Posted on 17th January 2019

 

As the ultimate 4-stroke outboard brand, Suzuki Marine are no strangers when it comes to helping our customers venture to some of the ultimate bucket list destinations throughout Australia and around the world as their outboard power of choice.

Right now, we're giving one lucky customer the chance to win a trip to one of the ultimate holiday destinations – Hamilton Island – with our current It pays to keep it real service promotion.

The prize includes flights, accommodation for 4 nights, $200 Visa Prepaid Gift Card and adventure day package with Hamilton Island Watersports for two adults and two children.

As one of the largest of the Whitsunday Islands located in the Great Barrier Reef, Hamilton Island is home to crystal clear water, spectacular scenery and Instagram-worthy backdrops you have to see to truly believe. With the famed white sand of Whitehaven Beach a boat ride away and the reef at your door step to explore, you’ll never be short on fun and adventurous things to do.

One person who knows what it’s like to tick off a location from their bucket list is Suzuki Marine customer Ben Hay from NSW.

Ben was the grand prize winner when the service promotion was first run from November 2017 to March 2018, after servicing his outboard with his local dealer, In Tune Marine, during the promotion.

Ben's prize was a 7-day Kimberley adventure cruise aboard True North for two people. An avid fisherman and a long-time Suzuki customer, Ben had travelled to the area in his youth and knew he always wanted to return and see more. After finding out he was the lucky winner, there was no hesitation as to who would be accompanying him on the amazing adventure, his 12-year-old son Tom, also a keen fisherman.

Ben and Tom recently embarked on their True North trip and shared their experience with us on their return home.

SM: You’ve recently returned from your True North Barra Bonanza adventure cruise, can you tell us what some of the highlights were from your trip?

Ben: The trip was all about the fishing experience for us and taking in the amazing scenery along the way. The most memorable fishing moments were my son [Tom], who is aged 12 [years] catching a 25kg Giant trevally and a 25kg Spanish mackerel. The barramundi we caught and the amazing amount of species and diversity that fishing in the Kimberley has to offer, you never knew what you were going to catch next! Another highlight was seeing some rock art that was newly discovered on that trip and being amongst the first modern day people to ever see it.

SM: You and Tom are both avid fishermen – was this the sort of trip you’d always wanted to do? Have you ever visited that part of Australia previously?

Ben: Yes, I always dreamed of a trip like that. I visited the Kimberley in my youth with my parents by road and it is limited to where you can get into. My family always said how amazing it would be to cruise it by mothership and see so much more of the remote coastline.

SM: How did you prepare for your trip after hearing you’d won the prize?

Ben: We were very excited about the trip and decided to take our own fishing gear. Because we do a lot of fishing we are very particular about having the correct equipment and we were not sure what the fishing gear aboard True North would be like. As it turned out, the True North had plenty of quality fishing tackle for us to use but we enjoyed using our own lures and gear anyway.

SM: What was it like onboard the True North vessel?

Ben: The True North vessel amazed me. It is such a well planned, perfectly designed vessel for adventuring the Kimberley. It has a very shallow draught to allow it to go into the rivers and bays that other vessels of similar size and comfort couldn’t possibly go. The internal layout is like a five star resort and quite often when we were moored in the pristine calm waters, it was easy to forget you were actually aboard a boat. The engine room and vessel itself is the cleanest, well kept and maintained boat I’ve ever seen and the whole crew were amazing people who you could tell loved their job and gave it everything they had to make it the best experience it could be. Can’t give the [True North] crew and the whole business enough praise for ticking all the boxes and going above and beyond with every detail.

SM: Even though you were on the “Barra Bonanza” cruise, were there some other species of fish you were keen to reel in?

Ben: Yes the Kimberley is renowned for its diverse and plentiful amount of species. We were really excited to catch many of the species on offer and barramundi were the bonus. Mangrove jacks were in plague numbers as were queenfish and trevally and Fingermark bream. We caught so many different species – that’s the type of fishing I find most enjoyable. You just never know what’s coming in next.

SM: Between yourself and Tom, who won the bragging rights and caught the most fish?

Ben: My son [Tom] definitely won bragging rights to landing the biggest fish with his Giant trevally and Spanish mackerel, but I managed to catch the most barramundi. Neither of us were ever struggling to get a fish!

SM: Tom – were your school mates pretty jealous that you got to go on such a cool trip?

Tom: Yes, they were firstly jealous of myself getting ten days off school and when they saw my photos they were amazed [that] I could get those big fish in. I couldn’t even lift up my Mackerel!

SM: What’s next for you in terms of adventures with your Suzuki-powered boat, now that you’re home?

Ben: The trip has motivated me more than ever to do my own trip to the top end, tow the boat up with Tom and catch some barra[mundi]. Barramundi are a highly addictive fish and understandably our premier sport fish. We have been doing heaps of bass fishing in the Hunter Valley impoundments and a few trips to the Queensland impoundments in search of Barramundi and bass are high on the list also. Thanks again to Suzuki and True North for an amazing experience and also to In Tune Marine at Long Jetty for great service of my Suzuki outboard and all things boating.

If you’d like to be like Ben and Tom and experience a truly magical getaway, simply service your Suzuki Marine outboard with your local authorised Suzuki service dealer before 31 March 2019 to go in to the draw. The family Hamilton Island getaway is valued at $6,500. The runner up will receive free servicing for five years, valued up to $5,230. For full details and terms and conditions, visit the It pays to keep it real service promotion news page or book a service with your authorised dealer today.

Note: images supplied by True North

 

---