Hamilton Island Golf club is fairly close to Dent Island. The course of the golf club uses the island’s biological set up. The scenery, the food, the bar plus the relaxation which it gives are just some of the things you will enjoy. Go sailing and boating. Hamilton Island caters sailors that are looking to sail away to Whitsundays and experience the Great Barrier Reef. Go to trips by yacht and go to the Whitsunday’s 74 marvelous islands. If within a strict budget, you could choose way more affordable option to explore this beautiful place. Get physical on the beach utilizing their awesome water sports activities. The beach is all about being wet and sweats at the same time. The beaches of Hamilton island gives you the best offers in water actions like snorkelling along the Great Barrier Reef, swim and dive with colourful fishes, play some beach sports and dive in the sand, use a jet ski and speed all around the island or see the great outdoors at a slow but amusing way at a kayak.

Go on for more adventures on the dry land. The island just isn’t all about the ocean; aside from that it gives the tourists some adventure by the dry land. One may race a go kart Formula 1 style or operate an Atv bike. You maydo a little hiking around the island to see Whitsundays has to present. If you are done in getting wet, sweat and dirt all over you, you can go to a spa to loosen up and relax. Experience spa treatment or have fun with the calm water of a resort pool or just lie your back under the sun and marvel the beauty that surrounds you. After getting out of bed, you can try some conditioning in one of the island’s gym. Keep your fitness up within the island and take some time in the Sports Club which offers their guest the ideal gym equipment available in the island. From cardio equipment to barbells and weights, the gym has all this. You can play some tennis or squash if you would like do so.

You’ll find plenty of types of Whitsundays accommodation that is definitely specially made to match your holiday requirements. Go luxurious in lavish 5 star hotels and spend that extra money or have a more family oriented, reasonably-priced but excellent quality hotels and apartments. Your Whitsundays accommodation is all your choice. You just have to determine what you want and what your financial budget is and you are ready to go. Choose now and indulge yourself with this unique experience.

Best Place to Eat and Drink

The best place to buy a drink, an Australian drover once said, is any place that sells it. And that statement holds true if you find yourself in the Outback, sweltering in 40°C (105°F) and higher temperatures, with your only recourse a basic hotel selling home-brewed beer and riesling from a box. But as it’s unlikely you’ll find yourself in such a predicament during a tour of the country’s best, it’s a safe bet to say that the Blu Horizon Bar, on the 36th floor of Sydney’s Shangri-La Hotel is one of the better watering-holes, offering spectacular views of the harbour along with an impressive drinks menu.

Best Beach

If reputation is anything to go by, Bondi may well be considered the country’s best beach. However, while it is undoubtedly Australia’s best-known beach, it’s far from the best. Palm Beach and Manly to the north of the CBD are top beaches, while Tamarama and Cronulla, south of the city, are both popular with surfers. But keen surfers, and beach goers who like subtropical ambience, should head to alternative Byron Bay on the New South Wales north coast, or trendy Noosa Heads in south-eastern Queensland. Both main beaches have north-facing points that allow for a long board ride, and on-shore amenities include hip shopping and al fresco dining.

Romantic locations can be found almost anywhere in Australia – Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia is one such place, and is the perfect place to sit relax and watch the sun sink into the Indian Ocean. But the most romantic experience of all is a stay on one of the luxurious resort islands that dot the waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The most outstanding of these is Lizard Island, in the far north, offering informality laced with exclusivity, superb food, one of the reef’s most beautiful bays – the Blue Lagoon – and the best fringing coral. AOh, and the nearby Cod Hole is one of the world’s great dive sites.

If celebrity is any guide, then the best place in Australia to chill out is the fishing village-turned-tourist resort of Port Douglas, in Tropical North Queensland. You never know who you’ll run into while strolling along the golden sands of the village’s magical Four Mile Beach.

