Whitsundays

By Mia Campbell, University of New South Wales, Sidney, Australia

In this day and age with the polarisation of social media, a photograph can catfish what something is really like. However, in the case of Whitsundays no photographs did this destination justice. The crystal waters were varied in shades depending on the different tides. Whitehaven is the second most posted place in the whole of Australia, after the Sydney Opera house, and I can fully understand why.

The crew from our boat tour, which vessel resembled a pirate ship, was telling us how the silicon sand allows this sand to be snow-white and heatless, whereby the light can pass through the sand because these particles were so small. This was also responsible for the colour of these waters where the light could easily pass through the water and sand alike. My most favourable memory of this trip is when we would dingy across the sea from the anchored ship, spotting turtles on the way, where we would have this famous beach to ourselves before other tours and helicopters would arrive – Whitehaven paradise all for ourselves!

In fact, as a Pirates and Caribbean fan myself, I was starstruck to find out this beach was where Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Depp did his iconic run in the second film. Here, they planted palm trees for the set and then after filming had to replant them at Airlie’s beach where we docked on our final day.