Whitsundays: Four new experiences include gin classes, agave tours and underwater beds
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more perfect, the Whitsundays reveal four fabulous new experiences, Christine Retschlag writes
Elementa Whitsundays and 74 Islands Distillery
24-26 Mount Whitsunday Dr, Airlie Beach
A steep journey up Mount Whitsunday Dr, Elementa Whitsundays embodies an elevated experience in every sense of the word.
There are nine individually designed residences on this hill overlooking Airlie Beach, attached to an on-site artisan distillery which borrows its name from the 74 sparkling islands for which this region is renowned.
While this luxe addition to Airlie Beach is a couple of years old, 74 Islands Distillery has upped the ante and recently introduced a Cocktail Playground on Saturdays where guests can learn the art of distillation during a creative class.
Visitors can make an infused vodka or gin, choosing from botanical flavours such as spice and warmth, floral, herbal, earthy/grassy, or citrus.
In this 10-step process, guests select their flavour strength, add drops to their base spirit, include Whitsundays rainwater, taste and adjust, name the spirit, apply a label and pour their creation into a bottle to take home.
Havanna
Port of Airlie Beach
There’s a long-standing joke among Whitsunday locals that Airlie Beach is a “sailing town with a drinking problem” and adding to its swag of boating experiences is the new luxury catamaran Havanna. Measuring 20m, step aboard a crewed sailing charter to explore hidden bays and beaches that larger yachts are unable to enter. Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet are included on the sailing itinerary.
This is an ultra-luxe experience with an eight-hour day charter starting at $10,000 and seven nights at $68,000. For this coin, you can sleep up to nine guests with four staterooms, three of which come with private ensuites. There is also air-conditioning throughout the cabins.
Meals are served on the yacht’s top deck and your charter includes sparkling wine on arrival, food and premium snacks, soft drinks, wine and beer, water sports and snorkelling gear, Starlink Wi-Fi and a skipper and hostess. A private chef upgrade is available upon request.
Built in 2006 and refitted in 2016, Havanna can sail at a top speed of 14 knots, allowing the vessel to come to an easy stop and for those onboard to sit and watch the Whitsundays float by.
whitsundayluxuryyachtcharters.com.au/yachts/havanna
SOLLOS Estate
81 Bridsons Rd, Bowen
Perched on 374ha about 45 minutes north of Airlie Beach at Bowen sits Australia’s first commercial agave farm and the biggest outside of Mexico.
While agave is technically another word for tequila, in the same manner in which France’s Champagne region has trademarked the word “Champagne”, Mexico has claimed ownership of “tequila”.
At SOLLOS – a palindrome which fittingly means sun, ocean, land/land, ocean, sun, there are 570,000 mature blue weber agave plants. At 20 degrees south of the equator, Bowen sits at the polar opposite of Mexico at 20 degrees north of the equator, providing the ideal climate in which to grow the spiky plant.
SOLLOS offers three tours: a guided tasting of its four drops; a farm tour; and a distillery tour where you’ll learn fun facts (such as tequila is the only spirit not classified as a depressant).
The playful team pairs local produce such as Whitsunday prawns in jam jars to serve with your tastings. No need to hurry your experience here: the agave plant reflects the sun and changes colour with the day’s mood.
Reefsleep
Departs from 24 the Cove Rd, Airlie Beach
It’s the only underwater hotel in Australia, but not content to rest on its laurels, Reefworld has just undergone a glow-up.
While its two luxury Reefsuites beneath the ocean remain essentially the same, on the top deck of this pontoon its Reefbeds have been reimagined into four-poster beds with privacy screens.
Even better, the whole experience has been reinvented as an exclusive offering solely to overnight guests, so a maximum of 72 visitors (36 on the first night and 36 on the following) are on the pontoon at any one time. This means the other 250-day guests are now redirected to the nearby Heart pontoon.
Overnight guests are treated to a high level of luxury, with a French chef serving the likes of Queensland seafood, afternoon sunset canapes, and three-course dinners, all paired with premium Australian beer and wine. Locally produced food from the region is sourced as much as possible.
As part of this upgraded experience, guests also receive a complimentary snorkel safari and semi-submersible tour with knowledgeable reef guides who can interpret the marine life.
The writer was hosted by Tourism Whitsundays.