After a long, chaotic 18 months at work, I was definitely feeling at wits’ end, so I was excited when Rob organised a getaway to kick off my vacation. And what better place than Airlie Beach and the beautiful Whitsundays! This gorgeous spot is only about five hours north of us but we decided to fly to make feel even more like vacation.
We have visited this area in the past – Rob once with Zoe and then the two of us did a quick weekend stay. I remembered it as a lively, busy place full of back packers working and enjoying the various pubs and bars. But when Rob planned the trip, the Queensland border wasn’t set to open until the day we were leaving so the streets and bars in Airlie were very quiet!
We arrived late the first day so quickly unloaded our bags, took in the view, and then walked into Airlie for a drink and some dinner. We were both pretty happy to find a bar with Guinness on tap. It’s pretty rare here.
Early the next morning, we walked down to the marina to head out for a full day sailing trip.
Rob booked our trip on the catamaran, Camira. The name Camira is an Aboriginal word that means ‘windy’ which was chosen because this catamaran was the fastest of its kind when it was first built. The skipper was fantastic and spent a lot of time chatting with Rob teaching him about how they read the waves to gauge wind speeds and about sailing in general.
A sailing trip on the Great Barrier Reef just isn’t complete without some snorkeling. We have done a lot of snorkeling at Lady Elliot Island but hadn’t yet done any snorkeling north of us. We saw a number of fish we’d never seen before and lots of different corals. Every time we enter this underwater world I feel so privileged to be so close to nature in this way!
Pictures just can’t do the experience justice! Here’s a little video that shows some of the sailing but also the amazing fish and corals you see when snorkeling.
The afternoon included a stop at Whitehaven Beach which was actually voted the #1 beach in the world for 2021. Whitehaven Beach is a protected beach that includes 7km of almost pure white silica.
Since it’s silica and not sand, you can walk on it without burning your feet and the shifting silica is what gives the waters around Whitehaven its everchanging swirling patterns of gorgeous shades of turquoise and blue.
It was truly a perfect day!
The next day we decided to wander around town for a bit. The impact of the pandemic on this little tourist town was reflected not just in the lack of people wandering the streets, but in the numerous shops and restaurants that had closed. Sadly, this included my favourite champagne and oyster bar. Since we could enjoy champagne downtown, we decided to enjoy some while taking in the views of the sea from our patio.
Before we knew it, we had some surprise guests show up to our wine and cheese party. We thought we’d share a cracker or two, but they quickly spit those out and stole our cheese. I couldn’t stop laughing. Here’s a little video of their invasion.
And for those of you who prefer pictures, here’s a few pics.
We think that poor looking soul in the last picture was maybe a young cockatoo still growing its feathers. At first we thought something had happened to him but then we saw another one like him who had the beginning stages of a yellow head crest which made us think maybe they were just juvenile birds.
The next day was another day of adventure with a scenic flight over the Whitsunday islands and the Great Barrier Reef. There are actually 74 islands that make up the Whitsundays.
Seeing Whitehaven Beach from the air was an entirely different experience. The swirls of turquoise and blue mixed with the silica was just breathtaking!
The white silica peninsula jutting out from the land in the picture below is actually where they filmed part of the final installment of Pirates of the Caribbean. Funny enough, there are no palm trees there so the film crew had to bring in palm trees for filming. But since the beach is protected under the Whitsunday Islands National Park, they had to be sure that all of silica remained at Whitehaven so they had to painstakingly brush each and every tree and piece of equipment free of silica before leaving.
Flying over the Great Barrier Reef is just amazing! The water is so clear you can actually see rays and turtles and sea life from the sky. We even flew over the famous ‘heart of the reef’.
Pictures just cannot show the vastness of the reef. It is actually made up of more than 2900 individual reefs that stretches more than 2300 kilometres. It is so vast it can even be seen from space. Rob’s video does a much better job than my pictures of showing just how incredible this world wonder actually is!
The scenic flight was a fantastic way to spend our last afternoon in the Whitsundays.
After our flight, we took in the sea views from our balcony one last time and were treated to some beautiful colour across the skies.
And just like that, our little getaway was over. Hopefully we will be back to exploring other parts of Australia and the world soon. Until then, we will continue to enjoy our own little backyard paradise.