Beyond the beach: exploring the other side of the Whitsundays

Hear the word 'Whitsundays' and there's little doubt your mind will jump to a world of silica-white sands, azure waters, a sun-soaked yacht adventure around its 74 islands, or yes, even a helicopter soaring above spectacular Heart Reef. Yes, the Whitsundays is all of those things, but what if you identify as a land person or perhaps you'd just like to experience a side to the region you haven't seen before? It's with this question in mind that I set off to Airlie Beach with my husband and two daughters (15 and 11) in tow to see what the flipside of one of Australia's favourite family holiday destinations can serve up. READ MORE: 11 things first-timers get wrong on group tours, according to a travel expertNailing the accommodation If previous visits to Airlie Beach have taught me anything, it's that this resort town - considered the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef - is hardly lacking when it comes to quality accommodation. Home not only to the Coral Sea and the rainforest covered hills of the Conway National Park, but to a wealth of resorts, holiday parks and self-contained properties, the jewel in its crown - at least where travelling with kids are concerned must surely be BIG4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort, a property's that's received more awards than I've enjoyed hot dinners.READ MORE: Fun summer getaways in Central NSW to avoid coastal crowdsThe resort's popularity makes sense of course; with its wealth of accommodation options ranging from 74 multi-room condos, cabins and villas, to 161 powered slab and grass sites for campers and caravanners, every budget is covered, and it offers an endless list of activities. Don't fancy the 13-slide water park, heated swimming pool (Airlie Beach's largest resort lagoon-style), 18-hole mini golf, giant jumping pillows or the pedal cars? You could always opt for hanging out with the feathered and furry residents of the onsite petting zoo, or sign up for any of the activities in its year-round activity programThe timing of our arrival is almost perfect. While a row of 10 new condos were unveiled in early July, the all-new (and fully accessible) kids' club is still days away from opening its doors. I'm thrilled with our three-bedroom condo (sleeping up to eight guests) which features two bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen complete with coffee maker and dishwasher, laundry and a large deck centred around the barbeque. Overwhelmed by the activity program handed to me by reception (everything from sand art and pancakes by the pool to outdoor movies and macrame, we head across the road to the Reef Gateway Hotel where we enjoy an evening of trivia and chicken parmigiana while working on a plan of what to do next. Fortunately, we don't have to plan all that hard...See you on the flipsideCherene Poidevin, owner of Driftwood Tours, is the first to admit she's always been a 'land girl'. Having created and launched Driftwood Tours 18 months ago, Poidevin is all about showcasing a side of her beloved Airlie Beach (and surrounds) that many rarely see. "Often, people will want to go to Whitehaven Beach or sail around the islands, but that's often because they don't realise just how much there is to do elsewhere," she says as she picks us up in her can for the half-day private tour we've booked to check out the region's lesser – known beauties. It's just one of nine tours available to book through her site ranging from a two-hour Best of Airlie to the eight-hour Sunrise with the Kangaroo adventure which is one of her most popular. Poidevin's disposition is as sunny as our surroundings, and we drive to our first stop - Whitsunday Gold Coffee, a coffee plantation complete with menagerie, cafe and kids' recreation area - she cheerfully gives us a rundown on the history of the area, the 200 varieties of sugarcane and the region's first inhabitants. Whitsunday Gold Coffee provides a welcome hit of caffeine and soon we're driving through a decidedly 'non-tropical' landscape over to Dingo Beach which, with barely a ripple in the reef-protected water, is incredibly tranquil and picturesque. "Oh, it's quite crowded today," she says as she nods towards the (only) four people walking along the beach, and we set stuck into making pictures out of shells and enjoying what Poidevin refers to as 'Caveman TV'. It's lovely, but it seems we're only getting started: Dingo Beach is followed up with visits to Froggies Beach, a hidden gem in Cape Gloucester where the sand is pure-white and the water is a vibrant turquoise, and then onto Cape Gloucester Resort where guests can pop in for lunch, swim in the pool overlooking the beach and enjoy live music come Sundays. READ MORE: Surprising things you can do in the WhitsundaysAccommodation options are available too, but we're on the clock, so after a brief visit at nearby Montes Reef Resort where locals are enjoying afternoon drinks to the sounds of INXS, we finish our tour with chocolate milkshakes at what might be the ultimate surprise: George's Diner, 50s-style diner located at BIG4 Conway Beach. Exhausted after a long day in the sun, we arrive back at our accommodation happy and educated. As I tell Poidevin before we part, I'm certain I've seen and learnt more about the Whitsundays on this tour than all of my previous visits combined (Also, Cherene is a real joy to hang out with). Crocodiles rockFun fact: the Whitsundays' Proserpine River is home to the state's largest concentration of saltwater crocs - as in, it's absolutely teeming with them. It's a reptilian population Steve Watson, owner and manager of Whitsunday Crocodile Safari is probably quite relieved about. "We've done 6,800 tours since I started the company 24 years ago and in that time we've only had 12 tours where we didn't see any crocs due to unusual weather events at the time," Watson explains the following morning after we're picked up from our accommodation and driven 45 minutes out to where they've set up a camp alongside the muddy river.When Whitsunday Crocodile Safari says it's the Whitsundays' only crocodile tour, they're not kidding: the company only offers one (incredibly popular) tour kicking off from pick-up at 8.30 to drop-off at 3pm and incorporating a two-hour croc-watching cruise on the river, a barbeque lunch, a Wetland Wagon Train Tour and then damper and billy back the campsite. With 32 people in our group, our tour - like most run by the company - is at capacity, prompting me to tell you now how important it is to book this tour well ahead of your trip. We're on the water for less than a minute before we see our first gargantuan saltie, and then 30 seconds later, we see another, then another and then a few more. Each sighting of these crocs - each with seriously improbably names like Doreen, Colleen and Lenny - is viewed alongside fascinating stories told by Watson as he steers us this way and that way, constantly turning the boat so guest on either side of the boat can see the beauties who are mostly happily sunbathing. "Oh, there's Ruby!" He says he steers us towards his favourite toothy gal. "She's quite maternal - most crocs only have their babies with them for a month but Ruby looks after hers for at least six months." Soon we're all engrossed in a world that feels very much like a reptilian version of Days of our Lives; we've learned about who's dating (okay, mating) who, which one is the loveable larrikin and what happens to the poor crocs when humans do stupid things. Lunch, a feast of steak, chicken, barramundi and sausages served with sides and lamingtons helps us digest this new soap opera world, while the wetlands tour provides a welcome look at the kangaroos and wallabies enjoying the lands not too far from danger. My verdict on the tour? It's one of the best things you can do, not only in the Whitsundays, but in Australia. With a afternoon flight upon us the following day, we're determined to enjoy the best of everything BIG4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort has to offer, spending our final hours riding the pedal cars, stroking the chickens, sheeps and goats, playing a speedy nine holes at mini-golf and trying as many of the slides as we can. We've clearly done this all wrong; the next time we'll stay for a whole week and make the most of the resort as well as the tours. Only then will we finally say we've done the Whitsundays justice.The writer and her family were guests of Tourism Whitsundays.