DESTINATION GREAT BARRIER REEF Queensland

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Facts of life
One of Australia's greatest assets is the magnificent reef, which runs along virtually the entire coast of Queensland. Considered one of the world's natural wonders, it is the most extensive reef system and the biggest structure made by living organisms on earth. In the north, the reef is virtually continuous and is located only 50km (31mi) from the shore. That means you MUST take a well organized trip OUT to the reef. Operators such as Fantasea have pontoons and semi-submersible craft to get you up close (see picture at right). In the south, individual reefs are more common, and in some places up to 300km (186mi) offshore. Hundreds of islands dot the reef area. About 20 of them have resort facilities, but it's possible to camp on many others.

One of the reef's unforgettable attractions is an underwater encounter with the countless colourful, exotic and bizarre sea creatures that live there. Islands offering great diving opportunities include Heron, Lady Elliot and Lizard. For those wanting pampered and exclusive seclusion, Bedarra, Hayman, Lizard, Green and Orpheus have expensive resorts. The cheaper islands to stay on are Lady Elliot, Magnetic and Hook, and you can camp on Dunk, Great Keppel and Hinchinbrook. Great Keppel and South Molle are mass-market destinations. The best beaches are found on Great Keppel and Lizard.

Coral reefs are formed from the accumulated skeletal remains of zillions of marine polyps of the Coelenterata family. New polyps continue to grow on the lime-based structure and are continually added to the reef. However, coral needs a number of preconditions to ensure healthy growth: the water temperature must not drop below
17.5 degrees centigrade; sunlight must be able to penetrate; and the water must be clean and salty. An island-dotted lagoon of deep water lies between the reef and the coast. Reef islands, or cays, tend to be low-lying and very small. The larger islands are actually the tops of flooded mountains, which were previously part of the coastline, and so their vegetation is similar to that on the mainland.

The Great Barrier Reef begins slightly south of the Tropic of Capricorn, just off the coast of Gladstone, and heads 2000km north to end in the Torres Strait, just south of Papua New Guinea. Although it covers a huge area - 344,000 sq km - the reef environment is extremely fragile: pollution, powerboat agitation, fuel deposits and even human sweat can irretrievably alter and damage its ecosystem. Biological enemies include the notorious crown-of-thorns starfish. Reef walking is particularly damaging and should only be done in resort areas where the reefs are already less than pristine. Dead and broken coral, especially in the southern areas, can often be seen. Studies are currently underway to gauge the extent of the situation and it is clear that practical recommendations need to be put in place in order to control tourism and to prevent further damage.

Without its colourful and highly varied reef life, the Great Barrier Reef would just be a great big breakwater. Its coral structure is made up of both dead and living creatures - the living polyps give the coral its colourful appearance, while the dead creatures form the reef's white substructure. The full beauty of the living coral is revealed at night. Soft corals also exist, and are equally varied.

The reef lies in the tropics, and the warm conditions increase as you head north. From Cairns northwards, the water is pleasant year round. The southern-hemisphere winter is a good time to visit, although it can get a little chilly in the extreme south of the area between June and August. The summer brings extreme heat, thunderstorms and the chance of a cyclone (February and March can be extremely wet). Rainfall is heavier as you move northwards, where the division of seasons into just two - dry and wet - is also more noticeable.

Best way to see the Reef? Hire a bare-boat or crewed yacht and float on the turquoise seas.

Islands of the Great Barrier Reef

There are more than 600 islands on and around the reef, ranging from four-star resorts to uninhabited national parks and sandy dots, which provide little more than somewhere to tie up your boat. Fresh water is nonexistent on most of the islands, and self-sufficiency is the key if you are camping rather than staying on a resort island. Guidelines and camping permits are available from the Queensland National Parks & Wildlife Service.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), which has classified the reef into zones, administers the reef: preserved, scientific research, marine national park and recreational and commercial general use areas. The reef's huge extent is divided into the Southern Reef Islands/Capricorn Marine Park (offshore from Gladstone and including Lady Elliot and Heron islands and the Bunker and Capricorn groups of islands), the Mackay/Capricorn Section (which includes the Great Keppel Island resort), the Central Section (offshore from Townsville and including Magnetic Island and the Whitsunday group), the Cairns Section (with secluded Lizard Island, the Dunk Island resort and Hinchinbrook Island) and the Far Northern Section (the reef's least touristy area).

