Whitsundays Scenic Flight

The 9 seater Air Van.

The Whitsundays from the air.

Whitehaven Beach.

Solway Lass out on the next trip.

Part of the Great Barrier Reef.

The heart shaped reef seen at low tide and probably about a metre underwater.

Co-pilot Joe

Returning to Airlie Beach dead ahead.

Sunday, July 10^th

Got a message from Betty that John's surgery went well!

I woke up early and listened to music for a while before some of the others in my 8 person room woke up. Then I went down to the storage locker and organized my stuff and repacking the carry on bag and backpack. Then I left it all locked up there, checked out and walked to Xpackers to catch the van to the airport for my morning scenic flight. There was a small accident with the van and a tourist van so we were delayed but I eventually got there.

I boarded the nine seat plane for a flight over the Whitsunday Islands. (The islands, by the way, got their name because James Cook discovered then on the British holiday of Whitsunday. Same thing happened for Christmas Island and Easter Island.) I had requested the co-pilot seat and got it. The flight was an hour long and flew out over the gorgeous sand swirls of Whitehaven Beach and several of the 74 Whitsunday Islands. The beach is rated as one of the best beaches in the world. The only way to get to it is by boat and the whole beach is untouched, no stores, kiosks or hotels, just the natural beauty. Apart from the gorgeous white sand, from a high vantage point you can see the effects the tide has on the sands as it ebbs and flows into the narrows of the island. The swirls of white sand and turquoise water make it spectacular. The sand is so white and pure that it reflects most of the suns rays and remains cool to the feet even on the hottest days.

Then we continued out over the Coral Sea to the outer Great Barrier Reef. It was low tide and we had excellent views of the coral formations beneath us. One is particular is world famous and was even mentioned in David Attenborough's Blue Planet. It is heart shaped. We took two passes over Whitehaven and the heart shaped reef so that both sides of the plane could see them. Then we flew back to Airlie. We had a spectacular view of the town and the harbour as we came in for our landing. Then I was shuttled back to town.

I only had three hours left before my shuttle to the airport for the my flight home. I wandered around town checking out a few shops then picked up my luggage and found a restaurant for a lunch/dinner of calamari and a beer. Then I walked to catch the airport shuttle. The airport at Proserpine is very small and we boarded our flight quickly. I had to change planes at Brisbane for my flight back to Melbourne. Thus ends another great two week school holiday.