradise next on a AU$19 fare!

How to Win:
If you’ve travelled Jetstar to/from or within Australia in the past year, we’d love to hear from you! Send in your 500-word holiday story from any Jetstar destination and six of your best holiday snaps. The winning entry will be published in the July issue of JETSTAR Magazine and win 2 JetSaver return tickets flying Jetstar between your closest port and a direct Jetstar operated port. It’s that easy! Send your travel story and pictures to writerscomp@jetstar.com

Terms & Conditions:
Entry submissions must be received by the 8th of the month. Maximum prize value is AU$756 based on 2 return flights from Adelaide to Cairns. Entrants must be Australian residents. Ink Publishing reserves the right to edit the winning submission and the judges decision is final. Employees of Jetstar Airways and Ink Publishing are not eligible to enter. For full terms and conditions, please visit www.jetstar.com/writerscomp