Lady Elliot Island

Located in the Capricornia section, at the southern end of both the marine park and the Great Barrier Reef, this no-frills coral-cay resort is popular with divers because of its numerous shipwrecks. No frills means 2 star accommodation and 1 star food! The only on-reef alternative is to go to Heron and pay accordingly.

Scuba divers can dive straight off the beach, the underwater visibility is good and the coral is excellent. It's a comparatively bare island due to heavy guano mining and overgrazing by goats - with an airstrip and a picturesque lighthouse. It is also small (0.42 sq km), and can be circumnavigated in under an hour. A low-tide reef walk offers immediate access to the surrounding reef and its rays, crabs, octopus, eels and even parrotfish. The island is also a bird sanctuary and a popular stopping place for migrating species and flogged out yachties. Turtles nest on the island in the summer and their offspring make a dash for the sea in the autumn.

Accommodation at the resort comes in two simple styles - safari-style tents with shared facilities or motel-type units (circa 1972) - and the dining-room fare is also straightforward, meaning truckie café style. Diving (on the Reef) is the island's main form of entertainment, and there are various dive courses available. Lady Elliot Island is the only coral cay on the reef with an airstrip, and is connected to Bundaberg or Hervey Bay on the mainland. Yachting anchorage is poor, and all supplies are flown in.

Heron Island

Heron Island is probably the most popular diver's island on the whole Great Barrier Reef, and with its ecotourism attractions there's a great deal to see and do. Heron is a very small (0.17 sq km) coral cay, which rises only 3m above sea level. Visitors come to this national-park island almost exclusively for its 24 sq km of reef, which harbours a vast variety of marine life. Scuba diving is particularly popular, and each October or November the Heron Island Underwater Festival includes a host of seminars, lectures and other diving-related activities. Spearfishing is banned and there is no shore diving. There are a number of fascinating walks around the beach or through the dense pisonia forest in the centre of the island. The resort also has glass-bottomed boats and a semi submersible. The Heron Island Research Centre works on numerous reef-related projects, and visits can be arranged. Other activities include guided reef tours, nature walks, fishing trips, and trying, at any cost, to evade bird droppings from above while not colliding with clumsy mutton-birds underfoot.

The resort accommodation consists of lodges with shared facilities or motel-like suites, and tariffs are inclusive of all meals. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style while dinner is ordered from a menu. No camping is allowed on the island. Entertainment options at the resort take second place to diving activities. Heron is one of the more expensive islands to travel to, as it's 72km east of Gladstone and about 100km from Rockhampton. You can get there by either helicopter or high-speed catamaran from Gladstone. Like Lady Elliot, anchorage is a problem. The decision to dredge a harbour and build a jetty has been controversial, causing changes to the water flow across the reef and affecting the coral in places.

Great Keppel Island

Great Keppel has a lot to offer. The 14 sq km continental island houses a P&O-operated resort (it used to be Australian Airlines then Qantas) and a youth hostel, lodge, cabins and campsites. The resort is popular with families and is promoted for its activity-based entertainment. The island's superb white-sand beaches make it a popular day-trip destination, as it's only 13km from the mainland (Rockhampton is the nearest centre). In fact, the beaches are among the best offered by any of the resort islands. Although Great Keppel is a long way out from the reef, there is plenty of coral to see (shell and coral collecting is not allowed) and both the diving and snorkelling are good. Cruises - from booze tours to fishing and diving trips - are extremely popular. The island has many opportunities for bushwalks and beach strolls, and there is even a mountain to climb - Mt Wyndham (175m). 17 islands, all virtually undeveloped because of their lack of water, surround great Keppel. Several islands are national parks, and make great places for a few days of self-sufficient camping.

