Airlie Beach and Whitsundays: Where Magic Meets Adventure
A week brimming with adventure, food, and unadulterated fun.
Tiktok videos of the Whitsundays were one of the deciding reasons we booked flights to the other side of the world, and there have been difficult days during our time here when we didn’t think we would ever make it, being forced to head home early without ticking off these massive bucket-list items like Whitehaven Beach and the Heart Reef. Yet here we are!
This past week exploring Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays has been an absolute dream, and I will have some more detailed, separate posts for all of our excursions.
For now, here is the breakdown of our week in paradise!
Day 1 — Escape from camp!
For the first time since we started working swings, we didn’t have to catch a flight to our final destination and it felt like such a blessing! Flying can take it out of us especially when Liam has been on late shifts the night before. It was so easy to jump on the free bus from camp that dropped us off directly at the airport and head straight to the rental desk. No security, check-in or stress required.
The customer service rep at Europcar was lovely and let me pick from 4 different cars, we ended up with a Nissan X-Trail which is a huge car for a girl who learned to drive in a Nissan Pixo and drives a golf buggy daily at work.
Car rental is so cheap in Australia, and it really is something that everyone should take advantage of. I once hired a 2024 Toyota Rav4 for $50/£25 for a day just to go to my work medical as it was cheaper than an Uber. And for our next week off in Gold Coast, I have managed to get a 2024 plate SUV for just $138/£69 for 7 days! Insane value and makes travelling so much easier.
This week was $500/£250 for 7 days, regional Australia is always a bit more expensive. The car was brand new and had under 1000km on the clock, it was a dream to drive the 2 hours north to Airlie Beach even if Liam kept slating my music choices (Paolo Nutini is not “shit” nor “the worst thing I have ever heard”, he is a legend and Coming Up Easy is a great song to start off a road trip).
We stayed at Whitsunday Terraces and booked a 1-bed studio. Out of all 3 of our trips so far this accommodation was the most expensive and the most basic, but the view was absolutely to die for and almost made up for the price. As soon as you open the door you are greeted by a large balcony that overlooks one of Airlie Beach’s stunning Marinas, looking out to sea and some of the Whitsunday Islands. However, you do not get a view like that without driving up a very steep 30% incline. Let’s just say I am very thankful Australians drive automatics because I was not going to be able to do a hill start in that big car on that big hill for an entire week. It would have made the week a lot more stressful. Over the week, we actually walked up the mountain only twice and instead would drive down and park rather than killing ourselves as well as exposing our terrible cardiovascular health, trying to reach the apartment.
The apartment was lovely but the kitchen didn’t have an oven or a hob, which was fine this week as we didn’t have much time or desire to cook, but normally we (I) cook at least one or two meals over the week. The apartment also didn’t have wifi and we had very spontaneously bought a Nintendo Switch on our way to Airlie Beach, so we were in desperate need to download some games. I don’t even want to look at how many times we bought more data this week. The hotel did have two pools and a bar and restaurant, which we didn’t take much advantage of, however, it was full most nights so we probably should have given it a go!
What I will say is everyone we met this week was so lovely! The lady at reception was very kind and gave us a brochure and highlighted places she had recently been and recommended, and shoutout to the lovely housekeeper who came and serviced our room, she was an absolute angel! If they had wifi I would 100% stay here again for a week, but we probably would only stay again if we were staying in Airlie for just a couple of days next time.
Day 2 — $1000 on Apple Pay and Dickies Dogs
First official day in Airlie and of course we were hungry, after two weeks of camp food I was excited for some flavour and variety. We were recommended to try out Dickies Dogs Diner and I am so happy we went! It is somewhere we probably wouldn’t have gone without the recommendation, as it is right at the end of the town and we would have had no idea it existed. The diner serves international cuisine-themed hot dogs and the decor is 10/10. It is run by a husband and wife duo, and their son has actually moved to Perth, Scotland! The buns were baked fresh in-store and the food was delicious and such a big serving! Liam got the Coney Island Dog and I got the Mexican-themed Dog, we didn’t even realise both came with Chilli Con Carne but both were delicious. We even went back the next day for our hungover lunch!
After Dickies Dogs we knew we had to book our excursions for the week, as it is currently low season we weren’t worried about not getting onto the trips we wanted as much as we were concerned about weather and the conditions. Now we were full, Liam turned to me and said “Let’s be careful here, let’s not spend $1000”. Spoiler alert: We spent more than $1000 and I have never tapped my Apple Pay so happily.
We booked the Whitsundays Day tour with Thunder Cat and the Heart Reef Flight with Ocean Rafting. Both of which I will write full reviews for and link below!
