EVERY DAY IS SUNDAY

Queensland’s Whitsunday Coast is a tropical destination with dozens of islands and access to the coral playgrounds of the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef. With warm winter weather, it’s a bucket-list destination for caravanning nomads on their annual escape out of dreary winter climates.

But you need time if you’re a traveller from the southern states. Even from Brisbane, it’s an 1100km drive, making a weeklong adventure towing a van from Melbourne. Luckily there is plenty to see along the way, and your choice of inland or the much longer coastal tracks adds variety to the return trip.

When James Cook named the opening through the island group the Whitsunday Passage on 9 June 1770, he did so in the mistaken belief it was on the Christian holiday of Whit Sunday. As it turned out, he had crossed the dateline, and it was actually Whit Monday. Don’t be too hard on Cook though — if you put in enough island time, poor James won’t be the last one