B&E Photography: Whit Sundays

The drive to the Whit Sundays was long and tiring. We started the drive around 5 pm and ended up in Aerie Beach just before 8 in the morning having driven all night. We (meaning the boys; the girls slept in the back) took shifts driving in some of the sketchiest, narrowest roads that were never divided, had steep drop offs everywhere (the roads are elevated to keep the rain water from flooding it), and wildlife crossing the road constantly. Through the night we saw bats, frogs, kangaroo’s, and wallabies (and of course a lot of unidentifiable road kill).

That morning after a quick 10 minute snooze for the boys, we chartered a boat to the Whit Sunday islands. Not sure which islands we went to as the Whit Sundays are composed of 74. As we cruised out from the port in our retired Coast Guard inflatable rescue boat that measured 32 feet in length, the twin engines were slammed into full throttle as we sped towards our first destination.

When we pulled up to the first of three islands we were to visit, our mouths went slack jawed. The water was such an incredible clear, aqua-blue that words and images fail to capture or describe what the eye was so happily burning into our retina and memory. We have images, such as below, but it can only truly be appreciated in person. Later that day as we sat on the beach, we looked at each other and couldn't believe that we were actually there seeing such a magnificent beauty that only attests to a truly wonderful and loving Creator.

We hiked on one of the islands that took us to a lookout point; the expanse and panoramic view of rich blues against white sands was truly breathtaking (literally breathtaking; the sweltering 90 degree heat and 90% humidity made it a tough going, but where do we get off complaining? lol). After that we went snorkeling at the only island I can remember: Honeymoon Island. There was our first real look at the Great Barrier Reef. It was beautiful with tons of coral and fish! We had to enter the water in these crazy anti-jellyfish suits that made us look absolutely ridiculous. They were so bad that we just figured we would model them off and maybe, just maybe, they would become the latest rage in swimwear back in the U.S., but I really doubt it. The reason for wearing them was because it was Jellyfish season, YAY! The guide with us said there were approximately 180 jellyfish species floating in and around Australia including the infamous Box Jellyfish, Irukandji, and Portuguese Man-O-War (the Box Jellyfish is the most venomous animal known to man so we didn't put up too much of a fight, the fashion police be darned). We rounded out the rest of the day lounging on the beach, soaking up the rays pouring in through the gaping O-Zone layer over Australia and took probably the most beautiful beaches we've ever seen.

We headed back to port that evening, grabbed some food, and headed out for our last and final destination in Australia: Cairns. It was going to be another long……long…..drive.