Cruising the Whitsundays in style

Sunday afternoon on Whitehaven Beach - the best beach in the world according to some - and a light breeze rippled the water as the day-tripper boats out from Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island swung slowly on their anchors.

Ashore, their passengers sprawled along the beach’s curve, small groups of Teletubbies bobbing in the gentle swell.

Elle Macpherson might contrive to look good in a stinger suit. Those whose bodies assume more mortal proportions, however, are condemned to resemble lumpy versions of the television characters as clad head to toe, in order to swim in the clear Whitsunday waters.