Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven occupies the entire eastern shore of Whitsunday Island, the largest of the seventy-four islands in the group and one that has never been developed. There is no resort, no jetty and no road on the island; every arrival is by boat or seaplane from Airlie Beach or Hamilton Island, an hour or so away, and everybody leaves the same day.

It is known for its sand, which is genuinely unusual. The grains are almost pure silica, fine enough to squeak underfoot and pale enough to stay cool in full tropical sun. Where the sand meets the tidal channel at Hill Inlet, at the northern end, the outgoing tide drags white sand through turquoise water in patterns that change with every cycle — the image that has done more than anything else to sell the Queensland coast.

The shore is a long shallow strand facing the Coral Sea, protected from ocean swell by the Great Barrier Reef far offshore, so the water is flat and clear. The slope is gentle and the sand is firm enough to walk for the full seven kilometres. There is no reef immediately at the beach and correspondingly little to snorkel; what there is, is space.

Nothing is built. The island is national park, day-visitor numbers are managed through commercial permits, and facilities amount to composting toilets and picnic tables at the southern end. Boats anchor offshore and tenders bring people in; the lookout above Hill Inlet is a twenty-minute climb from a separate landing at Tongue Bay.

Ninety-eight per cent silica, no road, no building, and a national park that intends to keep it that way. Whitehaven repays the boat fare and the tide-planning; it gives nothing at all to anyone hoping to arrive independently or stay the night, because neither is permitted. Hill Inlet at the northern end, where the tide pushes sand into the water in shifting patterns, is the view in every photograph and is seen from the lookout rather than from the sand.