New Years Eve in Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays Cruise

Day 28

This morning we picked up our camper van for the drive to the Whitsundays, this was a relocation camper that was booked out over New Year and so we had 24 hours to deliver it.

So we collected our Wicked Camper from the Brisbane depot and headed up the Bruce Highway to Airlie Beach.

Its a very basic camber with a cold box for a fridge and a gas ring to cook on.

Our first stop on route was Noosa as it had been recommended that we stop there.  Because it was still the Christmas holidays it was very busy and we were unable to park so I just took a quick photo before we were on our way.

 We drove through some lovely places and the views were stunning.. A quick photo had to be taken at Gin Gin, a place my husband said I should live due to my love of gin.

If you have got a bit more time than we had than one place to make a bit of a detour to is Bundaberg, it is famous for one thing, it’s Rum distillery. If you are into that sort of thing it’s definitely going to be worth the detour for you, but it does add at least an hour (just in driving time) to the trip.

We tend to share the driving doing on average 2 hours each before stopping to get a cold drink/coffee or to use the rest rooms and quite often take a picnic lunch with us.

At one stage the sat nav took us totally off the map on to a dirt track road for about 6km (felt like a lot longer) we also lost phone network too during this time, lets just say I wasn't very impressed and a bit nervous as we didn't really see any other cars or houses.

There are lots of Rest stops on route and a lot of driver reviver sites that offer complimentary coffee/tea to travellers and you just put a donation in the charity box.  

It was getting dark so we decided to stop at the reviver sites to cook our dinner, so we started the gas burner up and had a little cook up of quick frying steak and onions for an onion baguette which we sat and ate at the rest area before starting off again.

We had aimed to stop the night in Rockhampton, the steak capital of Australia, we arrived around 9pm, we stopped at a camping site, Southside Holiday Village  where we booked a camping site without power for $30 for the night, it was worth it for the showers we had the next morning.  We watched a movie on netflix and had a couple of glasses of wine before getting a few hours sleep as we were going to be up at sunrise to continue the trip.

Distance: 615km

Day 29

We arrived in to Airlie Beach around noon and checked in to our accommodation before returning the camper van.

Distance: 482km 

We went off exploring the area, there are some really nice shops in Airlie Beach.  We found Shuckz Oyster & Champagne Bar, I had managed to get Andy to like oysters on this trip and especially when washed down with some bubbly.

There is a lovely boardwalk that curves along the foreshore of Airlie Beach which makes it very easy for getting around.

Andy even found a new friend!  

We had booked a 1 night 2 day cruise around the Whitesundays and got our 2nd nights accommodation free in Magnums hostel.  Its in a really good location We had a private twin bedded room with TV, which despite being small was very comfortable.  They also store your luggage for you whilst you go off on the cruise as you can only take a small canvas bag with you on the boat.




So the next morning we headed down to the harbour area where we boarded the SV Whitehaven on our Eco Sailing Safari.  We would be sharing the boat with around 22 other people and 3 staff members.  With the sailing boats you take your own alcohol on board but your meals are included.



It's a very casual affair on the SV Whitehaven and a real mix of people on board too.  






Quite a while after lunch we arrived at our afternoon location for snorkelling.  Irukandji Jellyfish are one of the most dangerous in the world and are often found in this area and so everyone has to wear a stinger suit before they are allowed off the boat and in the water.

That evening after dinner and an incredible sunset we turned the music on, enjoyed a few drinks and turned the lights out so that we could enjoy the starlit night and some shooting starts, although there were a couple of people desperately looking for the North Star!

Today we visited Whitehaven Beach, which included a bushwalk to the incredible Hill Inlet Lookout, this gives you the most amazing and instragramable picture of the stunning Whitehaven Beach.

We then walked down to the beach, it was the softest white sand I have been on and totally breathtaking.  We even saw a few stingrays swimming around 

When we got back to the boat, it was lunch time again and whilst we were all enjoying it the turtle popped up to say hello next to our sailing boat.

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