The Ultimate Whitsundays Travel Guide: Best Islands, Whitehaven Beach + Insider Tips

The Whitsundays are a tropical paradise of 74 islands set in the heart of Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. With crystal-clear turquoise waters, pristine white beaches, and world-class sailing, the region is one of Australia’s most iconic holiday destinations.

This week, Melissa joins Tracy to share everything you need to know to plan your dream Whitsundays getaway. From the famous Whitehaven Beach with its squeaky-soft silica sand, to unforgettable sailing adventures and insider tips, this episode is packed with practical advice and inspiration.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Where the Whitsundays are located and how to get there (Hamilton Island or Proserpine/Airlie Beach gateways)
• Why Whitehaven Beach is a must-see and how to plan your visit
• The best times of year to travel — from whale watching in winter to stinger season considerations in summer
• Accommodation choices include luxury island resorts, Airlie Beach stays, and unique experiences like ReefSleep
• Top activities such as snorkelling, jet ski tours, Hill Inlet lookout, and sunset cruises
• Hidden gems beyond the main tourist trail, including Cape Gloucester, Dingo Beach, and Hideaway Bay
• Insider planning tips, like booking Whitehaven trips early in your stay, in case of weather disruptions

For photos and highlights from Tracy and Melissa’s visits, head to the shownotes linked below!

⭐️ Guest - Melissa Delaware from "The Queensland Travel Guide"
📝 Show Notes -Episode 75

🎧 Listen to next

• Episode #18 - Queensland Travel Tips: Beaches, Outback Adventures, and Hidden Gems
• Episode #32 – Brisbane Day Trips: Islands, Wildlife, and Hidden Gems
• Episode #46– Discovering Western Australia: Essential Insights and Travel Tips with Tess Moone

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to the Whitsundays Paradise
• 5:09 What Makes the Whitsundays Special
• 14:58 Best Times to Visit
• 21:55 Getting to and Around the Islands
• 32:00 Accommodation Options and Experiences

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Turquoise waters, soft white sands and 74 tropical islands in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. Today we're heading to the Whitsundays with our lady who travels, Melissa, to share how to share your dream trip to this slice of paradise.

Speaker 2: 0:13

Welcome to the Global Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is founder of the Global Travel Planning website, tracey Collins. Each week, tracey is joined by expert guests as she takes you on a journey to destinations around the world, sharing travel inspiration, itinerary ideas and practical tips to help you plan your next adventure. Join us as we explore everywhere, from bustling cities to remote landscapes, uncover cultural treasures and discover the best ways to make your travel dreams a reality.

Speaker 1: 0:46

Hi and welcome to this week's episode of the Global Travel Planner Podcast. This week, we are heading to the Whitsundays Now. This chain of 74 tropical islands off the coast of Queensland is right in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. It's famous for crystal clear waters, pristine beaches and world-class sailing, and and they're a destination that many travellers dream about. Now, in this episode, I am joined by Melissa to talk about everything you need to know for visiting the Whitsundays, from when to go and where to stay to most due activities, hidden gems and personal stories from our own time in this stunning region.

Speaker 1: 1:18

Whether you're planning a quick visit or a longer island-hopping escape, this episode will help you make the most of your time in the Whitsundays. Hi, melissa, it's so good to always chat to you. Anyway, as one of fellow ladies who travel, so welcome to this episode to share your knowledge about the Whitsundays. Yeah, hi, tracey, hi everyone. Now. I know that you have recently been to the Whitsundays and it's somewhere that, before I actually came to Australia, it was my idea of paradise. It was the place that I dreamt of visiting, so I'm I was very excited when we went there for the first time, and I've been a few times since. But for those who've never been, where exactly are the Whitsundays and what makes them so special?

Speaker 3: 2:00

Yeah, the Whitsundays are. You know, if you think about the big map of Queensland, they're probably about halfway along the coastline From Brisbane. It's about a one hour and 45 minute flight and the area is just beautiful. It is on the southern edge of the Great Barrier Reef and it's a region with about 74 islands scattered through the Coral Sea. What makes it so special? I mean on the Great Barrier Reef, of course, but you know the sand on some of those beaches, like famous Whitehaven Beach, are like, you know, soft white sand. You've got the incredible turquoise water, beautiful reefs. You know it's also really relatively easy to access and lots of different experiences fancy resorts, casual resorts. You can go sailing on boats, you can do day trips. You've got national parks. It really is. If you think about a postcard of paradise, you know, I think that's what the Whitsundays is. If you think about, um, a postcard of paradise, um, you know, I think that's what the wit Sundays is.

