Mini-breaking on the Gold Coast and Whitsunday Islands

Whilst living in Brisbane, we’ve wanted to make the most of being on the East Coast and all of the beautiful places it has to offer. Since we’re both currently working full time, we’ve had to save all of our exploring for the weekends, which has resulted in some pretty amazing mini-breaks. As our time on the East Coast of Australia is drawing to an end, I wanted to write this post in order to share two of my favourite mini-breaks we’ve had here.

The Gold Coast

We’d actually visited the Gold Coast before, when we were travelling in the campervan at the start of our journey. However, my associations of that time mostly consist of ophthalmologist appointments, eye pain and too much light sensitivity for me to be able to tell you whether the coast was gold, silver or aquamarine. We did have some good times there on our first visit. For example, we visited the restaurant where my sister used to work when she lived in Australia and I spent my 24^th birthday at an Italian restaurant Taylor Swift once visited. It was one of our favourite places we’d been to and I was really excited to go back there after recovering to get the full experience.

One of the main things that made our second trip to the Gold Coast so amazing and memorable was the hotel we stayed in. We booked into The Ruby Collection in Surfers Paradise, not realising until we got there that we’d unknowingly booked to stay at a 5* luxury apartment hotel! I’d never stayed in an apartment hotel before and couldn’t believe my eyes when we walked through the door. It was gorgeously decorated with amazing views of the Hinterlands that could be seen all around from the balcony and floor to ceiling windows.

The Ruby Collection, Surfers Paradise

We had plans to go out for a meal and drinks on the evening that we arrived but were so awestruck by our accommodation that, instead, we ended up ordering a couple of pizzas and bottles of wine to the room and watching Man Up on Netflix: unwilling to leave until we’d soaked up every last ounce of unexpected luxury we could get. I wouldn’t have had it any other way and would absolutely recommend staying there to anyone planning on visiting the Gold Coast!

Whilst visiting the Gold Coast the first time, we stumbled across an indoor skydiving venue called iFly. Indoor skydiving is something that has been on my bucket list for a long time (because I’m too much of a wimp to do a real skydive!) and we both really wanted to give it a go. Unfortunately, we didn’t get chance to do it originally and so it was the first thing we booked when planning our trip back.

Indoor skydiving at iFly

From watching other people doing it before us, I had expected indoor skydiving to feel like the closest you could get to actually flying, and I stepped into the tube, happy thoughts at the ready, ready to live out all of my wildest Peter Pan fantasies. It turns out that indoor skydiving feels absolutely nothing like flying. It feels more like being put into a big tube, whilst having an equally big fan blow a lot of air at you very hard and trying not to embarrass yourself in front of all of the people sat around watching. Which, in some ways, I should have been expecting… seeing as that is literally exactly what it is. Nick, who has been skydiving twice before, said that it is also absolutely nothing like real skydiving. So, unfortunately, it didn’t really live up to either of our expectations, but it was still a really fun way to spend an afternoon and a memorable experience.

If I had to pick my favourite thing to do on the Gold Coast, it would simply be walking down the length of its long beaches; my feet sinking into its white sands that stretch as far as the eye can see, and breathing in the sea air. It’s a really beautiful and peaceful long walk, perfect to unwind, relax and clear your head. Just make sure to watch your step and look out for the jellyfish!

The Whitsunday Islands

The Whitsunday Islands are one of those places that everyone always recommends you have to visit. So, we decided to spend our Easter weekend there. We got up at an ungodly hour on Good Friday (Jesus would not have approved) and flew to Mackay where we hired a car and did a mini road trip up to Airlie Beach. We were so tired from our early start and from travelling that after having some breakfast in the town and exploring the area the most we dared in the increasingly abundant downpour of rain, we checked into our hotel; had a nap whilst an old movie played in the background and the rain came down outside (one of the all time best types of naps) and pretty much just spent the rest of the day making the most of our hotel’s poolside bar.

We had another early start the next day as we had booked a boat trip to visit a couple of the islands. Our first stop was Whitehaven Beach, which is the largest of the 74 islands in the Whitsundays and regularly gets voted one of the best beaches in the world due to its soft, white silica sands and turquoise waters. The bad news for us was that the very second we stepped off the boat, it started absolutely chucking it down with rain; so, we didn’t get to experience Whitehaven Beach to its full tropical paradise potential. The good news was the rain stopped pretty quickly… and we were going swimming anyway!

Me and Nick wearing our stinger suits on Whitehaven Beach

The waters were beautiful and calm and made for a really lovely swim; the sand was as soft as everyone gives it credit for and it was easy to see how, with a bit of better weather, the beach could easily be voted one of the nicest in the world.

Me channelling my inner Pamela Anderson on Whitehaven Beach

Our next stop was Hamilton Island, which was so unbelievably beautiful. We had lunch surrounded by more hungry kookaburras than I had ever seen, with views that overlooked the glistening blue marina. It felt like having lunch inside a postcard. Hamilton Island is car-free but with access to golf buggies, which everyone seemed to be driving around in. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to have a go because (as Nick was very disappointed to find) they had all been fully booked. I guess we’ll just never know how it feels to be Oprah Winfrey. After eating, we boarded the only other transport on the island, the complimentary bus service, up to One Tree Hill, which has phenomenally picturesque views of the Whitsundays that, to me, looked just like Neverland. We enjoyed the sunshine and the views from the top of One Tree Hill with a glass of wine, keeping our eyes peeled for pirate ships and flying children.

The view of the Whitsundays from One Tree Hill in Hamilton Island

The next day was Easter Sunday. We had breakfast in Airlie Beach; then drove to Cedar Creek Falls, where I got to swim in my first waterfall. I had never swum in water so crisp and fresh before and it was such a lovely experience.

Nick swimming in Cedar Creek Falls

It was a lovely, hot day when we arrived at the falls, but, after a while, the weather had a change of heart. Rain eventually drove us back to our hotel room, where we read our books with a glass of wine before getting dressed up and heading out for Easter dinner. It was definitely one of the best and most memorable Easters I have had.

We spent our last day soaking up the sun by the man-made lagoon in Airlie Beach before catching a late flight home, ready for an early start back at work the following morning.

I’ve really enjoyed all of our weekend adventures on the East Coast, and especially these two mini-breaks, but am definitely excited to start travelling for longer periods of time again! It won’t be long at all before our next big journey begins.