Best Culture

Aussies have a growing passion for cultural pursuits such as literature, art, theatre and music. Nationwide, the Australian states each year host an abundance of art, literary and music festivals each year, where both established performers and fresh, upcoming talents showcase their work for an adoring domestic and international audience.

Each year Sydney hosts the Sydney Writers Festival, where the best of Australia’s budding writers hope to be discovered and established authors are appreciated even more. There are similar festivals in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane, and smaller literary events are held throughout the country, encouraging and giving voice to the best of its new writers and poets.

For art lovers, the Biennale of Sydney is a “must attend” event. Held in a mix of venues throughout the city, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Art, this is an exciting celebration of innovative and contemporary Australian visual arts. And The Adelaide Festival of Arts, held biennially in the South Australian capital of Adelaide, is one of the world’s top arts’ events.

The film industry, is flourishing in Australia and its blossoming filmmakers are taking the global film industry by storm. Melbourne and Sydney have annual film festivals that attract world premieres. Contemporary cinema is what this country does best and festivals such as the Short Film Festival and Flickerfest give low-budget attempts the chance to be screened.

Each major state capital has its symphony orchestra, with and the Sydney and Melbourne ones orchestras giving regular performances at home in their respective iconic performance halls, and abroad at some of the world’s best venues. Likewise with opera, state and national companies have seasons of new and classic works that play to packed houses.

Also reaching audiences far and wide, as well as locally, is Australia’s burgeoning music industry. Not content with giving the world it’s pint-sized princess, Kylie Minogue and country singer Keith Urben, there are rock, pop and opera stars appearing in music festivals all over Australia. Taking its place now among the world music festivals is Australia’s Big Day Out, which rivals Britain’s Glastonbury for devotees – and always has fantastic weather. Slowly but surely Australia’s music scene and stage performances are adding to its portfolio of creative successes and they are rightfully being recognised around the world.

Best Wild Place

The best place to experience the Outback, and the place where you will come closest to understanding the Indigenous Australians’ profound relationship with the land, is the Red Centre. A pilgrimage to awe-inspiring Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) is near essential. Afterwards enjoy the Sounds of Silence dinner offered by the nearby Ayers Rock Resort. It’s the ultimate in alfresco dining, serving up gourmet bush tucker under a canopy of stars in the middle of the desert, followed by the haunting music of a lone didgeridoo player and the pervasive stillness of the desert.

For raw landscape, and an insight into the immense age of this remarkable country, hop from one end of the continent to the other – from the Top End’s Kakadu National Park, which contains the finest and most extensive collection of rock art in the world, to Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain, where nature’s restorative power expresses itself in spectacular alpine scenery, invigorating air and pure water.

Best Views

From futuristic city towers to rugged peaks, Australia offers some wonderful viewpoints. In Sydney, take a BridgeClimb tour of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, from where there are amazing city and harbour views. In Melbourne, check out the panorama from the top of Eureka Skydeck 88 at Southbank, while the Gold Coast’s Q1 tower offers superb views from 230m (755ft) up.

Canberra is best seen from a hot-air balloon at dawn, and scenic flights over the Great Barrier Reef, and Uluru in the Northern Territory, are unforgettable experiences. In South Australia, admire the raw beauty of the Outback from a lookout in the Flinders Ranges; see Hobart from the summit of 1270m-high (4167ft) Mount Wellington; and the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway provides great views of the tropical north Queensland coastline and dense canopy of the rainforest.

Any list of experiences, attractions and places that attempts to specify the best a destination has to offer can only be called complete if it includes a measure of that most defining of all holiday experiences: mixing with the locals. And no matter which state, city, beach, bar, luxury resort or bush retreat you choose to spend time in, you’ll find Aussies everywhere are immensely proud of their country and welcome visitors to share its delights.

• Take a cruise on the Brisbane River  and enjoy the subtropical ambience of the city and its waterside suburbs. Be sure to visit South Bank and its many attractions, and the nearby Museum and Art Gallery.