Speaker 3: 3:07

And I just want to say one thing whatever you see online, that is what it looks like. It's not one of those, you know. You know, you see those funny memes that say, um, instagram reality or whatever it is. It is. What you see is what you get Beautiful.

Speaker 1: 3:27

Oh, a hundred percent agree. Um, I, we've stayed on Daydream Island and taken day trips to Whitehaven Beach, and Whitehaven Beach is you can't just it. In fact, to describe the sand on Whitehaven Beach, the best way to describe it is flower. It is like flower, it's and it's white, it's incredible, it's beautiful. I'll put some photos. We've both got sets of photos. We'll put in the show notes so you can actually have a look just how stunning it is. It is beautiful and the water truly is that turquoise colour.

Speaker 3: 3:52

I mean, should I Tracey any of the photos, like they will be our photos?

Speaker 1: 3:55

Yes.

Speaker 3: 3:57

They're not touched up or you know some professionals, they're going to be our photos, so here's what it looks like.

Speaker 1: 4:05

Absolutely our photo. So here's what it looks like absolutely. These are general pictures from when we visited the wit sundays. Now, for anybody who is thinking, oh, this is definitely somewhere I want to visit and I'd highly recommend it, um, when is the best time of year to visit and how does the experience change with the seasons?

Speaker 3: 4:16

well, the best time to visit is always any time of year, um, but if you want to go, the best, best, best time of year, because there are a few things to consider when you're talking about the Whitsundays. So a couple of things to consider and first of all, something that people are going to get really stressed about, I think, is stinger season. So the area is known for small jellyfish that you know are quite dangerous. But we wear stinger suits in the wit sundays, everybody does. It's not a big deal. I know people will be like, oh, I don't want to wear a stinger suit, but it's not a really big deal. But if you don't want to go during that period, um, you know so, because the stinger suit is um, sort of like, um, the summer, the summer season, so sort of um november to march, I think it is, it might think it is, it might even be a bit longer than that. And also that summer season is hot, very, very hot and humid. So if you're not used to the really hot, hot, humid weather, it's probably a time to avoid. The other thing that we do have during that, it is our wet season. Now, wet season doesn't mean it's going to pour down raining every single day. But what it does mean is there is a chance of a cyclone and unfortunately, some of those islands you know have been flattened, you know, every couple of decades or something. So it is something to be aware of.

Speaker 3: 5:43

I personally have been to the Whitsundays in the summer season, where there's stingers and it's our wet season, and I had a wonderful, wonderful time.

Speaker 3: 5:52

So I don't say people should avoid it during that time, Just be aware of those things. But, as you just said, I just went in July, so that is our winter time. Now I am a Queensland girl, so I found July cold, but I did wear a wetsuit in the water which helped keep me warm. And look, you know, there's tourists everywhere that are jumping in that water and saying how lovely it is. So if you're probably from a colder climate, you probably wouldn't find the winter too cold at all. The other thing I'd probably mention is, if you are going to go, have a look when it's the Queensland school holidays, because it's a very, very popular time for families to go to the Whitsundays local families to go to the Whitsundays and it does push the price up enormously. So you know the best time I don't know, but I would just consider all of those things that I mentioned and work out what's a good time for you.

Speaker 1: 6:53

Yeah, I agree. I think the last time actually Doug and I went was in June I think it was June or July and we saw whales because we stayed on Daydream. Island and we saw whales passing by the island, which is you land by the pool and you're seeing whales. It was fantastic. That's amazing. That's amazing.

Speaker 3: 7:11

I have seen because I've been paying a bit of interest, because I just went there in different Facebook groups, yeah, people posting pictures of whales going past from you know their balconies and stuff. I didn't see any whales when I was there but yeah, it certainly is possible if you go during the winter months. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 7:29

Yeah, it was. It was beautiful we had, we had a lovely time, really enjoyed it. So what about the main ways to get to the Whitsundays? Um, do you have a preferred starting point?

Speaker 3: 7:38

um, it's, it's pretty easy to get to the Whitsundays. There are two sort of gateways to the Whitsundays either the mainland, airlie Beach Well, actually the airport is in an area called Prosser Pine, which is about a 30, 40 minute drive from Airlie Beach. So Airlie Beach is the beach, you know, sort of the gateway on the mainland to the Whitsundays. Or you can go straight to the islands and you can fly into Hamilton Island. Most of our Australian airlines fly direct to Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays, for most capital cities at least on the east coast. So if you've only got a couple of days and you know, just fly straight onto Hamilton Island. And so even if you're not staying on Hamilton Island, you know you fly into Hamilton Island and you can move onto one of the other islands or I guess you could even move onto Airlie Beach.

