It's the Tropics!

The town of Airlie Beach was our first introduction to the state of Queensland territory. The Proserpine airport functions primarily for tourists visiting the southern part of the GBR. Shute Harbor is one of the major launch harbors for the reef cruises and Airlie beach is only 20mts away from there. We bought tickets on the Whitsunday coach transit that picks people from the airport and drops them at their hotels. It was a comfortable ride all the way. It was green everywhere, and it was hot - ofcourse we were in the Tropics!

I have to mention about the town of Airlie beach. It seemed to us that it was built around tourists and functioned like a well-oiled machine. There are buses that take you to and from the town to the airport, and there is a bus that waits to pick people and drop them off at their hotels after the cruise, cruises operate on a tight schedule and are very punctual, and not to mention the ever cheerful bus drivers!

We took an apartment close to the city of Airlie beach. The apartment was basic, comfortable and had a great view of the Airlie beach harbor. It felt like home. I remember the first thing M and I decided as soon as we landed - to spend a day doing nothing! And that's what we did the first day at Airlie beach.

Out of the innumerable options cruise companies were offering to see the GBR, we chose to go on a full day cruise operated by Fantasea Cruises. We left at 7:15 took the shuttle bus to Shute Harbor, to catch the ferry that leaves at 8:00. It was a great day to be out, bright, sunny and calm water conditions. Fantasea had a very friendly crew onboard. It took us an hour and 45mts to reach the Reef. It was one of the best days to be on a cruise, if I can quote the captain, and that's how it seemed for the first hour of the ride. After a smooth ride the first hour, we were rudely struck by surprise when we got to the open seas with no land on sight! It was hard not to notice all the ship shaking! The waters were extremely choppy, and the crew was doing everything they could to keep us distract us. I remember looking one time to the sides of the ship and I remember the ship literally rocking in the swells of the water! We were told that conditions would get a lot better when we get near the shallow waters of the reef and we were thankful it did!




Fantasea had a pontoon docked permanently on the reef which had facilities for a lot of water activities. While M decided to snorkel, I went on the semi-submersible boat to watch the corals up close. The corals were of so many colors, shapes and sizes. . Its hard to imagine the corals as any one shape or color, and that's probably what makes it special. The corals which are actually living polyps have been forming under water for so many thousands of years, and the reason why it is only found here is because of two elements - sunlight and shallow waters. This part of the Pacific is the most expansive area of the ocean waters which are shallow (about 25-30ft) and have abundant sunlight. This is a true natural wonder and the only one of its kind visible from space!

The next day we went on another full day cruise with a half day stopover at Hamilton Island and the second half of the day in Whiteaven beach. Hamilton Island is the only resort island among the 74 Whitsunday Islands. A perfect destination for resort lovers. It had facilities for squash, bowling, pool tables, golf, tennis and even a secluded beach with beach chairs all available for use for all visitors. It is exactly the kind of place you want to stay if you want to pamper yourself and relax! After a half a day stop at the Island we boarded our cruise, treated ourselves to a hearty lunch served on board, and we were on our way to Whitehaven beach.

Going from Hamilton, Whitehaven beach is on the Whitsunday Island,the biggest island in the archipelago. To get to the beach, the ship has to go through a narrow passage between two small islands, and to get through this, wind conditions would have to be just right. Luckily the wind direction turned out in our favour, and soon after the ship crossed the passage we could se the beautiful blue waters of Whitehaven right in front of us. The captain docked about 25ft from the beach and we were transported to the beach on a small pontoon. Other than the beach, the rest of the Whitsunday Island is a tropical rainforest. There is no human activity on the island. There are only day visitors to the beach and these are people visiting, like we did, on cruises from the mainland, and on private boats. We were among a few dozen people on this 8-mile strectch of sand, and I must say we are some lucky beings to experience this unspoilt beauty!

We were leaving Airlie Beach to Brisbane the next day, and to Sydney the following. The trip had worked out better than we had imagined. If it was one thing that we were certain about in our minds, it is that we had to come back to this beautiful country yet another time! When we do, we hope to do the rail trip on the Indian Pacific, aptly so because it connects from Perth, city on the Indian Ocean, to Sydney, the city on the Pacific. That, I imagine would be one of the nicest ways to see the 'nothingness' of the West!