The Whitsundays are a group of 74 islands that are 900 km north of Brisbane. On the Great Barrier Reef. The names of the islands suggest what they are: Long Island, Twin Island, Daydream Island... It is so nice to go around with small ships from bay to bay and stop at Paradise Bay...
The annual temperature is between +20o C and +29o C.
18,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, when the weather warmed and the level of the world's oceans - including the Coral Sea - rose by about 100 meters, water flooded the hilly area and its highest parts remained as islands. Corals inhabited the sunken land, and the Great Barrier Reef was formed.
The coral reef has protected and protects the islands from the angry ocean. The first inhabitants of the islands were the aborigines of the Ngaro tribe and the Giru tribe. During his first circumnavigation, on June 3, 1770, Captain Cook sighted an island and named it White Sunday.
White - because the sand is white - whiter and Sunday - because it was Sunday. Later the two words merged to become Whitsundays.
Captain Cook discovered for the Europeans the Great Barrier Reef. He discovered the reef because his ship ran aground on it. The reef is 200 km long. In essence, these are 3,000 individual reefs. Each one is built from the skeletons of hard and soft corals and sea turtles.
6 of the 7 sea turtles known to science lived on the Reef. The Great Barrier Reef has been declared a Marine Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This unique form of life must be preserved from more than 800 thousand visitors a year, who happily dived with snorkels and wetsuits and broke off the coral for a souvenir.
One of my fondest memories is the glass bottom boat ride. You sit and marvel at insanely beautiful shapes and colours; of fish with white stripes and orange snouts; of yellow fish that have a black spot on their tail - like an eye - to deceive the enemy; of blue, violet and dark red corals that sway under the water... And then you have a good meal!
The islands themselves have tropical vegetation, with Hoop pines (tall pines up to 60 meters and soft, light wood) and white trunk poplar gums (eucalypts with white bark).
On the "big land", i.e. the continent - you can contemplate and study 179 species of birds that live in Muller's Lagoon - history can be traced not only in museums, but also as graffiti on the walls of houses. Baz Luhrmann’s movie "Australia" was filmed there. In 1912, the production of salt from sea water began, like the salt pans in Bulgarian coastal town Pomorie.
Here you can find the biggest MANGO sculptures in the town of Bowen. It is 10 meters high. It’s part of the collection; The Big Banana, The Big Cherry and The Big Potato. Here are also the largest quill - 3 meters and 85 cm and the largest inkstand - 2 meters and 60 cm.
