Airlie Beach Qld

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Airlie Beach lies in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef, and consequently, it’s marketing slogan is “The Heart of the Reef”, which is also a reference to the nearby heart shaped coral cay that is Instagram famous. The Whitsunday Islands are located just offshore from Airlie Beach and it’s sister town, Shute Harbour, with the most recognizable being Hook Island, Hamilton Island and Whitsunday Island.

Airlie Beach has something for everyone, from ritzy apartments and music filled bars overlooking the water, to more family friendly accommodation and activities. The town and the waterways were kept very clean, with our tour boat Captain even doing a u turn to pick up a single floating glass bottle out near the reef. There is a freshwater swimming lagoon near the main beach that is great for families to relax in and around.

One of the highlights of the area is Cedar Creek Falls, which we drove out to, expecting to be able to dive in the waterhole and swim under the falls. Unfortunately, the long dry spell we have been having (which has been great for our travels), meant that the falls were not flowing, and the waterhole looked a little to green for us to dive into. We drove on to Conway Beach, explored Proserpine, and visited the Whitsunday Coffee Plantation for morning tea, sampling their coffee.

Kim had just sent a message to her niece and family who live on the Gold Coast, letting them know that we are slowly working our way down the coast, and hope to be in that area some time in November. Melissa, Kim’s niece, messaged back to say that were flying in to Airlie Beach the next day for a holiday. Amazing timing. They were staying at Club Wyndham, with views over the town and Whitsundays, so we spent an enjoyable day with them, taking an opportunity to swim in the infinity pool with views to dream about.

Airlie Beach has an excellent boardwalk along the foreshore, which runs quite a distance. We drove to the Marina, and then walked along the boardwalk (not Under the Boardwalk) into town, stopping off to look through the local markets at the beach, and then walked back, a total of 6.9 kms.

The next day it was time to hit the reef, with the Ocean Rafting Bus collecting us from our NRMA Van Park at 8.05am, with the boat heading out from the Marina at 8.30am. The vessel was skippered by Daniel, a young American guy who had a need for speed and loud music. He and Calissa were a great crew, and facilitated a great day. The vessel was single hull surrounded by inflatables and powered by twin 350hp outboard motors. Did it go! Daniel did a few figure 8’s and donuts on the way out to Hook Island, and generally loved his day job. We stopped off at two locations on Hook Island for snorkelling, the first for the coral, and the second for the abundant fish life. Next stop was Whitsunday Island, where we were dropped off on one side of the island to walk up to the lookout over Whitehaven Beach, the most famous beach in the world. It was everything we expected and more. Fortunately we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day with calm waters. We then walked down to Whitehaven Beach, which consists of 98% silica sand, which explains the whiteness. We had lunch on the boat, and then enjoyed an hour and a half swim in the crystal clear water, before boarding the boat at Whitehaven Beach. I didn't think anything could match the Blue Mediterranean, but the azure blue colour of the ocean around the Whitsundays Islands did. We arrived back at the Marina late afternoon, exhausted but grateful to experience some of the best the Great Barrier Reef has to offer.

We were keen to do some nature walks, and Kim located the Coral Beach Walk on All Trails, which starts near Shute Harbour. We walked down to Coral Beach and the lookout over the Whitsundays, which was pretty spectacular. We parked ourselves on the beach and swam and snorkelled most of the day. I was mindful not to swim out too far, as just around the headland is Cid Harbour, which is infamous for it’s shark attacks in 2018/2019. There are now extensive warnings in the area not to swim at any time in Cid Harbour, due to the large sharks that inhabit the area.

On our last day in Airlie Beach, we drove out to Hideaway Bay and Dingo Beach. These are quiet villages that are located along pristine beaches, with tropical islands offshore. Once again, we swam and snorkelled the day away, seeing some large turtles pop their heads up from time to time.

We enjoyed the large pool in our park located near our caravan each day to cool off in late afternoon. We would definitely stay again at Airlie Beach, just maybe not in schools holidays next time.

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