Whitsunday Island (Hill Inlet lookout)

[Kyle]The last time we were in the region, the wind was not good for stopping on the east side of Whitsunday Island. This time we could and were headed for Tongue Bay. This is where the trail to the viewpoint at the “pretty end” of Whitehaven Beach starts (the classic Whitsunday picture overlooking the sands of Hill Inlet). I knew it was one of the places that Maryanne regretted missing, so it became our primary stop this time through.

We sailed through the narrows between Whitsunday and Haslewood Islands, and then along Whitehaven beach as we headed northwards along the coastline. There was a steady stream of helicopters and more to this tourist hot-spot

Tongue Bay has fourteen public moorings, many of which were in use as we rounded the headland. Apart from us, they were entirely populated by a rotating fleet of tour boats ranging from fast RIBs to classic steel schooners. All would ferry a dozen guests ashore at a time in big zodiacs for their time to walk to the viewpoint of Hill Inlet at the northern end of Whitehaven Beach. The weather was supposed to be even better tomorrow, so we just stayed aboard and watched the parade.

Then, at about five o’clock, the place emptied out completely, leaving us all alone. That should give them time to make one more brief beach stop at the other end of Whitehaven before returning to either Hamilton or Airlie Beach in the dark. We ended up with the whole far side of Whitsunday Island to ourselves for a night of stargazing.

The shoreline at Tongue Bay has some nice sandstone features

The first tour boats rounded the headland at about seven o’clock. By ten, Tongue Bay was a madhouse again. Since low tide was later in the day, Maryanne and I didn’t go ashore until just after noon. By then, there was a lull in the one-day, round-island tour itineraries. We didn’t see anybody else until we reached the sand flats on the other side at Hill Inlet. They were all far away on a quick tour stop. We then spent a couple of hours scrambling along the rocks and sand and then took the trail back up the ridge and over to the lookouts. That’s the only time all day that we were actually close enough to anyone else to exchange greetings. Most of the morning, the beach had been packed like people waiting to get into a concert.

We crossed the peninsula to see the beach level at Hill Inlet

And then climbed the easy trail to reach the viewpoints with their better perspective

The view from up there is amazing. It looks a lot like Jenny Lind Creek, down by Bustard Head, only the sand here is the blinding white, quartzite stuff. We sat for quite a while, watching the sand disappear with the rising tide. Then we headed back down the hill to Begonia. The recent rains had clearly filled the basin with tannin rich waters. It was still beautiful, just not that classic turquoise image seen in all the brochures.

There was a different crowd at the moorings tonight. The other boats were either crewed or bareboat charters on what were mostly week-long itineraries of the Whitsundays. Since most of them collect and drop off their boats at the beginning of the week, they all pretty much make the same stops at the same time, with a little variation. I guess that’s why it was empty here last night and busy tonight.