Whitsunday Islands - Great Barrier Reef

Visited February 2009

Whitsunday Islands, Australia


The Whitsunday Tropical Islands are 74 major islands located in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef and just off the Airlie Beach coastline, in Queensland. Renown for their stunning natural beauty and close proximity to the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsunday Islands are a piece of paradise. Only 8 of these 74 islands are inhabited.

They inhabited islands are: North Molle Island, Hayman Island, Hook Island, Daydream Island, Whitsunday Island, South Molle Island, Long Island, Brampton Island, Lindeman Island.

These islands offer resorts and are in close range of each other, making it efficient for its visitors to experience all the islands.

Hamilton Island
Hamilton Island offers different options for accommodation, ranging from exclusive beachfront hotel rooms to romantic bungalows. Hamilton Island features a marina village, yacht club, nightspots, restaurants, boutiques and much more. The resort also offers its guests activities to choose from including diving, sailing, go-cart racing, fishing and snorkelling.

Hayman Island

Hayman Island resort offers elegance that will allow its guests to holiday in style. This island is truly in a class of its own, featuring priceless artwork, silver service dining and gardens landscaped to perfection. There are a number of pleasurable activities available to its guests including relaxing sunset cruises and scenic walks though National Park locations such as Blue Pearl Bay.

Brampton Island

Brampton Island boasts a romantic resort that is perfect for lovers. The island features an exotic rock pool and coral reef that its guests can relax in and wash their cares away. With the recent upgrading of the island, Brampton offers stylish accommodation and a myriad of exciting activities to indulge in.

South Molle Island

South Molle Island is renowned as a favourite holiday destination for families. The recently refurbished resort gives the resort a Polynesian feel to it. In addition, the island offers a nine hole golf course and a delicious seafood buffet. Guests can choose from a variety of activities such as tennis, archery, water sports and cruises out to neighbouring Whitsunday Islands.

Daydream Island

Daydream Island boasts a multimillion dollar upgrade, now featuring a Mediterranean feel. The resort features a signature restaurant beachfront with breathtaking views.

Daydream Island has a unique atmosphere that offers its guests a crystal clear beach to forest walking trails. These are only some of the many aspects that make Daydream Island a favourite of many.

Long Island

Long Island features three different resorts in three separate bays. It also offers its guests the most magnificent views in the region from over 20km of National Park walking trails.
The northern end of Long Island features the very popular Club Crocodile that is perfect for all ages. From sandy beaches to fantastic restaurants to tropical gardens and motorised watersports, the island has it all.


Hook Island

Hook Island is the perfect destination for backpackers and independent travelers. Guests are free to enjoy an abundance of exhilarating activities such as snorkeling, kayaking and partying with travelers from passing yachts.

Lindeman Island

Lindeman Island offers a European style atmosphere, featuring Australia's only Club Med Resort. The multi-award winning Club Med Lindeman Island is set on more than 690 hectares of beautiful World Heritage National Parklands. Lindeman Island also offers a nine hole golf course, native bushland walking tracks and secluded bays. Lindeman Island is recognised as the warmest island in the Whitsundays Islands.

Almost 20 kilometres of maintained tracks allow bushwalkers to climb Mt Oldfield (212 mitres above sea level), for magnificent views, or stroll through Butterfly Valley. Many small Islands are dotted around Lindeman, this can make exploring in a dinghy great fun; and good Camping facilities are available on the Island. It has the oldest resort of the Whitsunday group, on it. It is now Australia’s only Club Med resort, with excellent dining facilities, a 9 hole golf course, Club Med Circus School, many water sports and activities and adult and children’s entertainment. Lindeman beaches are delightful offering opportunities to snorkel or go oystering. Often dolphins can be seen close by in the clear blue waters, and Humpback Whales can sometimes be spotted from the shore, passing by. Lindeman is the ideal place to relax, and have some fun.

Great Barrier Reef

The endless colour of coral on Great Barrier Reef stretches beyond the limits that the eye can see, almost dancing with the glistening water. One glimpse of this magnificent place and you will be convinced that you are in paradise.

The exquisite beauty of the Great Barrier Reef is the home of over a thousand marine species. Science cannot explain the harmony and glorious life that this reef overflows with. The Great Barrier Reef is truly a miracle of nature that every person on the planet should have the opportunity to experience.

Here snorkelers of all experience levels can come face to face with the mysteries of the undersea realm. From graceful manta rays to stripy clown fish and playful dolphins, visitors will be awe struck by the life that this incredible reef contains.

The Great Barrier Reef in comparison
The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) is one of the most spectacular natural wonders on the planet. It is by far the world’s largest World Heritage Area, stretching for 2000km along the coast of Queensland and covering 347,800km2, an area just over half the size of the State of Texas in the United States or an area larger that that of the United Kingdom, Holland and Switzerland combined. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system that has ever existed on Earth and is home to many thousands of species of plants and animals, many of which have yet to be properly named and identified.

The Great Barrier Reef is not a single reef but an interconnected network of over 2900 individual reefs and 900 coral cays and islands. The sheer size of the Great Barrier Reef has resulted in a remarkable diversity of habitats and plant and animal life. Habitats and species found at the southern end of the GBRWHA can be very different from those found in the northern regions 2000 km away, and habitats and animal close to the coast are markedly different from those offshore.

More than a coral reef

The many different habitats are all fundamental elements of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem. Coral reefs comprise only 6% of the geographical area of the GBRWHA, the inter-reefal habitats (habitats between the individual coral reefs) comprise 25% of the area while the GBR lagoon (the area between the reefs and the coast) makes up 33% of the area. The remaining 36% of the area is the continental slope that extends past the outer coral reefs down into deep water off the continental shelf.

The GBRMPA Representative Areas Program has identified over 70 distinct bioregions in the GBRWHA, each of which have distinct biological and geophysical traits. This has illustrated the high level of biodiversity in the region which is one of the reasons why the Great Barrier Reef was listed as World Heritage Area. Examples of this outstanding biodiversity include:
· 1500 species of fish;
· 360 species of hard corals;
· One-third of the world's soft coral species;
· 4000 species of molluscs (eg. shells);
· 1500 species of sponge;
· 800 species of echinoderms (starfish, urchins etc);
· 500 species of seaweed;
· 23 species of marine mammals; and
· 6 species of marine turtles

Many of these species are endemic to the Great Barrier Reef, and there are many thousands of species that have yet to be properly identified.