Speaker 3: 8:34

There are ferries that go between Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island and Daydream Island very regularly, like a couple of times, more than a couple of times a day, you know, off the top of my head, every every hour or so, I think. So really easy to get between, um, ellie beach and the islands. Um, and, yeah, really easy to get from any capital city. So if you're coming to do a trip in australia, super easy to get to. Um. A lot of people, a lot of the clients that I talk to, they're going to cans. Um, they want to go to the. A lot of people a lot of the clients that I talk to they're going to Cairns. They want to go to the Whitsundays Not so easy. There is a regional airline that flies there a couple of times a week but it can be expensive. So the best way to get to the Whitsundays is from a capital city like Brisbane, sydney, melbourne, even Adelaide, I think. Flies direct. So yeah, but otherwise pretty easy to get there Cool.

Speaker 1: 9:29

Well, I used to live not too far from Whitsundays so it was a pretty easy drive, so we used to actually go and base ourselves on Airlie Beach. So I've based myself on Airlie Beach a couple of times, but we've also stayed on, as I mentioned, daydream Island and I Beach a couple of times, but we've also stayed on, as I mentioned, daydream Island, and I guess I know this is a question that's like hung as a piece of string but would you recommend staying in Early Beach and taking the day trips or staying on an island? Now I've done both and so I kind of have I know what I preferred, but I guess it depends really on on kind of what your itinerary is like. But what are your thoughts on that, melissa?

Speaker 3: 10:04

yeah, it depends on a couple of things. So there are a few different ways, like you mentioned how you experience the Whitsundays. So you know the ideally. I think ideally is to stay on one of the islands. Not all the islands are inhabited, like there's only a couple of resort islands, I think maybe four at the moment. I can think of um, like Long Island, hayman Island, hamilton Island and Daydream Island. I think that's like there are other islands with resorts but, like I said, unfortunately some of them get wiped out from cyclones. Like Daydream Island is only fairly new in that um, I mean it it's been around for a very, very long time but yeah, it got wiped out and had to be renovated, so it's fairly new, up and running. So, anyway, ideally I think you'd want to stay on some of the islands because, yeah, you're in the middle of the Whitsundays, in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef, it's just beautiful, but it does get a bit pricey. So, some people, if you're on the budget end of the scale, then you're probably going to want to stay at Airlie Beach and then do day trips out to Hamilton Island or Whitehaven Beach, etc. You can still have a wonderful, wonderful time. So don't let that put you off. If you can't, if you don't have the budget to stay on the island, yeah, definitely don't let that put you off. If you can't, if you don't have the budget to stay on the island, yeah, definitely don't let that put you off. But there are a couple of other ways you can also enjoy the Whitsundays.

Speaker 3: 11:33

I've just been lucky enough to be sailing around on a catamaran for a couple of days in the Whitsundays and that was absolutely fabulous. I loved it so much and I think it cost us about, um, you know, there was a two of us and I think it was about 2,800 Australian dollars for three nights, which, so you know, let's say, a thousand dollars a night, which does sound quite pricey. But when you think it includes, you know, your accommodation, all your activities, all your food. The only thing you have to bring along is your drinks. Um, so it's not too bad. And you run a catamaran in the middle of the wit sundaes, like and we had there was only one other couple on board. The boat could have four couples, but we were lucky enough. There's only two of us and you've got your own skipper and your own host that's cooking all your meals and bringing your cups of tea. It was, yeah, I think it was incredible and I highly recommend it.

Speaker 3: 12:29

Um, but there is another option of staying on the, which, sunday's, called Reef Sleep. So it's a big sort of pontoon that you go to and you can sleep. You can either sleep on top of the pontoon, basically in swags under the stars, or you can sleep down below the pontoon. You know sort of underwater pontoon, you know sort of underwater level and you know you've got these huge big glass windows so you can watch the marine life swim past your room. I haven't done that. It's up there on my bucket list. I've got some clients doing it next month actually so I can't wait to hear what their experience is like.

Speaker 1: 13:09

Yeah, I was going to say say, melissa, honestly that that's also on my. It's always been high on my bucket list. So I suggest we reach out to the people who organize reef sleep and that they invite the ladies who travel and the queensland travel guide to come and check it out and we can share all about it I think, because where are you gonna sleep?

Speaker 3: 13:28

are you gonna sleep on the pontoon, under the stars, or underneath and watch the marine life? Oh, I think on the pontoon. Yeah, I kind of want to. I think that sounds cool as well. But they're all the different options. So I would just say, whatever your budget, there's an option for you.

Speaker 1: 13:45

I actually did all three.

