Backpacking in Australia: Part 3 - By Hayley Hobbs

Airlie Beach/Whitsundays Islands

Airlie Beach:

Hey guys, thanks so much for reading my last post and thanks for the comments some of you left! So to pick up where I left off we took the Greyhound bus over night from Cairns to Airlie Beach which took about 8 hours. Luckily I managed to sleep the entire way due to being absolutely exhausted after the Cairns/Cape T section of our trip. As soon as we got to Airlie Beach we were hit by the extreme humidity! We checked into a hostel which we had booked while we were in Cairns and we were instantly impressed by the little log cabins which were accessed via a walk way over the sand. It was such a lovely place and so different from the concrete hostel we had stayed in at Cape Tribulation! The place was full of people who were about to set off on the Whitsunday’s island trip, so there was plenty of people to have a laugh with.

Whitsundays Islands:

We left for our trip to the islands on a condor, which is a type of boat with a sail. We were all brave enough to have a little go of being in charge of the boat, but to be honest I didn’t really want to, I just wanted to sunbath! Something that I would later regret as unfortunately I managed to get burnt! In the evenings we had BBQs for our dinner on top deck as a group and got very drunk. There was quite a few insects to contend with while we were on the boat including flies which were biting us through the stinger suits (suits we wore to prevent jellyfish stings) when they were damp. I managed to keep the midges at bay however as I wore my ‘jungle formula’! One of the best parts of the Whitsundays Islands was stopping at different islands to do snorkelling. We stopped on the barrier reef and looked at the coral which was beautiful. Unfortunately our group got split up onto different boats, which was a shame as we would have preferred to experience it all together, but we still enjoyed ourselves! The boat we were on had about 23 other people, so we had plenty of people to talk to. Our sleeping arrangement involved us bedding down under the stars. There were bunk beds available below deck, but they made me feel a claustrophobic so we decided to sleep on the deck instead.

Anyway, the islands were beautiful; white sand and blue sea just like I imagined it to be. The sand is so pure and pale because it is made up of 99% silica. It is also incredibly fine and gets everywhere! We were warned to keep our cameras and phones away from it because if any got inside, that would be it! One of our guides told us that it is so rare that it’s illegal to take the sand off the islands!

While we were visiting the islands they would stop the condor at some of them so we could jump off and go for a swim in the crystal clear water. There weren’t any settlements on the islands, so we spent all of our time sunbathing on the isolated beaches…it was like paradise. Our guides spoke quite a lot about conserving the coral and warned us not to accidently damage it by knocking it with your flippers. It was so beautiful and colourful. We also saw some turtles as we were swimming around the coral, we swam right above them and got a great view! They were really hard to spot as they were camouflaged so well against the coral. Towards the end of our trip we pulled up at an island to have a swim as a group and found our friends who had been on the other boat. I was a bit worried about getting into the water again as someone on their boat had been bitten by shark on the hand! Apparently it had gone for his camera! I didn’t like being in the water after that so I decided to get out, just to be on the safe side!

Back to Airlie Beach:

After our trip around the islands we came back to Airlie Beach and stayed for another 2 nights in the hostel. One of my friends flew back to England as her two week holiday had come to an end, while the rest of us caught the Greyhound bus to Frasier Island, our next stop!

Best things about Airlie Beach/Whitsundays:The best bits about this part of our trip has got to be the beautiful islands, crystal clear water and the snorkelling.

Worst things about Airlie Beach/Whitsundays: After the ‘incident’ I was a bit scared of sharks so missed out on seeing some of the coral. I also felt really claustrophobia below deck in the bunk beds so had to sleep on the deck, which wasn’t ideal.

Tips: Be careful with your camera/phone on the beaches as the sand would break anything electrical if it got inside. As we still had to do a lot of walking you will need sturdy boots, not flip flops! Make sure you get some jungle formula and spray it on your pjs, this will keep the midges away from you while you’re asleep!

To be continued…

--Hayley