On the way to Airlie Beach, we stopped off at Cedar Creek Falls. There were a bunch of people there, mostly hippies swimming naked and playing guitar in the trees. We climbed to the top of the waterfall for a great view, but didn’t swim as we were keen on getting to Airlie Beach early. We arrived at Airlie Beach and checked into the Base Nomads campsite where we had a powered site booked for two nights. The campsite was packed, with some people who had been put out by coronavirus having lived there for several months. The toilets were next to our spot and were really dirty and seemingly not well maintained, with shower heads falling off, door locks being broken and toilet seats half off the toilets. We also didn’t have much privacy, with fairly small sites being right next to each other like a car park. But, it is centrally located right on the main strip of town.
We walked along the main street and checked out the man-made lagoon. There were some nice shops and Mia bought a locally-made dress from one of the boutique shops. We had a decent dinner at the Beaches pub for $17 including a drink and enjoyed having a night off from cooking. We didn’t sleep too well as people were up partying well into the night and there were also some very loud birds squawking their little heads off at around 2:30 am.
In the morning we had to be out the front of the campsite at 8 am to be picked up by the tour company, “Ocean Rafting”. They took us to the marina where we waited to get on the raft and advised us we could hire wetsuits for $8. We declined because we’re used to swimming in cold water and thought we could handle it. The raft is powered by a twin V8 engine and was super fast. On the way to the first island, we saw two humpback whales, a baby and a mother teaching the baby to breach. We stopped and watched 10 minutes or so before continuing on to our first stop, Hook Island. We got our snorkelling gear on and jumped off the raft into the turquoise ocean. It was incredible. Cold, but not unbearable (everyone else on the boat had hired wetsuits so we were feeling pretty brave). We snorkelled for probably 45 minutes and then got back onto the raft to head to the second spot which was right next to Whitehaven Beach. We once again jumped off the boat and snorkelled for 45 minutes or so. We saw so many different kinds of fish, corals and clams and we saw a sea turtle from the boat.
After getting back on the boat, they took us to a spot called Champagne Beach which is at the southern end of Whitehaven Beach. We were told it is given this name because when you step in the sand in the shallow waters, it bubbles and foams up. It felt amazing to walk in. The sand was so soft and we learnt it is almost pure silica. We relaxed on the beach for an hour or so and had lunch. Then we got back on the boat and headed to Whitsunday Island where we did a 40 minute walking trail which took us to three lookout points, overlooking the whole Whitsunday region. We were told that every time you come to this lookout, the view is different due to the sand constantly moving and the tides. We headed back to the mainland and were back at the campsite around 4 pm, realising we were pretty sunburnt. It rained that night and continued to rain when we packed up in the morning.
On the way to Airlie Beach, we stopped off at Cedar Creek Falls. There were a bunch of people there, mostly hippies swimming naked and playing guitar in the trees. We climbed to the top of the waterfall for a great view, but didn’t swim as we were keen on getting to Airlie Beach early. We arrived at Airlie Beach and checked into the Base Nomads campsite where we had a powered site booked for two nights. The campsite was packed, with some people who had been put out by coronavirus having lived there for several months. The toilets were next to our spot and were really dirty and seemingly not well maintained, with shower heads falling off, door locks being broken and toilet seats half off the toilets. We also didn’t have much privacy, with fairly small sites being right next to each other like a car park. But, it is centrally located right on the main strip of town.
We walked along the main street and checked out the man-made lagoon. There were some nice shops and Mia bought a locally-made dress from one of the boutique shops. We had a decent dinner at the Beaches pub for $17 including a drink and enjoyed having a night off from cooking. We didn’t sleep too well as people were up partying well into the night and there were also some very loud birds squawking their little heads off at around 2:30 am.
In the morning we had to be out the front of the campsite at 8 am to be picked up by the tour company, “Ocean Rafting”. They took us to the marina where we waited to get on the raft and advised us we could hire wetsuits for $8. We declined because we’re used to swimming in cold water and thought we could handle it. The raft is powered by a twin V8 engine and was super fast. On the way to the first island, we saw two humpback whales, a baby and a mother teaching the baby to breach. We stopped and watched 10 minutes or so before continuing on to our first stop, Hook Island. We got our snorkelling gear on and jumped off the raft into the turquoise ocean. It was incredible. Cold, but not unbearable (everyone else on the boat had hired wetsuits so we were feeling pretty brave). We snorkelled for probably 45 minutes and then got back onto the raft to head to the second spot which was right next to Whitehaven Beach. We once again jumped off the boat and snorkelled for 45 minutes or so. We saw so many different kinds of fish, corals and clams and we saw a sea turtle from the boat.
After getting back on the boat, they took us to a spot called Champagne Beach which is at the southern end of Whitehaven Beach. We were told it is given this name because when you step in the sand in the shallow waters, it bubbles and foams up. It felt amazing to walk in. The sand was so soft and we learnt it is almost pure silica. We relaxed on the beach for an hour or so and had lunch. Then we got back on the boat and headed to Whitsunday Island where we did a 40 minute walking trail which took us to three lookout points, overlooking the whole Whitsunday region. We were told that every time you come to this lookout, the view is different due to the sand constantly moving and the tides. We headed back to the mainland and were back at the campsite around 4 pm, realising we were pretty sunburnt. It rained that night and continued to rain when we packed up in the morning.