Speaker 3: 13:46

So on the trip I just spent two weeks in the Whitsundays, stayed three. So on the trip I just spent two weeks in the Whitsundays, stayed at Airlie Beach, stayed on Hamilton Island and I stayed on the catamaran. So we did all of them, yeah oh, that's amazing.

Speaker 1: 13:55

Well, I've been there a few times and first time I did it a bit budget and we did a day trip out. Um, I think a couple of times I've done that because I actually used to go and do work as well. We used to have to fly up there for work, which was rather nice. What a place to go and do some work um, and then doug and I, last time we went we stayed on daydream island, which was.

Speaker 1: 14:10

It was lovely um the problem I have with doug is that he gets seasick, so they're minimizing the amount of time on a boat is always a good idea for him, I think, but uh yeah, and daydreams only so daydreams so close.

Speaker 3: 14:22

I think it's like 20 minutes or something from the mainland.

Speaker 1: 14:24

So if you do get seasick, that's daydreams ideal yeah, yeah, it was one of the reasons we we chose it, though we did. We did take a trip out to um whitehaven beach, which he, uh, he was all right on the way out, but on the way back in it was a little bit bumpy, so he didn't feel he didn't feel great on that. So if you do get seasick and that sort of thing, that is worth thinking about taking some tablets, uh, to just try and help yourself a bit with that. But, um, so what are? The options, though, are for getting around the whitsunds, obviously we talked a little bit about. Obviously you can sail around, but tours and things like that, ferries, you know how do we get around?

Speaker 3: 14:59

if you're staying in early beach, if you're just going to do day trips from early beach, then you don't really need a car. You know most of the tour companies will pick you up from your hotel and drop you off. But if you want to sort of go out exploring around Airlie Beach, you're going to need a car. There's no public transport that's going to get you around. But if you've only got a couple of days, then you're probably not going to really probably leave Airlie Beach anyway. So but if you do have a bit longer, I'd highly recommend hiring a car for at least one day. There are some beautiful things that you can see sort of on the outskirts of Airlie Beach. I won't go into that too much, that's probably another podcast. But as for getting around between the islands, there are ferries. That, like I said before, makes it super easy. But you can't actually just go on to these islands willy-nilly. So Daydream Island won't let you on unless you're a guest.

Speaker 3: 15:52

Hamilton Island you can go on as just a member of the public and go on for a day and walk around. As to how to get around Hamilton Island, it is a bigger island but there are good buses on Hamilton Island, so I just stayed there for four nights and we just either walk so it's pretty easy to walk around the main kind of area so we walked most of the time, or when we couldn't be bothered, we jumped on a bus. But a lot of people do hire golf buggies because there's no cars on the island. I do think we kept talking while we were there oh, would we have hired a golf buggy if we came again? And the answer is still no.

Speaker 3: 16:32

But if you were going in the hotter months then you might want to consider it, because it is really hot and humid. Or if you've got little kids who might whinge and whine about walking. But we didn't. We thought the buses were fine. All the other islands aren't that big and you don't need any transport, so it's just on Hamilton Island consider what transport you want to use and Airlie Beach. If you're going to be there for a short time, you don't need a car. If you're going to be there a bit longer, a car for at least a day or two would be quite handy.

Speaker 3: 17:00

I just want to say as well. Sorry on that Tracy. A lot of people have asked me about ferries that go to Whitehaven. You can't go to white haven unless you're on a tour or you've got your own boat, like like we went. We went to white haven, um, on that catamaran sailing trip that I went on, but there aren't. There isn't sort of like a public ferry that runs you back and forth to white haven or anything like that yeah, it's quite restrictive with getting out to to Whitehaven and I have seen people fly in as well yeah, which is always really cool when you're on the beach and they're flying on the seaplane and you're like, wow, um, yeah, so your own boat.

Speaker 1: 17:41

And also I know they're very strict on the tours when you go. When you get back on the boat, they wash you down to make sure that you don't. You're not taking any sand away with you or anything like that.

Speaker 3: 17:49

I didn't mention the planes Tracy, but yes, you can get there on plane or helicopter if your budget allows.

Speaker 1: 17:56

Yeah, I've done a helicopter before, but out to the Agincourt Reef from far north, which was amazing.

Speaker 2: 18:01

Beautiful.

Speaker 1: 18:02

But not around the Whitsundays, which would be really cool, and we've also stopped off. Actually, this is worth considering. I think there's something else that we should do a podcast on is actually, um, doing the drive from brisbane to cairns, because if you actually go the coastal route and there's two ways to do we've done it, we've done it, um, we love doing actually the outback route, but if we've done it a couple of times by the coastal route and stopping off in early beach for a couple of nights, leaving the car and going onto the islands, yeah, and then in fact, that's what we did when we went to daydream island.

