Whitsunday Island - Cairns. Bounty Bars & Sugarcane
Whitsunday Island is one of 74 islands in the chain. Its claim to fame is the white sand beach, with powder-like fine sand that gives the area movie star glamor status. If you've ever seen commercials for solar oil – Bounty Bars or Ice cream – yep…you've got the picture.
Being the financially conscious globetrotters that we are, we hop aboard one little propeller plane, to see it all from above. It gives a good overview of the area and the trip even goes beyond the Great Barrier Reef.
There is a complete Indiana Jones atmosphere as we sit in the small plane and have a full view of the pilots. At the same time, we can see the rainforest below us with rivers - including crocodiles. After a slightly turbulent ride over the ridges, we fly out over the water - over the smaller islands and out to Whitsunday Island.
We can clearly see the famous beach and not least Hill Inlet, which in good weather does not disappoint with its beautiful sand pattern. The trip continues beyond the Great Barrier Reef to the small - but famous - heart reef. Sus even spots two large manta rays in the clear water, now we are even more looking forward to going diving.
After a successful flight, we can only look forward to tomorrow - when the trip goes out to Whitehaven Beach via ship.
Our quest for warmer weather has definitely come true. Now it actually is for hot. We are not easy to please. 31 degrees and sun from a cloudless sky. It's almost too much of a good thing. We slather on sunscreen and buy some really smart hats (for tourists only). The Australians seem wise enough to stay in the shadows.
There are few places left on our catamaran ship. You can choose between the sun or pure indoors. Like the sunny Scandinavians that we are, we take a seat in the sun and start sailing. We have to enjoy the view...
First quick stopover is Daydream Island. A small island, crammed to bursting point with hotels and luxury.
We continue to Hamilton Island. Same concept and still not a place in the shade. The skin is getting crispy and Johnny remembers that he hasn't put sunscreen on his knees, which are starting to light up like a red lantern.
Arrived at Whithaven Beach, we are ferried ashore by small tender boats.
There are offers for paddleboards, swimming and various games. It is probably very nice - if you are the Instagram-ready generation. But our self-awareness tells us – if we are out in the sun for 2 minutes longer – we will spontaneously burst into flames.
They quickly look for the picnic area, which is completely in the shade.
Having recovered from the heat shock, we go down to the beach again. A young couple is getting married on the beach. Romance and glamor for all the money.
A little more aloof, it could also be possible to fly with the drone, without raising suspicions of voyeurism.
A good day on the water, where a few Danes ended up wearing Dannebrog's colours, red and white striped like bacon.
The Great Barrier Reef is the destination for this trip's diving, so the course is set for Cairns.
The tour goes through large areas of sugar cane production. Small trains transport the harvested sugarcane further towards the sugar factories.
Along the entire trip north, there are lots of hills and mountains.
We are quite amazed and excited about how mountainous east coast Australia is. We didn't seem to have heard much about that. TV always focuses on wildlife, desert, flatland and outback. But here is wild rainforest, mountains, sugar cane, banana palms and orange production.
Great Barrier Reef – here we come.