We booked our excursions for the week through Tina Cook at Whitsundays Bookings (info@whitsundaybookings.com.au). We hadn’t researched at all where to get our excursions but happened to wander into Tina’s shop first. I genuinely cannot recommend her enough! She went through tide times, weather reports, wind reports, and specific timings as well as directly phoning the tour companies to ensure we could have the best times to see the reef with low-tide and best weather, even if those times were seemingly unavailable online. And she had a lovely dog, Nala, to cuddle to celebrate your bookings!
We explained to her what we wanted from our day at the Whitsundays and she talked us through all of the options available, pushing us for the one that worked the best for us and not the most expensive. Tina has lived in Airlie Beach for 30 years and told us she had flown the Heart Reef flight 10 times. She is 100% what you need when you are looking to book tours in a tourist town. A lot of the other shops in Airlie seemed to be staffed by British lads on Working Holiday Visas, nothing against this, but you want someone who knows the place like the back of their hands in all seasons.
We left Tina’s bouncing, $1100 lighter but so excited for the week ahead. We wandered all around the boardwalk taking in the sights and talking through all of the details of the upcoming week. We then hopped in the car and decided to just have a spontaneous drive around Airlie Beach, putting some tunes on and having a singsong.
Before coming to Airlie Beach we asked for recommendations from our work colleagues as because it is so close to our camp a lot of them have frequented Airlie Beach lots of times. One recommendation that came up was Cedar Creek Falls, we had made a plan to come and find these waterfalls later in the week but we accidentally stumbled across them whilst on our drive!
The waterfalls were beautiful and a very short drive from Airlie, we clearly had gone the long way on our mini road trip! As it was so spontaneous we hadn’t brought our swimming gear but it would have been lovely for a wee dip. We grabbed some photos, took in the scenery, and then headed to the Bottle-o as because our excursions weren’t until Sunday, we could go out out tonight!
Airlie is known for its nightlife and we had the best little time. The rounds were much cheaper than we have experienced elsewhere in Australia which surprised me and there was some variety of places to go depending on your vibe. We headed first to Magnums which had a live band playing but was a bit dead for a Friday night, so we headed along to Paddy Shenanigans.
Now, I am quite notoriously a bit of a spiritual woo-woo girly. I am a big fan of signs from the universe, and honestly, if I had asked for a sign from the universe that day that everything was falling perfectly into place and we were exactly where we were meant to be then the singer in Paddy Shenanigans would have been that sign. First and foremost, he was an amazing singer with an unreal voice, the place was hanging on his every word and secondly, the first 3 songs he played when we walked in the door are probably the three most important songs to me in the whole wide world. It was fate and I won’t hear anything else about it because how did this man play The Gambler by Kenny Rodgers, followed by Zach Bryan, my absolute favourite, followed by Riptide by Vance Joy which is a song that means a lot to me and my family. It felt so nice, and I really could not believe it. I wish I could thank that singer personally because any sign from home when you are 10,000 miles away is just such a special feeling.
We then decided to head upstairs to BOOM nightclub. Instead of UK cheese-floor circa 2016 the vibes were more UK cheese-floor circa 2021, Australia club music might be getting slightly better as time goes on OR our standards for good club music have been dropping rapidly. They did play a great mix of Down Under by Men at Work which is the song Liam and I blasted out of the Pixo on Chilli Road when we got our visas accepted. The universe was really universe-ing that night.
Also a huge shoutout to the two German girls in the bathroom who thought I was German when I spoke to them. You gave my ego a fat boost and I will be riding on the glory of this compliment for the rest of time.
After a questionable kebab, we headed back up Mount Everest to our apartment. Drunk, full, happy.
Day 3 — Airlie Beach Saturday Market (hungover)
No surprise but we were ever so slightly a teeny weeny bit hungover. But the next day was Whitehaven beach day so I needed a swimsuit. (I would like to thank Australia Post for this predicament … how can I order a swimsuit with 1–3 days delivery on the 8th of May and it arrived TODAY (the 17th of May?)
If I had to explain to someone what the worst day of my life would contain, it would probably have at least some elements of being disgustingly hungover in a very small town trying to find a swimsuit that I would be happy to be photographed in and doesn’t cost me $23,913.99. A strong highlight would also probably contain a sales assistant in Baku insisting on making small talk with me through the changing room curtain. Meanwhile, I am trying not to have a breakdown over the ugly ass bikini she sent me in with, and she is basically bullying me to step out onto the shop floor so she could “fit me properly”. Absolutely not. I wanted to shrivel up and eat a Maccas.