Speaker 2: 18:29

That's how we did it.

Speaker 1: 18:30

It was part of that kind of road trip, but that's also a great way, um great way to to do it and access it and include it in your trip yeah, that's right, and there is a big, big car park.

Speaker 3: 18:40

Um, I know the other couple that were on the catamaran sailing trip. They had a car which they had left, so it's very easy to leave your car if you do go out onto the islands or on a boat or something.

Speaker 1: 18:49

Yeah, it's really well. I think it's well organised. Very easy to kind of sort that out. We find it really easy to organise that anyway. So let's talk about things to see and do in the Whitsundays. Now, obviously, Whitehaven Beach is the big draw. It's world famous. I think if you mention Whitsundays, that will be the image that people will have in their head. So what do first-time visitors need to know if they're planning to go to Whitehaven Beach?

Speaker 3: 19:17

Yeah, so everyone wants to go to Whitehaven Beach and it's the number one thing that I always make recommend to clients that come to talk to me about going to Whitsundays, and they all want to know how I'm going to get there. What am I going to do? Do so? You know, whitehaven Beach let's just for people who don't know it's a huge stretch of beach on an island in the middle of the Whitsundays. There's no shops, there's no resorts, there's no, nothing like that. It's just, you know, complete, natural and absolutely stunning. Now, what you might have seen when you see pictures of Whitehaven on the internet is the swirly white sands in the beautiful turquoise water. So to see that, you go up a little hike called Hill Inlet. It's a fairly easy hike, it's not that strenuous. I don't know. I'm going to say maybe 15 minutes walk up and back and there's just a number of different platforms up there that you can go out and just see this beautiful vista. I highly recommend it. It is absolutely stunning and you're going to get some great photos up there, no matter what time of day it is.

Speaker 3: 20:25

Now, if you're going on a tour group, unfortunately there's likely going to be a lot of other people up there. We went as part of that catamaran trip that I just mentioned and we went there at like sort of 7am in the morning and there was nobody there and it was just magical. But as we came back all the boats were coming in. So you know, that was sort of like you know eight o'clock, so it gets busy really, really early, and then after so a lot of the tours that you go to, then you know they'll let you have a swim in the water. The water is just beautiful and warm. As we said earlier, the sand's soft and it just doesn't get hot. You know, like some sands can get really hot. It just it's just soft and cool and it's beautiful, um, and squeaky In that area and squeaky, very squeaky In the area underneath Hill Inlet. Every time I've been there's always lots of little stingrays, little reef sharks, so you can kind of just wander through the shallow water and see the marine life. It's just incredible. So that's what Whitehaven Beach is. So don't expect like it's not not a Bali. There's no shops on along the beach. It's, it's. It's just stunning, um, so as to like what else to do in the Whitsundays.

Speaker 3: 21:40

Um, it's one of those places that you can kind of do as much or as little as you like. So, um, and if you do want to do a lot of activities, it's generally going to to be on the water. So of course there's snorkelling. Snorkelling is probably the number one activity in the Whitsundays. You can see beautiful marine life, colourful fish, turtles, little reef, sharks, if you're lucky, lots of stingrays and beautiful coral like you know, really gorgeous coral, but that's probably the number one activity. Like, when I was on the sailing trip, we probably did snorkelling about three times a day.

Speaker 3: 22:19

So if you're not really a snorkeller, you can still go swimming. I suppose you know stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking. We took a jet ski tour which was pretty amazing. You know lots of things on boats, like there'll be the sunset cruises where you'll watch the sunset, you'll have a barbecue, drink some wine, yeah, all of that kind of stuff. So I think actually the Whitsits Sundays gives you a really nice balance of a lot of relaxing time and then a couple of activities. It's not like you're on the go all the time. So, yeah, a lot of that water activity. Hiking, if you're on Hamilton Island, lots of beautiful hikes that you can go up and see some amazing views yeah, I don't know, what else did you do? You do tracy when you were over on daydream?

Speaker 1: 23:14

yeah, I was thinking about that. We, we, um, we walked around daydream, because daydream isn't isn't a huge island, but it's a nice. There's a nice circular walk that you can do around daydream. So we did that and saw lots of kangaroos, because they're they do have lots of wildlife kangaroos on on that island, no snakes, which is good. And then we took a tour out to Whitehaven, because you've got to go to Whitehaven, no-transcript, and just enjoy the beautiful weather and the beautiful you know beaches. It's just, it is gorgeous. It's a lovely, lovely part of the world to do that. It really is paradise it is.

