Spend a weekend in heaven, visit the Whitsundays...

After visiting the Whitsunday Islands, everyone posts postcard and swimsuit model worthy Instagrams, often captioning the pic "found paradise." Literally everyone. Because it's probably one of the most beautiful, picturesque places you will ever see.

I didn't know what these islands were before coming to Australia, so if you're in the same situation check out the pictures here. You can also check out my photographs here.

Now that you're probably convinced that you need to book your ticket to paradise, I've detailed how my friends and I did a budget-friendly, backpackers weekend getaway.

How we got there:

I consistently found that Skyscanner tended to offer the cheapest flights anywhere. I still encourage you to look around for the cheapest option. In this case, we bought our flights from Student Universe. I believe the flights were around A$250. We flew into Hamilton Airport and out of Proserpine Airport. You must book a boat to get from Hamilton Island to Airlie Beach (where most backpackers stay) and a shuttle to get to Proserpine. The boat ticket will cost about A$50, and will be the most scenic airport transfer you've ever had. You can book it through Cruise Whitsundays. The hostel helped us book our shuttle to Proserpine when we arrived for A$20 per person. 

Where we stayed:

After doing some research online, we decided to stay at Magnums Hostel in Airlie Beach. We were in an 8 person room, but we only had other roommates one night. The hostel was clean and in a good location, I would definitely recommend it.

What we did:

The Whitsundays extend over the Great Barrier Reef, so you must go Scuba Diving or snorkeling here. Don't worry if you're not scuba certified because you can do an intro dive for A$139 with Cruise Whitsundays. My recommendation is to book a boat that takes you to the Hill Inlet at Whitehaven Beach each after you dive. The boats vary in cost, and lunch is normally included. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that you can't miss while you're there.

We spent our next day on a catamaran that we also booked through Cruise Whitsundays. The boat brought us snorkeling at a different part of the reef and then to another part of Whitehaven Beach. Lunch and unlimited beer and wine was provided. It was incredibly relaxing and an amazing way to spend a Sunday.

On our last day at the islands the group split up. Two girls went skydiving and I can only imagine how insanely incredible the views were. Having already been skydiving, I wanted to save money. I went with my other friends to the pool and then rented paddle boards for an hour from a company we found while walking along the ocean. Just as a side note - a lot of people plan on skydiving in New Zealand. While I'm certain that the jump would be amazing, skydiving is a weather admissible activity. When I went to New Zealand, the weather deterred people from skydiving every time they were booked to. If you really want to skydive while you're abroad, it may be good to look into doing it here.

Airlie Beach is very small, so it's easy to find restaurants to eat at. We would just walk to the main strip and check out the menus to decide where to eat. The food was delicious, but being such a popular destination, the whole island is extremely expensive. The coffee I would buy in the morning from McDonald's was the most expensive coffee I bought in all of Australia! I wasn't expecting the prices to be that high, so just keep this in mind when budgeting for your weekend.

The nightlife at Airlie Beach is pretty low key unless you go during busy times of the year. There's two main clubs on the island, Boom and Mama. Both have covers. You can pre in the hostel room with other visitors which is pretty fun.