Last week's post discussed the third largest coral reef in the world -- this week's post discusses the largest coral reef in the world -- the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world and the only living thing on Earth visible from space. The Reef contains the world's largest collection of coral -- more than 400 different types. There are also over 1500 species of fish. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has existed for approximately 20 million years. Since the Great Barrier Reef is so large, you can see it in any number of ways and in any number of places. You can either stay on one of the many coast towns or actually stay on one of the islands in the Reef. I chose to snorkel and I chose Cairns to be my home base.
Cairns is a very cute city -- a typical port town with boating and similar activities dominating the city. There is an airport in Cairns, so you can go directly there from Sydney or any of the other large cities in Australia.
I would highly recommend the hotel we stayed in -- the Cairns Colonial Club Resort. It is a beautiful resort with tropical gardens and lagoon-style swimming pools. It is a great home base to see the region and very reasonably priced. I would also highly recommend taking a tour through the rainforest that abuts Cairns. We used the Wait-a-While Rainforest Tour group. We took a night tour and saw a ton of animals. Apparently, the rainforest animals are mainly nocturnal. It was a great and pretty spooky adventure.
There are a diverse range of tourism operations in the Great Barrier Reef including day tours, overnight and extended tours, snorkeling, scuba diving and fishing charters, long range roving tours, aircraft or helicopter tours, bare boats (self-sail), glass-bottomed boat viewing, semi-submersibles and educational trips, cruise ships, beach hire and water sports, passenger ferries, whale watching and swimming with dolphins. Tourism on the Reef reaches as far back as the 1890s!
The trip my friends and I took was a day tour consisting of a boat ride to and from a small deserted island. We used the company Frankland Islands Cruise and Dive. This company is the only company that takes folks to the Frankland Islands. We liked the tour because it was fairly small -- up to 100 people maximum. Once on the island, we could actually swim right into the Reef -- the Reef was very shallow and your swimming abilities did not need to be that great to have a great experience. They even served us a beach lunch!
When you snorkel the Great Barrier Reef obviously you have very high expectations. I have to say that the snorkeling lived up to all of my expectations! The water was shallow so there was high visibility. Both the coral and the fish were plentiful. And the colors were otherworldly! I could not believe all of the colors and species that were living so close to the surface. It really is another world down there.I think it goes without saying that snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef is a must-do experience. If you find yourself in Australia or New Zealand, I would definitely recommend tacking on an excursion to the Great Barrier Reef!
Cairns Colonial Club Resort
18-26 Cannon Street
Cairns, Queensland, 4870, Australia
| Telephone: +61 7 4053 8800 | Fax: +61 7 4032 1031 | reservations@cairnscolonialclub.com.au |
Wait-a-While Rainforest Tours
PO Box 1471, Cairns 4870
Phone: 0429 083 338
Phone International: +61 7 4093 8414
Fax: 07 4093 8414
Email: bookings@waitawhile.com.au
Frankland Islands Cruise and Dive
PO Box 1938
Cairns Qld 4870
Australia
Telephone: 07 4031 6300
Fax: 07 4031 4777
sales@franklandislands.come
