You know that vision of paradise? That thing that you dream about in the middle of Nov. or Feb., when it’s dark when you go to work and dark when you get home and cold and raining every time you step outside. You know that day dream where you’re strolling along a perfect stretch of soft, white sand, or lounging with a book and nothing but the sound of the waves laping the shore? I think we’ve all had a similar day dream, and yesterday I got to visit that place. Whitehaven beach is a 7 mile strip of pure white silica sand on Whitsunday island. There are something like 74 islands that make up the Whitsunday region, including a club med, and a bunch of other islands with little resorts, like Hamilton Island and where we stayed, Long Island. But Whitsunday island and Whitehaven beach are totally undeveloped because it is a protected part of a National Marine Park (so there aren’t even bathrooms). There is nobody selling anything. There are no buildings, which also means no shade. But there also aren’t too many tourists or other people. It really does come about as close to that ideal of paradise, as I’ve ever seen.
A ferry boat makes a daily trip with some tourists and there are other little private boats and yachts docked just off shore. And the people come for just a few hours to walk along the beach or swim or to just lounge in the sun. The sand is absolutely amazing. The best sand I’ve ever seen/felt anywhere. It is pure white silica sand, which means every grain is perfectly round. Someone told me it is what they use to make telescope lenses, but I don’t know if that is actually true. (sounds impressive though). They did say that it is a really good for exfoliating you skin and cleaning your jewelry, which I can vouch for. And it makes your tan look so good against the white sand. It would be the perfect spot for a Victoria’s Secrete photo shoot. The water is also that perfect turquoise blue color and it’s clear and it’s the perfect temperature, not to warm, but not at all cold.
The only downside to it all is that there were some leaves on the beach, but since it’s an uninhabited island in a perfectly natural state, I guess a few leaves here and there aren’t really worth complaining about. There is no seaweed. Haven’t seen any seaweed since I’ve been here. But the other thing that slightly spoils the perfection is that there are stingers in the water. And it used to be that the stingers were only around for a few months a year, but for some reason that the scientists don’t understand the stinger season has recently started getting longer and longer every year. Crappy! Cause those little buggers, basically little tiny jelly fish with long tentacles will sting you if you just brush up against them and it hurts real bad. Like hella bad, for days. There is another rarer jelly fish called the box jelly fish and if that one gets you, your dead in about 30 minutes. But I guess you rarely see that one around. But still they make sure to tell you about it to properly freak you out and then they try to tell you that if your going to go in the water you should wear a stinger suit, which is basically like a full body, thin wet suit that even has mitten things to cover your hands. They come mostly in day glow colors like yellow and pink and as I’m sure you can imagine… it’s a really attractive look. So I was like, “uh yeah… no.” I’m not gonna ruin my vision of paradise with one of those! But at the same time, I’ve been stung by a jelly fish before and it sucks so bad, so I really didn’t want to deal with that either.
So I mostly just walked along the beach enjoying the perfect white sand. But it was really hot and there was no shade so after some other people went in, I went in about half way and it was fine.
So yeah, that was my afternoon in paradise.
Did I tell you about the day snorkeling? We went to a similar island, totally uninhabited just a strip of sand in the middle of that beautiful clear blue water with a reef right off shore. It really is amazing. And it’s nice that they are really trying to protect the reef and the islands, so it’s not like there is development everywhere spoiling everything. Although I have to admit the Great Barrier Reef wasn’t quite what I expected. A lot of it seemed dead and it wasn’t as vibrant and full of fish as I thought it might be. But then again, there were a lot of people on our snorkeling boat and I’m sure we just went to the typical spots, nothing really special or exclusive or anything. But one of the guys I was talking to said that the reef in Egypt was more impressive, which just makes me wish I had spent just a little more time there and had made it up to Alexandria and the red sea. Oh well… gotta save something for next time I guess.
Australia is kind of weird. The people are nice and the focus seems to be on having a laid back good time. But it is expensive as hell! The cocktails I like are either $9 or $14 a pop at the last place we stayed. A 20oz. bottle of soda or a candy bar in the grocery store is like almost $2 each. A fifth of Smirdinof was like $37 in a proper liquor store. Just plain madness! And also it seems so similar to home that even though we are seeing pretty cool stuff, (oh jee, like only the most perfect beach I’ve ever seen, lol) but it still lacks that exoticness, I guess. And then there is also the fact that I’m sharing a room with 3 other girls and we are staying in pretty budget accommodations, which is totally fine but for me it does reduce the wow factor, just a bit. Luckily the girls are really great. They are all from the UK and it has been really fun to hang out with them and talk girl talk and share products and beauty tips and all that kind of stuff. We all get along really well, thank goodness, because the size of the room we are sharing right now is smaller than my college freshmen dorm room, and it’s the 4 of us and all our luggage. Thankfully we are only here for one night.
Tomorrow we head to Frazer island, which is supposed to be pretty amazing. There is a fresh water lake (so no stingers) that also has that pure white sand, and you can actually swim, so I’m excited about that! After that it’s on to the Gold Coast, and then that’s it… my trip is over.
Hard to believe that it’s already almost over. The 2 months went pretty fast, and it doesn’t really seem like I’ve really been gone for that long. But I guess I have. I guess I’m excited about going home to my new life. It’s a little scary, but I’m definitely ready for a change. And I’m excited about the beginning of snowboarding season. I’ve got to say, I’m not super excited about going back to work, just because we have a new computer system that I’m afraid I’ve completely forgot how to use and a new boss I’ve never met and a new insurance/benefits plan that I don’t understand and new staff that I’ve hardly spent any time with. Le sigh. But I’m sure it will all be fine. I actually am excited about helping customers and getting back to the business of helping to plan dream vacations. Doing some traveling of my own makes it so much easier to relate to my customers and it makes the job that much more relevant and fun. Anyway, I’m excited to get home and get back to my life and get back to the gym and eat some decent healthy food!
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