Australia is the third world in our adventure. The Whitsundays started with our rental car from Cairns and headed for Airlie Beach. We knew the road was going to be long, but it took longer than we expected, we were able to get to the end of a nine-hour drive with plenty of breaks for the kids. We stopped on the road for lunch, right halfway through Townsville. There's not much but sugar cane fields and farms in general. When we got to Airlie Beach, it was dark, dinner time was over, and we didn't get much of a place. We found the Airlie Summit apartments where we were staying for four days and immediately settled down. The hotel provided us with a very comfortable stay for 3 adults and 2 children instead of staying apart, especially after the caravan.
We woke up on the morning of our first day and landed at Airlie Beach. Although it is a small seaside town, it is quite touristic as it is provided by boats and ferries that take off from all whitsundays. The Whitsundays area consists of 74 islands. It is also very popular because it is close to the Great Barrier Reef and its extraordinary nature formations. Accommodation is possible in some of the islands, but we chose to stay at Airlie beach and visit the islands day tours. Even daily tours or just ferry transportation is unfortunately quite expensive. You only need to give $50 per person to ferry transportation. There are tour companies in the town center that can be informed about all activities in general, any activity that you can think of or can't come to think of is possible. We spent 2 of 4 days on island tours, one on both diving and whitehaven beach cruises, and one day to Airlie Beach. Of course, it's not possible to visit all 74 islands by ferry. If you're staying at Airlie Beach like us, you can use the ferries departing from Abel Point.
We went to Daydream Island on the first afternoon. It's a cute little island, there's a resort on it, you can use the beach and the pool. The beach is completely covered with broken coral fragments. He hasn't completed his transformation into thin white sand yet, so it's hard to walk down his feet. The sea is still not very clear, but the shark and stingray habitat at the resort is of a lot of interest to the children. A nice quiet island to relax. On the morning of day two, we participated in the 1.5-hour Great Barrier Reef seaplane tour. It was definitely an experience that had to happen. Because it is imperative to look down on the hill to see reefs and extraordinary nature formations. And right here on the very famous Heart Reef, and the pilots are going through it to be seen.
After the tour, we spent our day at Airlie Beach. We spent time on the beach in the town of Airlie on an artificial beach called lagoon (actually the pool but definitely like a real beach). Ideal for children. Then we visited the shops in town. The Mexican restaurant on the beach has become indispensable for our dinners. The next day we got up early to take a dive and a tour of Whitehaven beach. Our boat was smaller than we expected. In fact, it was no different from any boat we went diving on kas or Bodrum. It was quite crowded, but we were comfortable. The boat and the diving team were from New Zealand and they were quite fun types. Tour participants were usually made up of those who came on holiday from Europe and the United States. It took about an hour to get to the diving point, the dive we did was not very enjoyable because the water was so blurry, but for our 3.5-year-old son it was a pretty great experience of wearing a diving outfit and pallet for the first time. The little one was only swimming with his bagel.
We departed whitehaven beach after lunch on the boat. That's where I've seen the most different beach i've ever seen. Our boat docked to see the extra-white beach i saw on the Internet and admired. First we went ashore with zodiac. Then we went to a point overlooking Whitehaven Beach with a 30-minute walk, and then we walked to the beach for another 15 minutes. The beach is a very large area. When we left on tour, we only had an hour and walked as far as we could and take pictures. In the water, baby sharks and stingrays roam at your feet. It's a bit unsettling, but it's a different experience. After a tiring but beautiful day, we got on our boat and went back to Airlie.
We made our way ashore in a spectacular sunset view:)
The next day, on our last day, we took a ferry from Abel Point to Hamilton island. According to Daydream, a larger island can eat and have time in cafes in the harbour. There are rings (i.e. buses that travel all the time) for transportation on the island, you can jump on one of them, go to a Resort and spend time on the beach. You can only come to the side of the beach, take a walk and take pictures or do all kinds of water sports. We spent all day in Hamilton.
Another thing that caught our attention about the Whitsundays is that we have a kind of parrot called Kakatu. They're very human, and they're immediately partners in your food. But there are warnings everywhere that you shouldn't feed it.
After four days in the Whitsundays, we returned to Sydney on a direct flight from hamilton island airport.
If we ever go back to Australia, we left to see Melbourne, Tasmania and New Zealand on our list 🙂
Bay