Speaker 3: 24:05

And you just mentioned about the kangaroos on Daydream. I actually haven't been to Daydream Island, but on Hamilton Island that was the other thing that's really. I thought it's really nice for international tourists. You've got lots of cockatoos, like they're on your balcony all the time. There's no kangaroos on Hamilton Island, but lots of like the little wallabies everywhere. And then you've obviously got marine life. So I think it's excellent for your international guests to come and see Australian wildlife so easily all of that, you know, marine life and our mammals and our birds all in the same place and so easily and not in a zoo, exactly.

Speaker 1: 24:47

I am going to say that we're probably wallabies on daydream, not kangaroo, see, just to see you can tell. I just I love them all together as kangaroo kangaroos. But, um, in episode 83, which is coming out in a few months time, we're going to be talking all about when, when to see wildlife in queensland and and obviously we just mentioned um, kangaroos and wallabies. So and I know I know my mom came here last year that was the first thing she wanted to see a koala and a kangaroo, have to see kangaroo. And then after a few days she's like, ah, kangaroo, whatever.

Speaker 2: 25:15

Yeah which is really really funny.

Speaker 1: 25:20

Now what about any lesser known spots or experiences that you think that visitors shouldn't miss if they go to whitsundays?

Speaker 3: 25:26

yeah, um. So one of my favorite places, um, is actually on the mainland and this is why I was sort of saying, if you, if you can, and you're going to stay on Airlie Beach and you have a car, about 40 minutes North of Airlie Beach is this area called Cape Gloucester and there's a resort there and it's a really relaxed sort of casual resort and they have like a pub style restaurant there, you know, just sitting in the sand and really casual kind of meals. But the beach there is absolutely stunning. It's so, so gorgeous. So I highly recommend it.

Speaker 3: 26:07

I always say to people, if they've got a little bit of time, go up and have lunch at Cape Gloucester Resort and you know, and go swimming. And if it is stinger season, make sure you bring your own stinger suit because you're gonna want to get in that water. It's so, so, so beautiful. But, yeah, they've also got a swimming pool there, so if you're not a beach person, you could go in the pool. But, yeah, I recommend going around lunchtime nice place to get some food.

Speaker 3: 26:33

And there's also a couple of other beaches that are really worth stopping into up there is Dingo Beach and Hideaway Bay, also beautiful Airlie Beach. There are some little pockets that have got some okay beaches, but Airlie Beach is not that nice itself, so you don't go to Airlie Beach for the beaches, which is a bit strange, but yeah, so those beaches are nice that are outside of it, and there's also Cedar Creek Falls or Cedar Falls might not be Cedar Creek, cedar Falls, which is another gorgeous place where you can go swimming as well. So they're my kind of little secrets that I think some people don't tend to go to.

Speaker 1: 27:13

Perfect. Now I've just talked about the fact that really they are paradise, and when you get there you do kind of go wow. So have you had a moment where you've just stopped and thought like, literally, this is. You can't get better than this. This is paradise.

Speaker 3: 27:29

Yeah, I really did, like, literally, this is you. Can't get better than this. This is paradise. I really did when I was on that catamaran trip. Um, unfortunately, my, um, my boyfriend, was quite sick at some not sea sickness, just come down with man flu, I think, um and um. So I was actually alone on that catamaran a lot myself and I just spent hours just sitting on deck, just looking at the scenery, just going wow, I don't know how many times I said to myself, wow, this is so beautiful, like just gorgeous, and I'm not really a person that just sits, I like to be really, really busy. But I just sat so long on that catamaran just staring out to the, the, the islands around me, the sunset, the sunrise, and I just felt like I felt so lucky, so lucky to have that experience.

Speaker 1: 28:22

Yeah, I know, you sent me photos as well, didn't you thank? You very much I was like I know where I'd rather be right now. Oh, it just looked amazing, amazing on that trip. So what about a memorable day on the water? Because I think I I always want to know about this, because I don't get up the option very often, because don't get seasick to spend time but I do like being on the water, I do like boats, so so tell us a little bit about you. Know what it was like?

Speaker 3: 28:49

Yeah, when I saw this question from you I was thinking about it and I'm going to talk about when I went on this jet ski tour, I was a bit nervous. But I went on this jet ski tour and the thing that they tell you on these jet skis you know, people who have ridden jet skis will know this is that they say it's easier to go at full speed on the water because I guess you just kind of glide over the water, whereas when you go slow you're like bump, bump, bump, bump, and I that just scared the pants off me but I was like okay, and if you didn't go full speed then you got left behind. So here I am, you know, in the Whitsundays. Just, I don't know how fast we were going, but it felt like I was going like 500 kilometers an hour, just cruising out, you know, and it was absolutely thrilling and terrifying all at the same time.

