Tag: Whitehaven Beach

Back to the Whitsundays

Returning to Airlie Beach for more time exploring the beautiful Whitsundays

It had only been a week since I wave goodbye to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays but I’d seen and done so much since, including visits to Townsville and Magnetic Island, Cairns and Tully Gorge National Park, it felt like a lifetime ago.

Yesterday, I had joined a flexi-tour traveling down Australia’s east coast from Cairns to Sydney with Loka Travel and had found myself one of just two passengers on the Tully leg of the trip.

My private hostel room at Base, Airlie Beach

Having survived a night of camping by Tully River, we were now on the train with our Loka guide heading south towards Proserpine, the stop for Airlie Beach. Along the way, we stopped at Townsville station where my Tully travel buddy hopped off to spend a few days on Magnetic Island. Having visited Townsville and Magnetic Island just days earlier, I was opting to continue on to spend 2 nights in Airlie Beach where despite my recent visit, there was more I wanted to see and do.

Racing across the waves with Ocean Rafting

At Townsville, we were joined by more Loka travellers who, having spent a few days on Magnetic Island, were now also heading to Airlie but I was disappointed to find the majority of them were departing on a multi-day sailing trip through the Whitsundays the next morning and no one else was signed up to the Ocean Rafting excursion I’d opted to book from the Loka website for the next day.

Despite the ‘small group’ aspect of the tour really not working out for me so far, I was hopeful that there would at least be other solo travellers on the tour the next day that I could hang out with!

Turtles! My dodgy photo taken with an old skool underwater camera…

It was a long journey on the train to Proserpine and once there, our guide helped us find the bus service to Airlie then check in at Base hostel. I’d opted to book a private en-suite room, feeling the last thing I’d need after a night camping would be a noisy hostel dorm but I was surprised to find I’d been allocated a large family room with double bed, bunks and small, basic kitchenette all to myself!

It was already late evening so after grabbing food from McDonalds, I had an early night to catch up on my sleep before the early start the next day.

Swimming with the fishes

The next morning, I made my way to Coral Sea Marina to check in for my Ocean Rafting tour. Despite the Camira sail boat taking us to Whitehaven Beach on my last trip to Airlie and the Whitsundays, it hadn’t taken us to Hill Inlet, part of the beach I really wanted to see so today I’d booked a tour which I knew included this stop.

At check in, I soon got talking to the few other solo travellers on the tour and we spent the day hanging out together on the boat and at Whitehaven.

A more professional Go Pro photo of a turtle!

In complete contrast to the sedate, relaxing day spent on Camira a week earlier, the Ocean Rafting tour was a lot more energetic as the boat raced across the waves, bouncing us around and leaving us hanging on tightly as we headed out past the Whitsunday Islands.

Like on the Camira sailing trip, we made a few stops before reaching Whitehaven to snorkel on the reef.

After only seeing one so far on my trip, I was really excited on the first stop to find us swimming alongside lots of huge turtles!

Arriving on Whitsunday Island to about to walk to Hill Inlet Overlook

Finally reaching Whitsunday Island just before lunch, we took a walk to Hill Inlet Lookout and it was definitely worth the wait. The view of the huge expanse of white silica sand and the turquoise ocean glistening in the sun before us was absolutely breath-taking.

From the overlook, we then followed the path down to the beach where a buffet lunch was waiting for us.

  • The view from Hill Inlet Overlook
  • Walking along the beach at Hill Inlet
Above, and below, enjoying Whitsunday Island

After lunch and some free time to enjoy the beach, we climbed back on board our Ocean Rafting boat to speed across the waves back to Airlie Beach.

Arriving back mid-afternoon, I spent a bit more time hanging out with the other solo travellers from the Ocean Rafting trip shopping, sat out by Airlie Lagoon and then grabbing a pizza for dinner.

That evening, I went out to the hostel bar. My Loka guide had messaged to say a north-bound Loka group was passing through Airlie so we all went for drinks and karaoke!

On a kayak tour looking for turtles

After a late night out, I was up early again the next morning for a turtle-spotting kayak tour. I had seen the activity advertised while I was in Airlie Beach a week earlier but it had been fully booked then so I’d booked well in advance to be able to do it this time around.

