Airlie Beach must be the Pearly Gates of Nth. Qld. this is the entrance to God's Country. Airlie has slowly matured over the years to be one of Australia's premier tourist destinations. Whilst in the past being known as a backpacker haven, and indeed still extremely popular with this market, Airlie has grown to accommodate all types of traveller and caters to all types of tastes and budgets whilst importantly maintaining that village atmosphere. The nightlife is exciting with most nightclubs going till the wee hours or later and the ambience created by the unique mix of tourists from all age groups from around the world is amazing. Most importantly get out to see those islands and of course The Great Barrier Reef which you will have no problem doing given the high number of quality daytrips and tours available to you. Let us help you plan your Whitsunday adventure, why not mix and match, a couple of days in Airlie with a few nights on an island resort or an overnight sailing adventure, it's all here for you so WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU.

The Geology. To understand the Whitsunday landscape, we must go back 110 million years. At that time, volcanoes were active in what was to become Australia, and slow but steady movements of the earth’s crust were breaking up the super-continent Gondwana (which originally included present-day Australia, as well as South America, Africa, New Guinea, New Zealand, India and more). The Whitsundays lay in a geologically active zone, where volcanic activity continued for 37 million years. Explosive eruptions threw rock and ash into the air to rain down on the surrounding land. Layers of volcanic debris built up and gradually formed a solid bedrock. Today, this bedrock, composed of ash and rock fragments ”welded” together, can still be seen (e.g. on Whitsunday and Hook islands). This hardened rock appears as a smooth greenish grey to brown, and is worn away by saltwater wave action. Later, less violent volcanic activity injected lava flows into gaps in the bedrock, creating upright bands of darker rock, known to geologists as “dykes”. Examples of these can be seen on Hook Island.