Whitsunday Islands

The 70-odd Whitsunday Islands are probably the best-known and most developed islands on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The islands lie scattered on both sides of the Whitsunday Passage, about 10 km from the reef and some 50 km from Shute Harbor on the mainland. All of the Whitsunday Islands are continental islands and all but five of them are included into national parks. Many have fine fringing reef systems.

The islands are home to a wide variety of wildlife, including goannas, possums, rock wallabies and more than 150 bird species. Inland, many islands have vine forests, hoop pines, eucalypts and acacias. The surrounding waters are usually the clearest around the northern outer islands such as Hook, Border, Deloraine and Langford Islands. Snorkeling and scuba diving are best practiced there. Fishing is allowed from some of the islands, but limited. The Whitsundays also offer good sailing and yachting possibilities. All kind of boat trips are available to the islands and beyond to the reef. Scenic flights and joyrides are another way to see the islands.

Some of the most interesting islands in the group include Daydream Island, Hamilton Island, Hayman Island, Hook Island, Lindeman Island, Long Island and South Molle. They all have resorts where you can stay and some of them include camp sites, or other sorts of accommodation.

Accommodation is quite expensive in most of the resorts, but it is possible to camp on several of the islands. Hook has a privately run campsite and there are National Park campsites on the islands of North Molle, Whitsunday, Henning, Border, Haslewood, Shaw, Thomas and Repulse. If you plan to camp on one of the islands, remember that you have to be entirely self-sufficient, which means that you will have to bring all the gear and food you need, as well as a fuel stove, as wood fires are either banned or unwelcome. It is especially important to bring water. Most of the islands do not have fresh water and the resorts do not sell any if you are camping, instead of staying at the resort.

If you fly to the Whitsundays, you can choose between Hamilton Island and Lindeman, which both have an airfield. You can also fly to Proserpine on the mainland and take a boat from there. Airlie Beach is the mainland center for the Whitsundays though. It has plenty of travel agents and tour operators. Most boats leave from Shute Harbor, 8 km east of Airlie Beach and the Abel Point Marina, which is 1 km to the west. The main stopping-off point of the Whitsunday Islands is Hamilton Island. The majority of the resorts have their own boats to ferry their guests to and from there. For island hopping, you should use water taxis and cruises.