This is our 3rd trip to this area together in 12 years and it never fails to deliver. The magical combination of white sand, turquoise water, sunshine and holiday vibes really do make the area hard to beat and we fall more in love with it after each visit (except for the sandflies!).

Airlie Beach is the hub to access the Whitsunday Islands and is worth some time to explore the many bars and restaurants and map out the island adventures on offer. Fish D’vine is the perfect spot for the catch of the day and a mojito, and for the best burgers and fries in town it has to be Little Vegas.

We arrived in town with a plan to explore the islands of Whitsunday and Hook on a self-navigated adventure that involved tents, kayaks, snorkelling gear and dehydrated food for 6 days. If only Mother Nature had the same vision as we did……

The thing with outdoor adventure sports is that you are at the mercy of the weather, so Plan A has to have a Plan B and often C,D and E. We were already on Plan B before we even left the mainland thanks to an uncertain 5 day forecast, and were delivered to world famous Whitehaven Beach by Salty Dog Kayaks on a perfectly calm Tuesday.

With a glass-like ocean on the trip out our confidence was high and we enjoyed our 2 days of endless sunshine and spectacular sunsets on what is often rated as one of the top beaches in the world. Even being ravaged by sandflies felt worthwhile to have the privilege of being the only ones on the beach after 4pm, and stargazing into a sky completely unaffected by city lights.

Mates since they were 5

Kitted out for snorkelling at Chalky’s Beach

Whitehaven at dusk

Safe back at camp, our last sunset on the island

On Day 3 as we started the trip north to our next stop we came undone with winds of 27 knots (that’s 50km!) and a swell of up to a metre at some points crashing onto shore. Our limited kayaking experience was no match for these conditions and under advice from our contact on shore we had to retreat back to our original location rather then attempt our planned route; an ordeal that left us exhausted and stranded 6km from the original campsite and camping in the dunes overnight (which was actually quite fun!).

With our kayaking adventure cut short, and insects driving us into our tents by 7pm each night we called time and headed back to Airlie for a proper bed, a good feed and some well earned cocktails. We didn’t quite achieve our goal but there were a few payoffs in exchange for the change of plan –  1. We got to spend 4 days living on a world famous beach, and 2. we got to Hamiton Island earlier than planned!