Anyway, I found a cute swimsuit in the last shop I went into (typical). While Liam, rightfully, chilled in our apartment, I decided I absolutely could not go to Airlie Beach without visiting the Saturday market. This was the wrong idea; I was hungover, tired, and I went so late that all the stalls were closing and seemed very inconvenienced by me trying to have a look. I did purchase some cute earrings though! I had to make it worth my time somehow.
On the way back I grabbed a Dickie’s Dogs takeaway for us both and we chilled in the apartment for the rest of the day. Venturing outside only to go to a dodgy little corner shop to get some water and suncream for our adventuring tomorrow. Apparently, Woolies closes at 6pm on Saturdays. Who would have thought?
Day 4 — Swirly beaches and pool noodles
Finally, the day was here! As we waited for everyone to check-in, a lady from the company sang “Happy Birthday” to a couple of people, accompanied by all of the guests and her ukulele. Liam promised he would keep his mouth shut so I didn’t have 60 strangers singing Happy Birthday to me but we were giggling so much she confronted me.
ThuderCat Ukulele lady — “You’re hiding something”
Liam- “It’s her birthday”
So 60 strangers sang Happy Birthday to me before we headed onto our boat for the day.
Our Skippers were Zacko and Gus and they had the tunes blasting from the second we left the harbour. It was about an hour’s journey to our first snorkel session. It was bumpy but manageable. When we got to the first snorkel point at Manta Ray Bay we were given Pool Noodles and snorkel goggles.
Manta Ray Bay felt like we were jumping into a fish bowl, I cannot even describe how clear the water was and how incredible the fish looked. We were able to swim in the area for about an hour. There were Clownfish, angel fish, some iridescent blue fish and a huge black one about 4 feet long that came right by us and Liam didn’t even notice!
We then hopped back on the boat as they headed round to another part of Hook Island to snorkel for the second time. Anyone who knows me, knows I am such a water/ocean/sea girl, and take no heed jumping headfirst into the North Sea in January. It still feels so strange to me when I go into the ocean in Australia that the water is warm. I jumped off the boat expecting that cold shock to wake me up and make me feel alive like a cold plunge in the North Sea, but the water is a balmy 26 degrees around here. It is like a great big beautiful crystal blue bath, that you share with millions of pretty fish and coral. This snorkel was predominantly to look at the coral however there were lots of fish here too. I had never seen coral up close before and it was astonishing. Every single size and shape you could imagine, ones that looked like clouds and brains and flowers just bobbing and living right below the surface. We only spent about 25 minutes snorkelling in this area as we were pretty exhausted being in the ocean that long, we decided to chill on the boat and look at the incredible view while the rest of the guests swam.
After this, the boat took us to Tongue Bay for lunch. The food was fab, really tasty and very fresh, we had a cold buffet selection with cold meats, Asian noodles and quiche. At this point, we were so close to the famous Whitehaven Beach and could barely contain our excitement waiting for everyone to finish their lunch. We docked at the edge of the beach at Tongue Beach and were told it was about 20 2minute hike up to the viewpoints.
The hike was quite muddy and there wasn’t much to look at as it was dense forest, but when it opened up at the top to the swirls of the bay below, the forest-covered hills and the white beach below were astonishing. There are three viewpoints to walk along, so even if it is busy at the first viewpoint you will 100% be able to get photos without anyone around at one of the three.
I had watched maybe 1000 tiktoks on the Whitsundays before we went and I still could not fathom the view or the beauty of it. The island is still very much wild, with only a tiny part of it built with a winding path and steps to the viewpoints then down to the beach itself.
We headed down to the beach and bounced down as quickly as we possibly could in our flip-flops (thongs) without falling flat on our faces. The beach was so white, and the water was so clear. Stepping through flour is the only way I could describe it. We went all the way to the end of the beach and just got straight into the water, leaving our towels and everything in our bags. Lemon sharks, manta rays and beautiful fish were swimming around our feet and ankles as we waded into the turquoise ocean.
People were sunbathing along the beach but we just didn’t see the point. You can sunbathe anywhere, but you might only ever have a few hours on Whitehaven Beach. We walked all along the front of the beach and had a lot of it completely to ourselves. It was magical, and we spent a large part of our time simply chatting about how lucky we felt, and how hard we had worked to get to this point. During our hardest days in Australia I would say to Liam that one day we would laugh about this, I recalled back to that moment standing on the most beautiful beach in the world with my favourite person. We were, in fact, laughing about those days now, as those days had led us to this exact moment, and the wait had made it 100x sweeter.
