Whitsunday Islands
This journey to the spectacular Whitsundays in Australia took me around stunning islands, to one of the most beautiful white sand beaches I've ever seen, on a hike to a platform with a mesmerizing view, and to a secret beach with kangaroos!
GETTING THERE
Most people arrive at the Whitsundays from Sydney SYD, landing at an airport on Hamilton Island HTI, or at Whitsunday Coast Airport, also known as Proserpine Airport PPP. Some visitors arrive by boat from Airlie Beach, on cruise ships, and on SuperYachts.
AMAZING EXCURSIONS
The Whitsundays include about 70 visually dramatic islands, most of them different mountain tops with the base submerged underwater. They are part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. I visited the islands on a fast powered catamaran. We left from Airlie Beach and skipped across the Coral Sea.
First up, Hamilton Island. It was very high end and most vacationers drove golf carts everywhere, no rental cars here! It had a couple resorts and hotels, some restaurants and bars, but most of all many eye-catching beaches and coves.
Next was Whitsunday Island, where the famous Whitehaven Beach was only accessible by boat, seaplane, or helicopter. It had pure white, powdered sugar type sand. Our guide said the sand was mostly silica, which gave it that brilliant white look. The crystal clear blue water was shallow and I could see the sand glistening through it. Palm trees speckled the shoreline, and boats dotted the sea. It was breathtaking!
At one end of Whitehaven, I hiked to Hill Inlet Lookout. It's best seen during low tide, so timing had to be right, and our timing was perfect! I looked down upon an incredible view of a swirling hypnotic mix of bright white sand and turquoise water. I had seen photos of it before on Instagram and it was even more magnificent than I imagined.
Afterwards, I snorkeled off Fitzalan Island. I discovered colorful coral - pinks, blues and more, some swayed like wispy barren bushes, some looked like blankets covering rocks. I also saw intriguing large clams, as big as two feet, with fluorescent purple dotted fringes, and many types of tropical fish surrounded me.
I left the Whitsundays and took an excursion from Airlie to see sunrise at a beach in Cape Hillsborough National Park in Mackay, where kangaroos came onto the sand to eat mangrove pods. I hired a private tour guide, but most of the other visitors had camped overnight in the park.
The drive from Airlie Beach was a little treacherous, about two hours in the pitch dark Australian bush with no street lights at all. Add to that the stress of the timing, because the kangaroos wouldn't stay long. At one point a giant semi-truck crashed and blocked the whole highway. My guide asked the police if she could 'go around'. The next thing I know we are vertical going down a small hill then off-road around the crash site.
We made it to the park with no time to spare, the kangaroos were already on the beach and some were moving away. But I got fabulous photos and video of several kangaroos feasting on mangrove pods, jumping on the sand, all with the sun rising in the background.
The Whitsunday Islands in Great Barrier Reef Marine Park were impressive enough. But the ability to combine them with Airlie Beach and Mackay, made it a fascinating and fabulously diverse trip.
