Great Barrier Reef
No trip to the east coast is complete without a visit to one of the wonders of the natural world, the Great Barrier Reef.
One of the most amazing spectacles known to mankind, diving or snorkelling on the reef is something everyone should do at least once..
Declared a World Heritage area in the Eighties, it is the world’s largest coral reef system, made up of roughly 3,000 individual reef structures and 900 islands stretching for 2,600 kilometres up the Coral Sea of Queensland’s north east coast.
Towns offering trips out to the reef start as southerly as Bundaberg and stretch all the way to Cape York.
The major centres such as the Whitsunday Islands at Airlie Beach, Townsville, Rockhampton and Cairns offer the best variety in trips, whereas other areas offer more personalised and smaller trips out.
Depending on what you are looking for, you can either visit the inner reef, which is better for snorkelling, or outer reef, ideal for divers, and spend a week or a day out on the waters. There is a also a price range to suit everyone, so be sure to shop around the different travel companies to be sure to find the ideal package for you.
When you do get out on the waters, the scenery is nothing short of spectacular, and the diversity of the marine life amazing. Along with massive multicoloured array of smaller fish species, you can also hope to find 30 species of whales, dolphins, porpoises and six species of sea turtles.
With the majority of Australia’s major destinations sitting on the coastline – and the added lure of the Great Barrier Reef – you would be mad not to give SCUBA diving a go.
It’s one of the most popular adventure activities in the entire country and, when you consider the prospect of spending 30-40 minutes under the amazing Coral Sea waters, weaving in and out of the coral formations and colourful kaleidoscope of sea life at depths of up to 12 metres, it’s easy to see why.
In fact, according to popular polls, diving the Great Barrier Reef is close to the top of the list of things you have to do before you die.
It is for this reason that there are an abundance of different diving courses and day trips available across the Queensland region, as well as the rest of the country.
Day trips for unqualified divers are plentiful, and involve some basic training before heading out onto the waters where you’ll likely get two dives in during a trip.
For those looking to dive more often, a PADI course is highly recommended. This will certify you as a qualified diver, which means that once you’ve passed your course you can dive anywhere and can fit in more time in the water when you do head out on a boat rather than having to sit and listen to instructions.
You can become a certified diver in as little as three or four days or over a couple of weeks, depending on how fast you want to go, and courses will cost in the region of $400.
While the Great Barrier Reef is the obvious choice for those looking to dive, there are dozens of destinations on the east coast, with some of the most popular spots sprouting up around major cities such as Sydney Harbour and in Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne.
If you are planning to do a dive course, then it may well be worth considering doing it before you head up to the reef region. This means when you get up to the Great Barrier Reef you can get straight into your diving, rather than spending time training in classrooms and swimming pools.
Sad Fact:
Rising sea temperatures caused by Global Warming are slowly destroying the Great Barrier Reef
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