Playground for rich and famous

LUXURIOUS spa-bath penthouses with ocean views, Jacuzzi and hammock – Airlie Beach is no longer just for the backpack crew, says Sally Macmillan.

ON the surface, Airlie Beach still retains much of its relaxed backpacker feel.

Yet this gateway to the 74 Whitsunday islands and the Great Barrier Reef has emerged out of the shadow of the island resorts to become a high-end tourist destination in its own right. It has evolved from a little hideaway to a sought-after playground for the rich and famous, which jet in and sail out. Celeb-spotting is big time now.

Exclusive enclave developments such as Sydney developer Rory O'Brien's Whisper Bay, which is due for completion next year, are pulling in the cashed-up southern punters.

A horde of the well-heeled have already bought in to the $280 million project (also offering marinas for the boatie buyers) including ex-PM Bob Hawke, shipping multimillionaire Owen Glenn and former rugby league turned TV star Matthew Johns.

A slew of new resorts are underway or on the drawing board.

Then there's the Port of Airlie, which will feature a 400-berth marina, heli pads, ferry and two resorts along with residential and retail developments.

These days a million bucks won't get you anywhere near the water, with the average house price hitting the half-million mark. Ouch.

All this is not only physically changing the face of Airlie Beach and its nearby mainland pockets, but also the perception of it.

Airlie is today seen as hip and happening. And we – Boof, Wheeler Dealer, Seppo (an endearment, promise!) and yours truly – are more than willing to throw ourselves into sampling all the hip and happening we can ... in a manner to which we could all become accustomed.

We can't as yet sample the utter decadence that Whisper Bay promises, but are happily ensconced in the nearby, absolute seafront, laidback and lovely Coral Sea Resort.

"Would you like to swap digs?" Boof asks. Yours truly, who's managed to snag a queen-bedder, spa-bath penthouse with huge balcony yawning out to the Coral Sea, would not.

Boof ambles off to his perfectly luxurious ocean view room with balcony, jacuzzi and hammock before we all tuck into the sumptuous seafood that awaits us in the Clipper Restaurant.

But the best is yet to come.

Slip, slap, slop

We head back to the Whitsunday Airport to hop aboard an Air Whitsunday 208 Cessna Caravan amphibious floatplane out to the reef and Whitehaven Beach.

This comes with our very own pilot-cum-boatman, Mick East, and feast-maker, Lisa from Catering Whitsundays.

Mick pilots the plane out over mangrove swamps and the maze of islands before dropping down to 500 feet over the reef.

We snap away at the famous Heart Reef, then swoop down to Air Whitsunday's exclusive snorkelling location inside Hardy Reef.

Here awaits a semi-submersible. We slip, slap and slop and indulge in champers and nibbles as Mick manoeuvres the vessel into the perfect aquamarine snorkel site. For more than an hour, no other souls in sight, we explore the low-tide suspended coral lagoon that is Hardy, which teems with coral and marine life.

No sighting of George, the famed 3m-long groper who lurks in these parts, but we do snorkel along with a zippy turtle.

Another quaff and chow back on the boat before picking up our floatplane for the 15 minute aircruise to the spectacular white sand shores that is Whitehaven.

Well away from the boaties we three kick back – champers again in hand – while Lisa sets up table, chairs and a seafood feast that is the match of any I've devoured.