Speaker 3: 29:40

But so what we did on this tour? We did this big tour around Hamilton Island, but not so much on Hamilton Island but the islands around Hamilton Island, and we would stop and you're just on a little jet ski, not even on a boat, a little jet ski surrounded by the most beautiful island and clear crystal water. You just felt so small do you know what I mean? Like really small in this amazing place, and it felt peaceful, beautiful. Yeah, it was really amazing and I highly recommend people to get over their fears and do something like that if they get the opportunity. I think I'm going to have to dare Doug and do something like that if they get the opportunity.

Speaker 1: 30:26

I think I'm going to have to dare Doug to do that. See if I can get one. Mine said I have to dare myself because I don't know, it terrifies the life out of me. It really does. Now I know this is. It was a long time since you've been to Hamilton Island, so this trip. So was there anything that surprised you about the Whitsundays? Because obviously you've had a bit of a gap since you were particularly on islands.

Speaker 3: 30:46

Yeah, it did actually. Um, you know, I prefer places that are perhaps a little bit more on off the beaten track than where, where all the tourists are, and Hamilton Island. Everyone knows Hamilton Island. If you're a local, most people have been to Hamilton Island, and it was school holidays when I went as well. So I have to say I wasn't actually really looking forward to it because I was like, oh, it's going to be overrun with kids and families and tourists and blah, blah, blah. But it was amazing. I loved it. I'm totally converted, loved Hamilton Island. Yes, it is touristy, but it's not overcrowded, and, considering I was there during school holidays, I think that I, you know, can, um, confidently say that Hamilton Island is not overcrowded. Um, and yeah, it's just done really well. It's stunning, it's beautiful. Whilst it is a tourist hot spot, it is just beautiful. Plenty of space, plenty of restaurants to go to, and I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it to everybody.

Speaker 1: 31:50

Yeah, I'll be adding that back into. If we do a drive up to Cairns, it's definitely going to be in the itinerary again. Now, what about when people are packing, thinking about practical things? What should people pack that they might not think of? Because everybody thinks about taking the swim costume and the flip-flops and the sun cream and blah, blah, blah. But what would you say? Don't forget to take this one out.

Speaker 3: 32:10

Well, my boyfriend took binoculars, which I was like. I don't know why he took them, but when we were there I thought it was really good. So we spent a lot of time on the balcony Like we were looking for whales we didn't see any whales. Were looking for whales we didn't see any whales. Um, but you were just like looking out at the water. Um, if there were whales it would have been a great thing to see. Um, while we're on the catamaran, having the binoculars was really good, um, the other thing I probably would recommend for islands is some sort of water shoe, like reef shoe or something, because, because you are out in the great barrier reef, apart from when you're on Whitehaven Beach, which we talked about, the beautiful soft sand the beaches do tend to be a little bit rocky and can be quite, you know, not very pleasant to walk on. So, yeah, I would always recommend some sort of water shoe as well. You know lots of other things, but you've probably already got them on you to bring loose anyway, Perfect.

Speaker 1: 33:04

Now what about any common mistakes first-time visitors might make that they could kind of avoid if they're planning to visit?

Speaker 3: 33:10

One thing I'm noticing now is a lot of people coming to me about booking trips at Christmastime and accommodation. This is not like. The Whitsundays is not a huge city area where accommodation is unlimited. There are only so many resorts on the islands and even Airlie Beach itself. It's not overly big. So these places do book up quickly and prices go up a lot. So I would recommend booking if you're going to go, booking in as early as you can. The other thing I recommend is your hero experience, which is usually for people to go to Whitehaven Beach. I recommend booking that for day one because if the weather is no good and they cancel the trip for whatever reason, at least maybe you can book it the next day or the next day or the next day. If you leave it for later in the trip, then you might um, you might miss out. Unfortunately, a lot of most places have, you know, 24-hour cancellation, so you can easily move things around, but I would always lock it in early to avoid disappointment yeah, I think that's a really good tip.

Speaker 1: 34:22

I usually do that even if we go up to port douglas. Looking at going out onto the reef is checking the weather and um booking ahead and and just keeping an eye on if you can move it back, because they do get booked up. They really do now what about? Um a three-day itinerary. If somebody was going to go for three days, what would you? How would you suggest they spend them?

Speaker 3: 34:40

all right. Well, I came up with two options here. So if you've got my, ideally what you would do is you'd go to Hamilton Island. I think the main reason is because you can fly straight to Hamilton Island, so no stuffing around getting anywhere. Fly straight to Hamilton Island and you're there. The rest of the day maybe just snorkel straight off the beach, have some pool time. Then I recommend you join up for one of the sunset barbecue tours, sailing tours, because what a beautiful way to start your first day.