As we headed back to the boat we were one of the last back on. Sitting sweetly beside each other going through our photos and just taking in the landscape back to Airlie Beach, the boys were blasting thunder-themed songs and the boats were dancing around each other as they raced each other back to the harbour. Usually, the journey back home after an amazing day is bittersweet but they kept the vibes up and the experiences kept coming all the way back to the dock.
Looking back on this day, all I feel is deep gratitude for all that helped us get there to experience the most magical day, for our hard work, for our family making sure we didn’t have to give up and come home when things were difficult, for our job that means we can travel every two weeks, and for the team on the day who just ensured it was truly a day worthy of a big bucket-list tick.
Day 5 — Heart Reef Flight
After the Whitsundays Day Tour, it felt hard to top but we once again woke ready to jump out of bed as today we were heading to the mini airport just outside of Airlie Beach to take a flight over the reef to see the Heart Reef. I first fell in love with Heart Reef after I reposted it to my Tumblr blog in 2012, so today had been a long time coming.
The flight was in a tiny 7-seater plane and Liam and I were right up the front. Before we got on the flight she told us there were sick bags in the pocket in front of us and that we had to wear a lifejacket for the entirety of the flight. Not exactly the start I was looking for but grateful for the heads-up. The only time I have ever had motion sickness was on the road to Kelso with my mum driving like a NASCAR driver over the hills, so I felt confident I would be fine. Liam, on the other hand, can’t even look at the Waltzers without feeling queasy. His claim to fame is that he is the fastest person to have “completed” Universal Studios in Florida, probably due to the fact he didn’t go on a single ride.
The flight began over the Whitsunday Islands where we headed out to see Whitehaven Beach and its white swirls from the sky. It felt surreal knowing we were standing there the day before. The plane looped so both sides of the plane could get a good look. We then headed out to the Great Barrier Reef. This involved 10 minutes of flying over the open ocean with very little to look at or distract me from the oncoming feeling of ‘green’ in my tummy and throat. I managed to hold it together until the Heart Reef, thankfully.
Flying over the reef was incredible, and the ‘barrier’ part of the Great Barrier Reef was so evident as it does just appear out of nowhere like a fence in the ocean. The coral was incredible and looked like floral blossoms all over the blue crystal waters, when we did find the Heart Reef we again both got to have a view of it. I spontaneously shed a few tears upon seeing it, I felt like 14-year-old Eva felt so strongly about this exact moment and now I am a fully grown adult with adult money and an amazing partner and I am on the other side of the world currently flying over the actual real-life Heart Reef. It felt so beautiful and looked stunning.
It was over too quickly and we left to return for the 10 minutes over the open sea, with very little to distract me I started feeling very unwell. I was using every technique the pilot had given us; deep breathing, looking at the horizon and drinking lots of water but nothing seemed to be working. I can’t believe out of the 7 people on the flight it was me who felt so unwell. Liam was chilling and taking pics across the small aisle from me. I wanted to ground to swallow me up, or at least to feel solid ground beneath me.
We came in for a very smooth landing and I was hoping the feeling I had would subside when I left the aircraft. Unfortunately, I was still feeling very ill, which was not helped by the minibus driver acting like an absolute speed demon around every corner and hill and pothole in Airlie Beach before dropping us off. I had just had the best experience ever but all I wanted was to sit in the car with the aircon blasting.
Liam was so kind but also took no shame in laughing at little old plane-sick Eva who couldn’t even hack an hour in a private jet (I wish). We were hoping to go out that evening for food but an early night was going to be the only cure.
Day 6 — Last Day in Paradise — Good Food and Small-Town PTSD
We seem to forget that restaurants and eating out are things we like to do until our last day and then we cram them in. We headed first for brunch down at Sidewalk Cafe, which was delicious. I had a chocolate milkshake and Liam had a coffee, and the wait for food was about 30 minutes. It was quite busy, even for a Tuesday morning in low season, but so worth it!
I went for the Miso Glazed Chicken Waffles, which came with chilli scrambled eggs. It was so tasty and I almost wish I hadn’t drank a full milkshake beforehand (no regrets though), as I was so full afterwards. Liam got the Bacon and Egg roll with extra Hashbrowns, and that looked tasty as well. They prioritise local and fresh ingredients and you could tell. We will be going back, maybe without the car as the cocktail menu looked fab!
We then went for a walk around the lagoon to walk off our full tummies. When we had visited Airlie Beach previously, it was a 2-hour stop for lunch whilst on our campervan journey from Cairns to Brisbane, and honestly, we weren’t instantly impressed, but I did spend the vast majority of my time in the lagoon, hence why we hadn’t felt the need to head there during our week off.