• Take a trip on Skyrail, and enjoy the World Heritage rainforest north of Cairns from a unique aerial perspective.

• Sail around the magnificent Whitsunday Islands and marvel at the azure waters, white sand beaches, coral reefs, and pristine islands.

• Experience the Great Barrier Reef – snorkel or dive among the varied coral and luminously colored fish.

• Dine alfresco to sample modern Australian cuisine, especially some of the wonderful seafood, at an outdoor table with a view across the water.

• Spend a day at the beach and experience the sun, sand, and surf of Noosa Heads or the sheer hedonism of the Gold Coast.

• Experience Fraser Island – the world’s largest sand island – with its rainforests, clear lakes and long sandy beaches.

• Go hiking – a hike in the bush (country) is a must. Explore the escarpments and rainforests of the Lamington National Park.

• Sample local wines and beers – spend an evening in an outback pub, meet the locals, and enjoy a variety of Aussie beverages.

National Parks and World Heritage Areas

Australia has 12 UNESCO World Heritage listings, the most coveted international conservation status. Queensland is home to five such listings, the Great Barrier Reef, the Wet Tropics rainforests, the Riversleigh fossil fields, the Lamington Plateau rainforests and Fraser Island. As well, there are many outstanding national parks, including Moreton Island, Bunya Mountains, Carnarvon, Eungella, Whitsunday Islands, Hinchinbrook Island, Undara, Lakefield, and Lawn Hill, which all offer visitors world-class natural experiences.

Fauna and Flora

The present-day landscape has its origins from a time when the ancient landmass of Australia, once part of the mega-continent of Gondwana, split away from its neighbors some 50 million years ago. This long isolation has produced some extraordinary flora and fauna – much of it found nowhere else on earth – including underwater coral gardens, towering rainforest giants, broad wetland esturies, and harsh, arid plains.

Queensland’s best known animals are its marsupials – mammals that give birth to tiny young which go on to develop in their mother’s pouch. Kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, and their closest relatives, the koalas, are all marsupials. The primitive monotremes are even more extraordinary: although mammals, the spiny echidna and the water-dwelling, billed platypus lay eggs. Reptiles include two types of crocodiles, a huge variety of lizards, and many snakes. A diverse range of habitats supports many bird species which are indigenous to Queensland, including cassowarys, tooth-billed bowerbirds, and Atherton scrubwrens, while the rare Bennett’s tree-kangaroo inhabits the higher regions of the Wet Tropics.

Queensland’s flora ranges from the mangroves and melaluccas of the coastal wetlands and heathlands, to myriad species of trees in the hinterland rainforests which remain in the more inaccessible parts of the Great Dividing Range, in places that could not be cleared for agriculture. Here tall hoop pines, delicate tree ferns, and towering palms grow, favoured by high rainfall, good soils and warm tropical weather. The savanna Gulf country has distinctive scrubby woodland and grasses, while the plains of the outback support bush-like mallee scrub and dryland grasses which survive the harsh, dry summers.

Airlie Beach does not have much of a beach, as such. Visitors always ask, “where are the White Sandy Beaches?”.   Unfortunately, the answer is only on the Islands. The mainland beaches are all coarse yellow sand, or mud. Shingley Beach, doesn’t have shingle either – more mud, or, to be kind, coarse grey sand.  \This is probably due to the well set out extensive marina in the bay there, no doubt a worthwhile alternative. Another marina has been developed around the headland, and certainly it will look great when completed, but we felt sorry for the people in the resort hotels and apartments who had paid for their ocean view.

What Airlie does have, is a beautiful long lagoon.  This extends along the ocean front, and has its own beach, shallows, and water up to two metres deep. It has stinger-free water, (a hazard in the tropics) with permanent lifeguards, places to sunbathe, showers, shady areas and barbecues.  And it is free. A boardwalk extends around the shoreline for most of Airlie, and provides places to stop and admire the views.