Speaker 3: 35:08

On Sundays. Day two, you're going to do your full day trip to Whitehaven Beach, which always would also include a couple of spots for snorkelling. And then I recommend there's a lot of great spots on Hamilton Island for sunset drinks and dinner, and we tried a few of them out and my favorite was at um, a restaurant called Bommies. It was just stunning, the? Um sunset um. We'll get some photos up in the show notes for that. Absolutely beautiful. So I recommend and I probably if you're going to say that we just went for drinks if you want to go for dinner, book in early Um.

Speaker 3: 35:44

Day three um, in the morning maybe go for a hike if you're that way inclined, or just spend the last few hours around the pool or doing another snorkel before heading home. So that's my ideal itinerary. But if you're more on the budget side, then go to Airlie Beach. You can fly straight into Proserpine Airport, get the bus to Airlie, maybe just wander around town. It's not a huge town, lays by your pool. But I also recommend you doing a sunset cruise. Boats will leave from Airlie Beach and cruise around the waters there as well, so you don't miss out on that sunset cruise.

Speaker 3: 36:21

Then, day two, you're going to do your Whitehaven day trip again, so another full day. It's going to be a bit longer because you're not starting from Hamilton but still have a fantastic day Dinner at the Garden Bar Bistro, a beautiful restaurant right there on the Coral Sea. So go there for sunset if you can, depending on what time you get back on your trip the next morning. I recommend there's the lagoon there, airlie Beach. Have a swim there, walk around the waterfront and then, if you have time, go to the pub that's what it's called the pub for lunch, some great pub food there and before getting back on the bus and going home. So there's a ideal itinerary and a cheaper one, which is still a great option if you oh yeah side.

Speaker 1: 37:12

Yeah, I love, love both of those. Absolutely fantastic, uh, it really is an amazing place to go. So what? What would be your your must know tip for anyone visiting the whitsunders for the first time?

Speaker 3: 37:24

I think I already said what I noted down here was about the weather, making sure you book your hero experience up front. But it is really important to do that and, like Tracey said, like, just monitor the weather. These boats won't go out if they think it's dangerous or unsafe at all, so you don't have to worry about that yourself. But they will go out if it's cloudy or, you know, a bit of rain. So if you can see that and you think, oh, you know it's going to be nice and sunny the following day, if you've got it booked in, you can cancel it or move it. So yeah, I definitely, but book it for the first day and don't go. Oh, I'll just wait and see what the weather's like, because you might just miss out um, because they do book out and now most places allow you to change um 24 hours ahead yeah, no, that's perfect.

Speaker 1: 38:18

Well, I have to say which Sundays are are a fabulous place to visit. Whether you live in Australia and you're looking at somewhere to to to go and visit over the winter months or the summer months even, or if you're from overseas and you're planning a full itinerary visit to Australia, visit to Queensland, definitely consider adding in a visit to the Whitsundays. We know it's a highlight for for many, many people. I know, melissa, you book a lot people onto Whitsundays and have a lot of inquiries and I just thought actually we kind of rushed into this start because I want to talk about the the wit sundays and obviously you are a fellow lady who travels, um. So if anybody hasn't listened to the episodes before, melissa myself and Shelley at the moment do, ladies who travel episodes at the end of each month. So Melissa comes on that, but she's also, um the author and owner of the Queensland Travel Guide and the Brisbane Travel Guide, so would you just give us a quick overview of those and where people can find you as well, melissa?

Speaker 3: 39:12

Thank, you, Tracey? Yes, I do, Because I live in Brisbane, in Queensland, and I do know a lot of international guests coming want to spend some time in Queensland. So I have the Brisbane Travel Guide website and the Queensland Travel Guide website to help you make your plans. But I'm also a travel planner myself. So if you just want someone to take care of all the planning for you, I can plan it and book it and ensure you have a fabulous time in Queensland or Australia. Yeah, whatever it is, I can help you with that.

Speaker 1: 39:44

Perfect, and I will link to both your websites and your planning page in the show notes as well, and we're going to add some photos that both myself and Alyssa have taken during our visits to Whitsundays and you can find those at globaltravelplanningcom. Forward slash, episode 75. But for this week's episode, as always, until next week, happy global travel planning.

Speaker 1: 40:06

Bye, bye, this week's episode. As always, until next week, happy global travel planning. Bye, hey, bye. Thank you for joining us on this episode of the global travel planning podcast. For more details and links to everything we discussed today, check out the show notes at globaltravelplanningcom. Remember. If you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us a review on your favorite podcast app, because your feedback helps us reach more travel enthusiasts, just like you, anyway. That leaves me to say, as always, happy global travel planning.