After checking out and storing my luggage, I was picked up from the hostel by the kayak company and dropped at Shute Harbour where I was paired up with another participant, decked out in safety gear and given a quick lesson in paddling.

Then we climbed into our kayaks to begin our adventure.

Pit stop at an island on the kayaking tour

We hadn’t gone far before we saw our first turtle bobbing up to the surface and swimming past us.

Kayaking back to Airlie Beach

As we continued to kayak out towards an island we were going to dock at, we passed a few more turtles. Eventually reaching the island, we pulled our kayaks ashore and hiked the short distance to a cabin where we had drinks and biscuits. After, we were given some free time on the beach with snorkel gear provided if we wanted to swim.

Back in our kayaks, we paddled back to Airlie Beach, excited to see yet more turtles swimming near the surface along the way.

Looking back at Airlie Beach from Bicentennial Walkway, and below, views along the walkway

It had been a fun but tiring morning. I still had a few hours before we were departing Airlie Beach that evening so after grabbing lunch from a cafe, I decided to take a walk along the Bicentennial Walkway. The pathway runs along the seafront past some of Airlie’s harbours, beaches and parks and I followed it as far as the Whitsunday Shopping Centre at Cannonvale.

After a quick look around, I returned to Airlie Beach and spent some time relaxing by the lagoon before retrieving my luggage from the hostel and going to meet my Loka guide ready to continue my journey southbound.

I had loved returning to Airlie Beach and getting to do some of the things I’d not had time to fit in on my last visit but now I was looking forward to visiting somewhere new – Emu Park.

The Whitsundays

After spending New Year in Sydney, I was now on a road trip up the coast of tropical Queensland to Cairns.

Having arrived in Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsundays a few days earlier, we had spent the last few days exploring the local area and now planned on using Airlie as our base for getting out into the Whitsunday Islands themselves.

On the Cruise Whitsundays boat to the Great Barrier Reef

We had pre-booked a package ticket giving us access to 3 days worth of excursions – a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, a one day island-hopping ticket to use at our own leisure and a full day sailing trip through the Whitsundays on a catamaran – and had booked to do them on consecutive days in that order.

Spotting a clown fish on the reef

So today, we were up early to walk down to the Port of Airlie, home of Cruise Whitsundays. Here, we checked in and boarded a Cruise Whitsundays boat which would be dropping passengers off at Hamilton Island before continuing on to Knuckle Reef pontoon docked at the Great Barrier Reef. The boat ride itself was thrilling, speeding through the ocean past all the Whitsundays Islands.

Once at the pontoon, we had the day to spend at leisure – snorkelling the reef, viewing the reef from the underwater observatory, taking a ride out on the semi-submersible for a guided commentary on the reef or just enjoying the sunshine from the deck. A buffet style lunch was also included.

  • Snorkling at Knuckle Reef
  • Wanda the Wrasse

There were some optional extras such as Go Pro hire and scuba diving sessions and we had decided to book the guided snorkel safari. On the boat out to the reef, we were talked through the procedures for this and told where to meet and at what time once on board the pontoon – it would take place right after we arrived so we’d then have the rest of the day to explore ourselves.

Looking out from the pontoon

After arriving at the pontoon, we were supplied with snorkelling equipment and ‘stinger suits’ – a thin full body suit to protect us from any jellyfish in the water then went to meet our guide for the snorkel safari. There was just a small group of us on the safari and we were taken out to look at sections of the coral while our guide explained a bit about what we were seeing and some of the fish that lived there.

We also got to meet Wanda, the areas resident Maori Wrasse, a huge but very friendly fish!

On the snorkel safari, and throughout the day, Cruise Whitsundays team members took photos of us and the reef which we later had the option of purchasing.

  • A slide from the pontoon into the ocean!
  • On the underwater observation deck

After our snorkel safari, it was time for lunch – a selection of cold meats, salad, bread and pasta which we could help ourselves too. We then took a trip out on the semi-submarine before spending the rest of the day snorkelling at our leisure. In the blink of an eye, the day was over and it was time to board the boat back to Airlie Beach.

