Travel: AIRLIE BEACH & THE WHITSUNDAYS - East Coast Australia Adventures Part 2

Following my restless night on the bus from 1770 (read about my adventures there here) and I arrived in Airlie Beach. Things  were already looking up. I headed to GST Aviation for something I was very excited to do. I first thought I’d do a skydive over the Whitsundays, but figured I’d ticket that off the bucket list in Noosa. What could be better then? How about a scenic flight?

I checked in and hung around a while before we were collected on a bus and brought down to the airfield. Six of us were brought to a tiny plane by the pilot. ‘Who wants to co-pilot?’ he asked. My hand shot up. ‘Hop in.’ I felt cool as anything sitting up front with dials and switches galore as we took off over towards the coast and the Whitsundays.

Glorious blue water speckled with white sand islands stretched before us. I was living. We flew over the shifting sands of Hill Inlet and to the edge of the Great Barrier Reef. The pilot warned us as we approached The Heart of the Reef, which is what it says on the tin – a heart shaped reef which is really something to look at. The different shades of blue on the reef were stunning and a smile was plastered on my face all the way until landing.

I was having a great day, and even great days can be improved by food, so I caught up with a girl I’d met in 1770 for lunch at Cook’s Bar & Grill – a thick halloumi sandwich coupled with a yummy iced chocolate. We wandered along the coast before heading to the Marina to watch the sunset by the luxury yachts of the rich and famous. Airlie Beach had my heart.

The last thing I want to do when I’m travelling is feel like I’m wasting time, so I was up early the next morning to see what I ought to do in Airlie. I opted for the Honeyeater Hike, which was challenging enough to get to in the first place as it was perched at the top of a hill. I endured a sweaty hour or so of just me and the goanas and cockatoos before it was time to head back to Magnums hostel to pack up and head on.

After lunch we made our way down to the Marina to board our home for the next two nights, Wings catamaran. We were met at the group by our host Robyn we brought the twenty-something of us down to the boat where we surrendered our shoes for the next few days and hopped aboard. We were served a light lunch of pizza whilst we were introduced to Robyn and our skipper Christian and given a brief itinerary of what we would be up to for the next few days.

It was then time to head to our quarters. I was in one of the pointy parts of the catamaran (boat fans, I’m sorry!) along with 7 others. It was a tight squeeze, but by the end of our time aboard Wings, everyone aboard would be as close as anything. We chilled aboard the boat, getting to know our fellow travellers and playing cards before arriving at our first snorkel destination.

We decked ourselves out in snazzy Wings wetsuits and snorkels and hopped in to spend some time with the fishies. Again, life was good. Back on board we were treated to sunset snacks artfully prepared by Robyn and then to the front of the boat to watch the sunset before enjoying dinner and each others company until the wee hours of the morning.

It felt like I’d just gone to bed before I woke up again to watch the sunrise over the ocean. I mean, you don’t get that many chances to do that, so you’d best believe I was going to take every opportunity I could get. We were anchored on the back end of Whitehaven Beach, and watching the sunrise near to the glistening white sands was a sight not to be missed.

A few hours later and the rest of my new pals rose for breakfast and a morning swim before we took the dinghy over to Whitehaven. A little walk later and we arrived at the stunning silica sands that make up just about every photo of the Whitsundays. We had a few hours of free time to swim, take Instagram photos and play beach football. Like Fraser Island’s Lake Mackenzie, this was undoubtedly the place to see and be seen in the Whitsundays.

We walked up to the three lookouts to get the best views of the beach and the inlet before getting back on the dingy to return to the boat and be swept off to our next snorkel destinations. We docked at Hook Passage for dinner and sunset.

I woke up early the next morning for another sunrise, although this one was less spectacular than the last as the sun rose behind the land mass we were docked behind. After breakfast we had a final chance to snorkel – now if you’ve been keeping up with Aussie news, the name Hook Passage might be familiar to you. This is where a shark attack which resulted in a mans foot being bitten off took place, less than two hours after we’d been swimming there. The thought that we were swimming in the same waters as that shark still gives me the heebie-jeebies…

Alas, we weren’t to know this, and were blissfully ignorant as we sailed back to port to bid farewell to our crew and fellow passengers. Having so much fun over the past few days had caused me to build up quite the appetite so we headed to Anchor Bar for burgers overlooking the ocean. Bliss. That evening I walked back over to the marina for another sunset before a Wings after party at Beaches Bar.

 Thanks for reading today's blog! I loved spending time in the Whitsundays and would absolutely recommend it - is it on your list of places to go? Let me know by dropping a message in the comments and be sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry to be notified of upcoming blog posts!