Great Barrier Reef

A typical healthy coral reef Photo by Reto Jeger	Beautiful Abundant Reef: Photo by Paul Evans

The largest living structure in the world. The Great Barrier Reef can even be seen from space! Get up close and personal with (harmless) Giant Groupers and other tropical fish of amazing colour intensity. View one on one using the latest in SCUBA equipment or from the relative luxury of glass bottomed boats or semi-submersible specially designed viewing craft. Charter your own sail boat and cruise the Whitsundays. Take a high speed Catamaran out to the reef and snorkel or view by glass bottom boat.. No matter what you want to do on the reef we can arrange it for you!

Fitzroy Reef

Coral Lagoon on the Southern Great Barrier reef, visited by day cruise from the Town of 1770, on the 'Reef Jet', with 1770 Holidays. Situated 32 nautical miles from Town of 1770 is the spectacular 2000 acre Lagoon of Fitzroy Reef. The only natural formed, all tidal entrance Lagoon on the Southern Great Barrier Reef, boasts the most diverse range of colourful and uniquely shaped corals. Marine life that call Fitzroy Reef Lagoon home include Manta rays, Bullrays, Eagle Rays, the Lagoon ray with its iridescent blue spots and also the black blotched stingray - one of the largest world with a diameter up to two metres, Dolphins (Bottlenose, common and spinner), Turtles (Loggerhead, Green and Hawksbill) and up to 1000 different species of small colourful fish. Guests can see nearly one million individual fish while snorkelling the bombies of Fitzroy! Sharks (white and black tip reef sharks) majestically cruise through the Lagoon - totally uninterested in people - harmless. Reef Jet Crew feed fish off the back of the Jet such as painted sweetlip, fusaleers, trevally, coral cod, red emperor, coral trout and the smaller sergeant majors. No Crown of Thorns starfish, no coral bleaching, no walking on the reef, no tourism impacts. Snorkelling depths are from three to seven metres to the sea floor and up to 15 metres to the reef. Diving depths - outside of the lagoon diving up to 20 metres, inside the lagoon up to 10 metres.
 

Why not visit the tropical paradise of Fitzroy Island (above)?
Photo by Paul Evans

   

The Great Barrier Reef, off Australia's east coast, is one of the wonders of the natural world. It is World Heritage listed and is one of Australia's, and the world's, premier holiday destinations. The combination of glorious weather (be aware that it rains a lot in the wet season!), pristine rainforest, white sandy beaches, and an ocean varying in hue from blue to turquoise to green, ensures it's where the world wants to go to lie on the beach, swim, surf, snorkel, sail, bushwalk and bird watch.

 
The area abounds with wildlife, including Dugong and turtles, varieties of dolphins and whales, more than 1500 species of fish, 4000 types of mollusc and more than 200 species of bird life. The Great Barrier Reef system consists of more than 3000 reefs which range in size from 1 hectare to over 10,000 hectares in area. The reef is scattered with beautiful islands and idyllic coral cays and covers more than 300,000 square kilometres.

The coral has, over the years, brought many ships to grief - Cook's own Endeavour hit the reef and almost foundered. One of the most famous wrecks is that of the Pandora, which foundered in 1791. The Queensland Museum has been leading archaeological digs to the Pandora since 1983 and its most recent was completed in February 1999.

The corals which make up the various reefs and cays, and which are the base for this variety of sea and animal life, consist of individual coral polyps - tiny live creatures which join together to form colonies. Each polyp is a tiny jelly-like blob crowned by tentacles, and looks not unlike an anemone, but much smaller. Each polyp lives inside a shell of aragonite, a type of calcium carbonate which is the hard shell we recognise as coral. The polyps join together to create forests of coloured coral in interesting fan, antler, brain and plate shapes.

There are many different types of coral, some are slow growing and live to be hundreds of years old, others are faster growing. The colours of coral are created by algae. Only live coral is coloured. Dead coral is white.

Healthy Coral Reef Photo courtesy of poresorts.com.	Photo by Paul Evans

The ideal environment for coral is shallow warm water where there is a lot of water movement, plenty of light, where the water is salty and low in nutrients.

Reefs are sensitive to climate change, to changes in patterns of water movement, and to physical damage - so problems like global warming, El Niño, the building of moorings or breakwaters, any additional nutrients running off land from human habitation, may well have a negative effect on the reef system, and thus on the sea and land animals which depend upon it for survival.

Tourism may also have a negative impact, with fragile corals broken by reef walking, dropped anchors or by boats dropping fuel and other sorts of pollution. Even the number of people in the water with the associated run-off of sweat and suntan lotions may well have a negative impact on the fragile reef environment.

Southern Great Barrier Reef , Bundaberg

The Southern Great Barrier Reef is your first jumping off point travelling north to see one of the wonders of the natural world. Featuring the coral isles of Lady Musgrave, Lady Elliot, Fairfax, Hoskins and the coral reefs of Fitzroy, Boult, Llewelyn - day tours, resort stays and wilderness camping and multi day scuba diving tours are available. The Southern Great Barrier reef is renowned world wide for scuba diving and it's pristine, unspoilt beauty. Only six operators access this region of the reef, an area of over 150000 square kilometres. Manta Rays, turtles and migrating Humpback Whales are an icon of this area, as is the fantastic year round visibility. Bundaberg and the Town of 1770 are your two gateways to visit the Southern Great Barrier Reef. Cruises depart Bundaberg to Lady Musgrave Island and flights depart to Lady Elliot Island and also to other cays and reefs on a day cruise. From the Town of 1770, cruises depart to Lady Musgrave Island and Fitzroy Reef. All experience levels are catered for - from children and first time snorkellers, to professional divers. There's also the wonder of life on a coral cay - for birdwatchers, nature lovers and even geologists - you don't even have to get wet!
 

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Australian Discount Travel & Tours

We recommend Australian Discount Travel & Tours for both Australian and international travel bookings