A typical resort village, Airlie caters for everyone from backpackers to the spare-no-expense holidaymaker. There are many restaurants with almost every kind of cuisine.  Plenty of restaurants and discount chain stores you will be familiar with, plus many specialty shops with everything from beach wear to souvenirs. There also is a booming nightlife, and hotels, bars and clubs provide everything you could wish for.

What happens, though, if you enjoy looking at that beautiful blue-green water, with islands, nearby and distant, across the Whitsunday Passage, but can’t bear the thought of stepping on board a boat, much less getting into one of those tiny planes, or even worse – a helicopter. Or maybe you’ve “Been there, done that”, taken a couple of day cruises, and your budget is blowing out.   What else is there to do? All you really want to do is lie in the sun on a nice sandy beach and relax.  Maybe you’ll drop in to a hotel for a counter lunch, or in the evening, and visit a couple of nice spots for dinner.  You may take a look around the shops, or try a few different beaches.

This was our situation when we arrived at Airlie Beach with our 5th wheel trailer, for a couple of weeks at a tourist park. There is a good selection of caravan parks with various levels of facilities. But free stays are harder to come by in the area. We also had our Westie, Snowy, so we needed a place that allowed pets. We found a good place, as we usually do.  We don’t like leaving Snowy behind for day trips, another reason not to visit the Islands this time around.

Paradise Bay

For a fantastic Great Barrier Reef vacation you will find Paradise Bay, at south Long Island  in the Whitsundays comes top of the list . Enjoy lazy days exploring the Whitsundays on the resort’s private sailing and expedition boats, feast on gourmet meals with superb wines to match, , relax, leave the service to our friendly team and enjoy the peace and quiet of this tranquil and stunningly beautiful location. . The Lodge has an all inclusive tariff except for wine and beers includes private helicopter tours, and private catamaran yacht cruises to explore the coral gardens, deserted beaches and the unique wild life in this part of the Whitsundays.

Paradise Bay has just ten superb waterfront bungalows overlooking a private beach and you will enjoy fine dining every night, with fresh local produce, and some of the best seafood you will get anywhere. The chef will basically cook whatever your dietary requirements and food fads are.

Inland from Mackay, on the Pioneer River, you can travel the Pioneer Valley to Eungella National Park. The rainforest has walking trails, with spectacular lookouts, and over 200 species of birds, as well as native animals, especially platypus, at Broken River. On the way to Eungella, at Finch Hatton, turn off for Finch Hatton Gorge and go bushwalking past freshwater swimming holes and beautiful waterfalls. At nearby Mirani is a museum with the history of the sugar industry in the area, as well as the Illawong Fauna Sanctuary, with a variety of wildlife, including crocodiles. An alternative to the more commercial crocodlile farms around the region.

Between Mackay and Airlie, at Bloomsbury, is a turn-off for Midge point, a small coastal town on Repulse Bay. The beach here is long and wide with good fishing, and no-one around. Coconut palms fringe the beach, and islands and headlands complete the scene. Just up the road is the Laguna Keys resort, for the golfers among us. It’s a ten minute drive back to the Bruce Highway.

Another twenty minutes brings you to the turn-off for Airlie Beach, at Proserpine. The main purpose for Whitsunday visitors, the airport, is just outside the town, and has flights to the East Coast capitals. Proserpine itself is a pleasant small country town, with plenty of places to stop for a coffee or tea, with home made cakes, or a meal, to make a pleasant break in your journey.

A few kilometres out of Proserpine on the Airlie Beach Rd, turn off towards Conway Beach, at the Northern end of Repulse Bay.  Worth a detour along this road is the turn-off to the Cedar Creek Falls, especially if it was raining last night (it often does).   Conway Beach has a fairly steep approach, affording an attractive view over the bay.  Nearby Wilson Beach has a boat launching ramp – and a warning sign about cleaning fish there, due to crocodiles in the area.  Another half hour will bring you back to Airlie Beach.