The Whitsundays

The largest island in the group, National Parks-run Whitsunday Island, is also one of the most enjoyable. Its east coast is home to the 5km-long Whitehaven Beach, easily the finest in all the islands, and on the agenda of just about every cruise boat in the region. Blindingly white, and still clean despite the numbers of day-trippers and campers, it’s a beautiful spot so long as you can handle the lack of distractions. The campsite on the southern end of the beach facing Haslewood Island is above the tide line, with minimal shelter provided by whispering casuarinas, and the headland here is the best place for snorkelling. On the northern end of the beach is a short track leading up to popular Hill Inlet Lookout with its keenly photographed views of the sand-ridden bay.

Over on Whitsunday’s west side, Cid Harbour is a quieter hideaway that lacks a great beach but instead enjoys a backdrop of giant granite boulders and tropical forests, with several more campsites above coral and pebble shingle. Dugong Beach is the nicest, sheltered under the protective arms and buttressed roots of giant trees; it’s a twenty-minute walk along narrow hill paths from Sawmill Beach, where you’re likely to be dropped off.

Directly north of Whitsunday, and pretty similar in appearance, Hook Island is the second largest in the group. The easiest passage to the island is on a transfer with Voyager from Abel Point Marina west of Airlie Beach to the low-key and fairly basic resort at the island’s southeastern end. There are also several National Parks campsites around the island, the pick of which is at southern Curlew Beach – sheltered, pretty and accessible only with your own vessel or by prior arrangement with a tour operator.

Snorkelling on the reef directly in front of the resort is a must. The water is cloudy on large tides, but the coral outcrops are all in fairly good condition and there’s plenty of life around, from flatworms to morays and parrotfish. Day-cruises run from Airlie to the snorkelling spots and visit the top-rate fringing coral at Manta Ray Bay, Langford Reef and Butterfly Bay, on the northern and northeastern tips of the island – visibility can be poor here, but on a good day these sites offer some of the best diving in the Whitsundays.

South Molle Island was a source of fine-grained stone for Ngaro Aborigines, a unique material for the tools that have been found on other islands and may help in mapping trade routes. The slightly dated Adventure Island Resort in the north of the island offers guided walks: a series of fabulous coastal walking tracks from behind the golf course leads through gum trees and light forest, encompassing vistas of the islands from the top of Spion Kop and Mount Jeffreys, and on to some quiet beaches at the south end.

South Molle’s resort can sometimes organize a lift to the campsite on uninhabited North Molle Island, only 2km away; the beach here is made up of rough coral fragments, but the snorkelling is fairly good. There are another couple of campsites on Mid-Molle Island, joined to South Molle by a low-tide causeway about half a kilometre from the resort.

Daydream Island is little more than a tiny wooded rise between South Molle and the mainland, with a narrow coarse-sand beach running the length of the east side, and coral to snorkel over at the north end.

Tiny Planton, Tancred and Denman islands are just offshore from South Molle – with no facilities and limited camping at the National Parks sites here, they’re about as isolated as you’ll get in the Whitsundays. All three are surrounded by reef, but be careful of strong currents.

Long Island is exactly that, being not much more than a narrow, 10km ribbon almost within reach of the mainland forests. There are a few looping hikes through the rainforest to Sandy Bay (where there’s a National Parks campsite) or up Humpy Point. Long Island Resort at Happy Bay is a beach resort that’s popular with couples and families, with all sorts of entertainment on hand.

With a large marina, an airstrip, tons of motorized sports and several high-rise apartment towers, Hamilton Island is the only brazenly commercial spot on the islands. Privately owned, its businesses operate under a lease: development includes a quaint colonial waterfront with bank, post office, bakery, nightclub, a handful of overpriced restaurants  and six hotels. The twin towers of Reef View Hotel loom over the east beach complex, and the best view of the whole area is from one of its external glass lifts, which run up to penthouse level. To explore the island, you can rent a motorized dinghy from the marina or a golf buggy from opposite the ferry terminal to ride around the residential roads twisting along the northern peninsula. The best option, though, is the well-used walking track to the 239m-high Passage Peak, which offers the finest 360-degree panorama in the Whitsundays.

Lindeman Island suffered as a victim of feral goats, though their eradication has seen native plants making a comeback in a small melaleuca swamp and on the wooded northeast side. Mount Oldfield offers panoramic views, while other walking tracks lead to swimming beaches on the north shore. The family-oriented Club Med resort, Australia’s first, has all the services you’d expect including a golf course and kids’ clubs.