The Whitsundays is an archipelago of 74 tropical islands located close to the Queensland coast, next to the Great Barrier Reef(GBR). These islands are famous for their white sand beaches, turquoise water and beautiful reefs. The Whitsundays can be explored from different places: The Airlie beach(budget friendly), Hamilton Island(medium) and other islands like Day dream, Hayman island etc(expensive).

We decided to explore the Whitsundays based out of Hamilton Island as we wanted to stay on one of these islands and also to reduce travel time to the key places around. There is a direct flight to Hamilton Island from Sydney which made our trip convenient. Since it is a small island with limited accommodation options, we had to plan well in advance. Just as Australian borders started to open last November, we booked our flight tickets and accommodation with cancellation options, hoping that covid related restrictions settle by the time of our journey. Luckily, all the interstate borders opened soon after that and the Omicron wave subsided in Jan without causing any trouble to our journey. Its been a while that we went on a 5-day vacation and I was more than excited for the break.

Day 1: Sydney -> Hamilton Island

Hamilton Island, ‘Hamo’ – as it’s affectionately known to locals – is the largest island in the Whitsundays. It took us around 2.5hrs flight journey from Sydney to Hamilton Island. As soon as we crossed the mainland, we could spot many beautiful small islands with reefs from the flight. In 1770, Captain James Cook sailed his ship the Endeavour, through the broad expanse of islands and water which provided an unimpeded passage to the north the day Whit Sunday is celebrated on the Christian calendar. Accordingly, he named it ‘Whitsunday Passage’ and all the islands adjacent to the Whitsunday Passage became more commonly known as ‘The Whitsundays’.

The Hamilton island looked exciting from the flight, with a small area used for hotels and the major chunk left untouched. There was a golf course on the Dent island located just opposite to Hamilton Island. The airport strip of Hamilton island looked scenic and it was one of the most beautiful flight landing experiences.

Getting around the Hamilton island is either by foot, golf buggy(needs to be booked well in advance) or a free shuttle bus. Airport transfers are provided by all the hotels on the island. We chose to stay at Whitsunday apartments in a sea view room. Our room had an amazing view of the Catseye beach with a huge balcony to relax and enjoy the sea breeze. It felt like a dream, looking at the gorgeous view and colors of the sea.

One Tree Hill

There was a shuttle bus in the evening which took us to One Tree Hill for sunset, the Hamilton Island’s renowned hilltop lookout. Though the place was filled with many visitors at sunset time, we could easily find a spot there and enjoy the serenity of the place.

After sunset, we reached the Marina area and strolled around to witness a lively night life and music on the main streets. There are many restaurants in the Marina area which need advance booking for dine-in. We decided to have a couple of takeaway meals outside and planned to cook some ready-to-eat meals in the apartment.

The place had great vibes and the feeling of actually being on the island really sunk in by then. It felt like a beautiful start to our trip 🙂

Day 2: Great Barrier Reef

Hamilton island is referred as the heart of the Great Barrier Reef and the first thing we wanted to do was to go on a day trip to the Hardy Reef with Cruise Whitsundays. We had been to Great Barrier Reef earlier when we visited Cairns and we completely enjoyed the trip that we looked forward to snorkeling again.

It took around 2 hours to reach Hardy Reef from Hamilton island. Most of these tours start from Airlie beach and stop by at Hamilton island on the way to the reef. Staying at the Airlie beach adds an extra hour journey on both the sides. The cruise journey was comfortable and waters were calm for around 1hr of the journey after which we reached the open ocean with waves.

Once we reached the reef, we are transferred to the Reefworld, a multilevel reef facility permanently moored few miles from shore at the spectacular Hardy Reef. People can choose to stay overnight also in Reef suites and Reef sleep facilities within the Reef world.

There are many ways to explore the reef from the Reefworld. If you decide to stay dry, we can experience the reef from the underwater observatory or take a ride in a semi-submarine. For those who decide to get into the water- snorkel, swim, dive are the options. We wanted to try both and went ahead with semi-submarine option first as it operates only at certain times. This is our first experience of semi–submersible and it felt very thrilling to travel in a vehicle that goes under water 🙂

Semi-submarine guided tour

We could see the colorful corals and fishes clearly from the submarine on the tour. This felt like the best option for people who prefer to stay dry. While we tried other options like glass bottomed boat earlier in Cairns, that was no-where closer to this experience – Completely recommend this experience for everyone. I couldn’t stop appreciating the Reefworld team who came up with a great option like this for travelers.

Snorkeling

We couldn’t resist getting into the water after looking at the reef on the semi-submarine tour. The best way to look at the reef is undoubtedly by getting into the water. While I was kind of scared to get into the water during my last snorkeling trip, this time it felt easier to breathe using the snorkel equipment and I couldn’t stop appreciating the Reef world again for providing ropes and platforms to assist those who are not confident with snorkeling. We used the ropes to navigate across the reef and felt extremely comfortable that we spent more than an hour in the water. The reef beneath us is not very deep and we could see purples, blues and other colors of the reef along with various colored fish. It felt like a deep meditative experience under water.

Underwater observatory

This was the least exciting option of all, where we could see only some fishes going around.

We had our lunch on the cruise and reached Hamilton Island by 5pm in the evening. We spent sometime near the Marina to watch sunset and went back to our apartment.

We heard sounds outside around 8pm to see fireworks happening just around the corner. It was a pleasant surprise for us and wondered if it was conducted every sunday, but it looks like the fireworks are a part of the wedding celebrations happening nearby.

Day 3: Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet

We woke up to witness a beautiful sunrise from our balcony!