On Hamilton Island

The next day, we were back at the Port of Airlie and the Cruise Whitsundays terminus once again. Today we would be using our Island-hopping ticket starting with a boat trip out to Hamilton Island. We planned to spend the morning there and a couple of hours to explore before we had our scenic flight over the Whitsundays booked.

After that, we planned to hop on a boat over to Daydream Island where we would spend the afternoon before returning to Airlie Beach.

Catseye Beach, and below, views from One Tree Hill

Arriving on Hamilton Island, we began exploring finding our way to Catseye Beach. From here, we walked along to the village then up to One Tree Hill where we enjoyed the beautiful views from its lookout.

Wandering back down to the village, we then made our way to the airfield to check in for our Hamilton Air scenic flight.

On board a small aircraft for a scenic flight over the Whitsundays, and below, views from the flight

Boarding a small aircraft with just 2 other couples, we were very excited but the flight exceeded even our expectations. It was perfect weather with mainly blue skies and just a few small clouds as we soared above the many Whitsunday Islands and out across the Great Barrier Reef.

Highlights included seeing Heart Reef, where the coral has naturally formed into a heart shape, and flying over Hill Inlet, an amazing stretch of white silica sand and crystal clear waters. The flight was definitely worth every penny!

Once back on land, we returned to the Hamilton Island Cruise Whitsundays terminal and caught the next boat over to Daydream Island.

Arriving on Daydream Island

Arriving just after 2pm, it was past our lunchtime and we were pretty hungry but we struggled to find somewhere to eat.

Daydream Island

The kiosks at the main resort stopped serving its hot snacks of pizza slices and burgers at 2 so we’d just missed out. We eventually found a restaurant open further along the island near its Mermaid sculptures and ended up paying slightly more than we’d have liked for a sit down pizza meal!

Mermaid Beach
A kangaroo wandering through Daydream Island, and below, exploring the island

After lunch, we walked down to Mermaid Beach to get photos with the three mermaid sculptures then spent the rest of the afternoon following some of the island’s trails past its resort hotels, along the coast,through rainforest and out to some of its small bays before catching the boat back to Airlie Beach.

Above, and below, sailing on Camira

For our final day in the Whitsundays, we had booked a full-day sailing adventure on Camira, a distinctive purple catamaran. Unfortunately, we had awoken to overcast skies and while it was still warm, it took the shine off cruising past all the Whitsunday Islands a bit.

A quick stop for some snorkling

After sailing out past some of the Whitsunday islands, the boat docked for a while to give us the chance to get out into the water and snorkel. We were provided with stinger suits and snorkeling equipment and it was fun to get out on the reef again and snorkel.

Dark clouds as we sail through the Whitsundays
Whitehaven Beach

Back on board, we had a delicious barbecue lunch provided as we cruised to our next stop, Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. We were hoping we’d dock by Hill Inlet which we’d seen from our scenic flight the previous day but instead we were dropped at the other end of the beach and warned not to go off in search of Hill Inlet as it was too far a trek and we’d not make it back in time.

Amusing ourselves on the beach
Overcast weather on Whitehaven Beach, and below, more photos from our day on Camira

The overcast weather had not cleared so it wasn’t really sunbathing weather. The boat crew had brought various beach games and equipment ashore so instead we grabbed buckets and spades and amused ourselves building sandcastles out of the white silica sand before cooling off with a dip in the ocean.

Then it was back aboard Camira for a leisurely sail back to the Port of Airlie, the clouds starting to break up a bit as we neared our destination.

While we enjoyed our day sailing on Camira, it was our least favourite excursion of the week although this was possibly due to the weather not being quite as nice – everything looks better in the sunshine and unfortunately that was mainly missing from our day.

Back in Airlie, we walked back to our Magnums hostel accommodation grabbing some snacks on the way.

Exhausted from a busy week, we began to pack up our things as we had a very early start the next day to catch the Greyhound bus up the coast to Townsville at the crack of dawn. I’d loved my time in the Whitsundays. I’d be passing through again on the way back to Sydney just a few weeks later and I couldn’t wait to return!