We'd been given some vouchers from Jetstar and spent on them on sale fares to Hamilton Island. Then we saw how expensive accommodation was up there.

Watched prices and eventually snagged a reef view apt at Whitsunday Apts for $270/night on Wotif.

So convenient being able to fly from Brisbane straight to Hamilton. Free transfer to the apartments.

Check in took all of two minutes and we went up to our 12th floor apartment. Walked in the door and wow!!!! What a view - down onto Catseye Beach and across to Whitsunday Island and up the channel towards the open reef. Amazing.

Unlike some other reviews the apartment was spotless apart from an incredibly dusty bathroom flyscreen (that I cleaned). Big living and dining room and huge bedroom. Would be a great place with a couple of little kids and maybe even four close friends. Would then make the apartment cheap. Only things that would improve the apartment were mesh flyscreen doors out onto the balcony (like securimesh so the cockatoos couldn't eat through it and a window that could be opened in the bedroom. Not big aircon fans but even in late October we needed it on. The apartments had a beautiful pool that was little used, I suppose everyone was across the road at the beach or in one of the beachside pools.

You can have breakfast at the Reef View next door, or at the restaurant in the main resort building down on the beach (next to the pool where the dolphins were once so cruelly kept). Good buffets but expensive. And that's pretty much the theme on Hamilton. They have a captive audience so they charge like wounded bulls. For everything. The grocery store charged some amazing prices. Could understand if we'd been 50 or 100 miles off shore but we're minutes away from Airlie Beach.

That being said we knew that and what it cost we spent - the tavern, groceries, evening meals. OK for us but it's not somewhere you'd what to go on a tight budget.

Went to Whitehaven with Reef Ryder and had a great morning.

Dinner at Bommies one night - beautiful meal but my god it was expensive. Bit too pretentious but then maybe it's aimed at specifically at the Qualia crowd.

We will go back to Hamilton because we loved our long weekend and we will be going straight back to Whitsunday apartments. Great staff, great location, great apartment.