A few people had recommended we visit Dingo Beach and the lady at reception had mentioned Cape Gloucester, so off we headed on a wee 40-minute drive from Airlie. I like driving in Australia but it is quite boring. Unless you like cattle there isn’t much to see as the roads are inland so you don’t even get the coastal views and they are usually arrow straight so you don’t even get the excitement of turning the steering wheel for long periods of it.
I honestly don’t know what we were expecting at Dingo Beach, however a lifetime ago in Australia, Liam and I had a bad experience in a very small coastal town with one beach, mountains in the background and one pub. It was a really difficult time in our lives and not one we wished to repeat. Dingo Beach was an unfortunate carbon copy of where we once stayed in a previous life. Don’t get me wrong it was beautiful. Would I have had a drink in the little beer garden if I wasn’t so traumatised by the memories Dingo Beach was reminding us of? Yes, probably, but after we set off along the beach to try make the most of it, we turned back as we were both feeling so uneasy.
I think it is hard to explain the feelings we had here but I honestly didn’t think it was worth it for us to visit there. We jumped back in the trusty Nissan and headed to Cape Gloucester. When we got there we were greeted by threatening signs of no public access to the beach and we had to be ‘day patrons’ to even park in the area. After not feeling 100% at Dingo Beach, we were not in the mood to figure out what that meant, nor were we wanting to stop for a drink, just hoping to have a look and take in the beautiful East Coast of Australia. Anyway, we put some Zach Bryan on the car speaker and enjoyed the luxury drive back to Airlie.
In the evening, we dressed up nice and headed to find a restaurant. We had no plans or ideas but there are about 8 restaurants in a row with lots of different vibes and something for everyone. We couldn’t decide what we wanted but were intrigued by the neon signs that said “Pint of Stella and 1/2kg of Chicken Wings for $25” with a big arrow pointing upstairs. Turns out it is a Mexican restaurant called Mika’s and has an open-air balcony looking over the shoreline. The staff were so friendly and despite the advert hinting otherwise, the food looked great.
In my last post, I let you know that Liam and I had up until this point failed to find any semblance of good Garlic Bread in Australia, and I am so incredibly happy to say that Mika’s might be the best Garlic Bread I have ever eaten in my entire life. Homemade fluffy bread in thick wedge slices with beautifully melted cheese and garlic on top. The portion was so large I had to stop myself from eating too much so I didn’t get full for my main course. We also ordered the Breaded Halloumi Sticks which were also delicious.
For mains, Liam got chicken fajitas and I got the chilli beef burrito bowl. Someone needs to look at the science of that sizzling Fajita plate and why it instantly instils such a strong reaction of jealousy to anyone who didn’t order the fajitas. The wraps were handmade, the guac looked incredible and the chicken looked spiced to perfection. I am saying ‘looked’ as there was no chance Liam was wasting a single bite on letting me have a taste. The burrito bowl was unfortunately underwhelming but there were so many other things on the menu and we will be back.
For drinks, Liam ordered the pint of Stella which went down terribly, and I got the tropical frozen daiquiri which was so tasty, and if we weren’t heading home the next morning I would have had five.
Afterwards, we headed to Airlie Beach Hotel. They have a bar and restaurant just beside Mika’s. As avid sports fans, we wished we had come here earlier. Every wall had multiple screens with different sports on it. On the Tuesday evening we were there they had horse and dog racing, premier league darts, basketball, baseball, and moto GP. I have probably forgotten a few too. The bar was open air so smoking was allowed at every table. The bartender was so nice and gave me recommendations on what to get and they had top-shelf spirits on sale for just $8 including Absolut. We would love to go back there for a big sporting event to watch it on the big screens, I can imagine the atmosphere would be incredible! We had an early morning heading back to camp the next day so had one drink and one last time climbed Mount Everest to bed.
Day 7 — Back to Camp/Work/Prison/Rehab
This week had been everything we had dreamed of and more, so heading home was bittersweet but I did feel a lot more relaxed than we had after our recent city breaks, and not having to fly before the coach journey back to camp was a massive bonus! Makes you wish everything in Australia was within reasonable driving distance. We headed to the shopping centre to pick up some bits and pieces before dropping the car back to Europcar. The attendant came and met us in the car park and I phoned ahead asking for another hour, and she said that she would put it through on the system as the correct time so I wouldn’t get charged. If we are renting in Mackay Airport again, I will 100% be using Europcar.
Thank you for reading this to the end! Next week we are heading back to our old home, the Gold Coast and going for a couple of days to Byron Bay. Any recs please send them our way!
