Whitsundays

One of the last places to see on our Aussie list were the Whitsundays. Our original plan was to take a sailing cruise but with a toddler that was out of question. Instead we spent 3 nights on each Long Island and Hamilton Island. We spent the first three days at Palm Bay resort on Long Island and we have enjoy it a lot. The resort is very small and our bungalow was practically on the beach. Although the sand was a bit scarce our son enjoyed being on the beach or at the pool all day long. The free kayaks were also quite nice since it was easier to reach the snorkeling spot about 150m out. The coral was not very large but it was very diverse with most of the coral types being present. Also there were quit a lot of fish species. The only downside was the current which made the water a bit murky. Diving couple of meters made the view much clearer though. The second part of the trip on Hamilton Island was not that nice: too many people, the only beach was usable only in the morning (with the afternoon tide the water was far away and the beach was rocky and muddy) and the pool at our accommodation was small and toddler unfriendly. From Hamilton we have taken a tour to ReefWorld and one to Whitehaven beach. Reefworld was a disappointment since I did not see anything I haven`t seen before. The reef was certainly big but that was about all. The good part of Reefworld was the heli ride which provided an overview of the area. Whitehaven beach was certainly nice and we would have spent more time there. Our bad planning meant we could not take advantage of the lowest tides of the year at Hill inlet....everything was already booked. The same happened at ReefWorld ...all fly/cruise tours were booked so we had to spend extra for the heli tour on top of being on the boat 2 hours each way.