{"id":942,"date":"2016-08-31T08:27:09","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T20:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travellingk.com\/?p=942"},"modified":"2018-01-01T20:59:43","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T20:59:43","slug":"whitsundays-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/travellingk.com\/whitsundays-beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitsundays beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Whitsundays is a stunning part of Australia. It’s in Queensland between Brisbane and Cairns, with Airlie beach being the main starting point for\u00a0exploring the islands.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen plenty of stunning photos of Whitehaven beach and wanted to see it for myself. I flew to Hamilton Island and took a ferry to Airlie beach. The ferry is very expensive at $50 one-way and I learnt later that a cheaper option is to fly to Proserpine then take the bus.<\/p>\n

\"Airlie

Airlie Beach<\/p><\/div>\n

Airlie beach is full of European backpackers and hostels with busy\u00a0bars. There are plenty of information & travel centres\u00a0if you haven’t pre-booked activities. There isn’t a whole lot to do in the town apart from the bars and it’s more of a base for trips out to the islands and water activities. To see Whitehaven beach you can fly over it or take a boat to the island. I could only\u00a0afford one option, so picked the boat. There are lookouts for photos and you can walk onto the beach – it’s a National Park with sand that is\u00a098% pure silica and I’ve never seen anything like it. Some of the cheap trips pack people on board\u00a0so be careful when booking.\u00a0The rich hire boats and staying overnight in the stunning area – that would be the life.<\/p>\n

\"Whitehaven

Whitehaven beach<\/p><\/div>\n

I took a 3 day sailing trip through Whitsundays Sailing Adventures<\/a> on a boat called Kiana<\/a>\u00a0and spent a night by Bait Reef on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef. It\u00a0has\u00a0large\u00a0boulders covered in coral and is perfect for snorkeling or diving. I was surprised at how close the coral was to the surface of the water.\u00a0There were\u00a0plenty of different fish & coral to observe and I even saw a shark and turtle.<\/p>\n

I had only just started diving<\/a> and was nervous about this trip. The first dive felt awkward and I’m sure I nearly knelt on a stingray! The\u00a0dive was closer to land so\u00a0people diving for the first time could go\u00a0through the steps. While diving I was struggling to stay at the same level and\u00a0was considering knelling on the sand for a mini break. When I got closer I decided not to risk damaging any of the wildlife on the floor so kicked back up and a stingray raced off from below me! The second dive was perfect and I finished with such a buzz. It is\u00a0fascinating sinking lower and seeing the reef from further below.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t