After our koala experience it was still only early in the day and we were happy to go back to the house for a chill. However, we were looking at the weather for our trip the next day and it didn’t look too promising…perhaps a little bit too windy. We decided to take a chance and see if we could change our trip to that afternoon instead as we really didn’t want to miss out. Luckily for us, they had space.
We had our lunch at the apartment and then at 12:45 we were checked in for our ‘Best of Both Worlds’ helicopter flight with Hamilton Air. This really was going to be a trip of a lifetime and I was incredibly excited to be doing it. We met our helicopter pilot , Aaron, and after we were weighed, he took us out to the micro helicopter that was waiting for us on the tarmac. It was indeed micro and we agreed that Jane would sit upfront with Aaron and I’d be in the back.
We set off and were soon flying over the sandy bays, forested hillsides and sparkling sea. It had turned into a rather lovely, hot sunny afternoon.
Soon we were flying right along Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. This is the place I’ve wanted to see for such a long time as it often features in the lists of best beaches in the world etc. It is much longer than I’d expected at 7kms and is famous for its dazzling white 98% pure silica sand and turquoise waters. Lots of boat trips visit the beach and in fact we’d be doing one of these the day after next. But for now Aaron promised to land us where there’d be no one else around. Well, this was almost true…although to start with there was another helicopter landed right near us. Once we landed, Aaron helped us get out and set up a picnic mat and umbrella for us. He even offered us some bubbles, but we declined and just had water! The silica sand is incredibly bright but it doesn’t actually get hot on your feet so it was lovely to walk around and then have a paddle. We had about 45 mins here and Aaron encouraged us to have a swim. I was a little bit nervous of the stingers but after a while I decided to go for it and had a tiny dip, just so I could say I did! The water was lovely and warm and ‘sans’ (without) Jellyfish!
Jane meanwhile took lots of photos as the light kept changing with the sun coming in and out of the clouds. It really is the most beautiful place although how exactly we were going to fill a day here in 2 days time, I wasn’t sure.
Next we were back in the helicopter and now we flew over the other famous view of Hill Inlet. Here the silica sand swirls about in the mouth of the inlet and it is a spectacular sight.
Now Aaron said it would be about a 25 mins flight until we reached our next stop which was Hardy Reef on the Outer Great Barrier Reef. In the meantime we flew over the incredible reefs for miles admiring the colours and patterns below. He pointed out Hook Reef and the Instagram Favourite ‘Heart Reef’ which we circled twice. Some parts of the reef are exposed whereas in other places the water can be up to 60metres deep.
Eventually, we could see the pontoon of Reefworld at Hardy Reef and we landed onto a separate floating platform and waited whilst the big boat full of day trippers packed up and left. Thank goodness, it had 240 people on board and looked a bit hectic. Once they’d gone we were picked up by Regan on a tender and taken the short distance over to the pontoon. The only people remaining at Reefworld were us and the handful of folk who’d be staying overnight! Whilst Aaron got things organised we had a look through the windows of the underwater chamber and then it was time to get into our Stinger suits. These are basically a one piece blue suit that covers you from head to toe and protects you from Jellyfish stings. They insist that everyone wears them out here and we looked like a very attractive couple of Smurfs. We got our masks, snorkels, life vests, cameras and fins ready and Aaron gave us the instructions on where to swim etc. Let the adventures begin….this was where Jane had first learned that she could snorkel but now would be my first opportunity to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef.
Where shall we go to next? 