Today, we planned a full-day trip to Whitehaven beach, one of the world’s most unspoiled and beautiful beaches, and was voted as the best beach in the world by Tripadvisor in 2021. Whitehaven beach stretches for seven kilometres and is washed by swirls of turquoise, blue and green water. The sand is 98 per cent pure white silica, which gives it a brilliant, near luminescent colour. 

Our cruise took us to the southern end of the beach first where we spent time swimming in the clear waters of the beach and enjoyed the softest, whitest sand of the beach.

Local rocks do not contain silica so it has been suggested that the sands were brought to the beach by prevailing sea currents over millions of years.

Unlike regular sand, the sand on Whitehaven Beach does not retain heat making it comfortable to walk barefoot on a hot day. This sand is also very fine, and can damage electronic equipment such as phones and cameras. In fact, the sand is so fine that it apparently can clean diamonds and jewellery. I didn’t carry any jewellery to test this though 🙂

After an hour, we were taken to the northern end of the beach on a small boat, it was a beautiful ride along the 7km stretch of the beach in turquoise waters.

Hill Inlet Lookout

From the beach’s northern end, a guide took us on a short uphill bush walk to Hill Inlet lookout, a stunning inlet where the tide shifts the the bright white silica sand and water to create a beautiful fusion of colors.

With its stunning view, Hill Inlet Lookout is one of the most photographed locations in the world. The view of the swirling sands below are never the same twice and are one of nature’s masterpieces. It was tough to take eyes off the beautiful place around.

We reached the southern end of the beach back for lunch and then rested in shade for a couple of hours, as it was very hot that afternoon. We wondered if we should not have chosen full day trip, but most of the half day trips we checked didn’t include the Hill Inlet.

We found a tour later that takes us directly to the Hill Inlet and it looked like a perfect way to explore Whitehaven beach: https://www.exploregroup.com.au/hamilton-island/explore-hill-inlet/

Interesting fact: Our guide informed us that this sand was used to make the lens for the Hubble space telescope as the particles combine to make the most perfect glass-making material on the planet. Silica sand is widely known for its use in making glass, heated to high temperatures of 2,300 degrees Celsius. While it can be tempting to take home a souvenir, you can’t take any sand with you, as it is protected under the Great Barrier Reef National Marine Authority. This part was taken very seriously by tour operators also that we were asked to wash our legs under a tap before getting on to the cruise, so as not to take sand in any way.

This place will be forever etched in the memories for its vibrant colors and finest sand 🙂

Day 4: Scenic Flight over Heart Reef and Whitehaven beach

The beach in front of our apartment looked different at different times due to changing tide levels and sunlight. It was always a surprise factor to look outside the balcony 🙂

Today comes the summary of the previous days, taking a scenic flight over the Great Barrier Reef and Whitehaven beach 🙂 There are multiple options of flying – Helicopter, Aeroplane and Seaplane. We chose the cheapest and the best possible option – 1hr flight over the Heart Reef and Whitehaven beach.

We could find booking for afternoon flight only for that day and it was around 1:30pm that we started our journey on the scenic aeroplane.

The day looked bright and clear – perfect for viewing. We first got a glance of Whitsunday islands on the take off.

The first reef on our way was Hook reef, a relatively younger reef. The blue deep ocean suddenly turned into turquoise/green color due to coral reefs underneath.

As we cross Hook reef to reach Hardy reef, there was a deep channel separating the reefs where the Reef world is stationed. It was a mesmerizing blend of colors in the middle of the ocean.

The altitude of the aeroplane was lowered as we reached the Hardy reef for closer and clearer viewing. It felt like looking at a beautiful set of paintings looking at the reef underneath, its tough to even imagine these colors.

We slowly flew over the Heart shaped reef 🙂 I loved all the shapes, but Heart shape is definitely special and looked very attractive!

Some expensive helicopters tours stop near the Heart reef (Yes, it has a helipad) and then take people on a boat around the heart reef, where they are allowed to snorkel.

On the way back from the reef, we flew over the Whitehaven beach and the Hill Inlet which is completely mesmerizing with its colors and sand. While we got a glimpse of the Hill Inlet yesterday, today we got the complete picture of the inlet along with its beautiful colors.

Back to the Hamilton island airport stretch 🙂 One of the best experiences ever, my eyes couldn’t thank me enough for this amazing experience!! I have to accept that none of the places on this trip disappointed me, infact they were beyond my expectation or imagination. It is usually rare to have many days like these consecutively on a trip. Just feels very dreamy..

Evening, we walked to One Tree Hill for sunset with a stopover at All Saints church.

It was a cute, little church on the hill top from where we could spot our apartment building. The tallest building on the island is Reef view hotel, followed by Whitsundays apartment.

The sunset sky was filled with a range of colors from yellow to dark red and the clear sky made it even more brighter 🙂

We strolled over Marina after sunset and had our dinner from one of the takeaway restaurants there and enjoyed the night life vibes for the last time.

Day 5: Hamilton Island -> Sydney

One final good bye to our room with a splendid view!!

We had to checkout of our apartment by 10am, even though our flight was at 2pm. We kept our luggage near the reception and spent time near the Catseye beach and Marina before heading over to the airport.

Just can’t believe time flew off quickly. I would definitely recommend everyone visit this place. I am glad we spent 5 days in this place and visited all the places leisurely.

One last good bye to Whitsundays from the plane..

We reached Sydney in the evening – from Sunny to Rainy!! For the first time, I could see Sydney Harbour bridge and Opera house during landing, its not the usual landing direction of the flight, may be the cloudy sky forced the flight to change the direction for good 🙂