This resort island is one of the few, which caters for backpackers and budget travellers, which can get up the nose of the high paying guests. The hostel has two 16-bed dorms, while the lodge has motel-style units. The resort has over 190 units, with a variety of package deals available. Food is available from the resort and there is also a Devonshire teahouse, a pizza parlour, a snack kiosk and a restaurant. The kiosk also sells basic supplies, but self-caterers are better off bringing most of their tucker with them. The island is promoted as the 'active island', and activities include squash, tennis, golf, archery, volleyball, and lorikeet feeding and skydiving. Nighttime entertainment of the alcohol-based 'gets wrecked' variety is also popular. Great Keppel is one of the easiest islands to get to. There are at least two flights daily from Rockhampton, and ferries and cruises leave from Rosslyn Bay Harbour on the Capricorn Coast, south of Yeppoon. The anchorages around the island are reasonable but rather unprotected.

The 70-odd islands of the Whitsunday group are probably the best known and most developed of the Barrier Reef islands. The islands are scattered on both sides of the Whitsunday Passage, within 50km of Shute Harbour on the mainland and 10km from the reef. All of the islands in the group are continental islands, and all but five of them are national parks. Limited fishing is allowed from a few of the islands, and many have fine fringing reef systems. The islands are home to a wide range of wildlife, including goannas, possums, rock wallabies and 156 species of birds. There are vine forests, hoop pines, eucalypts and acacias inland. The waters tend to be clearest at the northern end of the outer islands - Hook, Border, Deloraine and Langford are particularly popular snorkelling and diving locations. The Whitsundays also offer superb sailing and yachting, and there are all types of boat trips available out to the islands and beyond to the reef. Scenic flights and joyrides are another way to see the islands.

Hayman Island

Hayman Island is one of the most luxurious and expensive resorts on the reef - it's more like a five-star international hotel than an island resort. It's close to good scuba diving sites and is nearer the outer reef than most other islands in the Whitsunday group. Hook Island has a number of excellent beaches, some of the best diving sites, popular yacht anchorages and a small and very low-key resort and campsite. It also has an underwater observatory. The Lindeman Island resort places a heavy emphasis on fun, and has a relaxed and unpretentious atmosphere, plenty of activities and nightly entertainment.

Although accommodation at the resorts is mostly expensive, it's possible to camp on several of the islands. Hook has a privately run campsite, and there are National Park campsites on North Molle, Whitsunday, Henning, Border, and Haslewood, Shaw, Thomas and Repulse islands. Camping requires self-sufficiency - it is especially important to bring water and a fuel stove (wood fires are either banned or unwelcome). Visitors to the Whitsundays either fly straight to Hamilton Island or to Proserpine on the mainland. Lindeman also has an airstrip. Airlie Beach is the mainland centre for the Whitsundays, with plenty of travel agents and tour operators. Boats leave from Shute Harbour, 8km to the east, or from the Abel Point Marina, 1km to the west. Hamilton Island is the stopping-off point for many islands, and the resorts have their own boats to ferry their guests to and from that point. Water taxis and cruises are the best way to get around the islands.

Magnetic Island

Only 8km offshore from Townsville, Magnetic is one of the most popular reef islands for budget travellers. It has a great selection of accommodation, and the predominantly national-park island has good beaches, lots of wildlife, a koala sanctuary and excellent bushwalks. The island is almost a suburb of Townsville, attracting visitors year round, and it has a different atmosphere to the purely resort islands. It is also one of the larger islands, with several small towns including Arcadia, Picnic Bay, Horseshoe Bay and Nelly Bay.

Backpackers' accommodation is available in the towns, and there are also hotels, resorts and holiday flats. The towns also have a range of eateries, from pub grub to Mexican and Italian fare. You can get to Picnic Bay by high-speed catamaran from Townsville (about 20 minutes). Some services continue on to Arcadia. You can get around the island by bus or taxi, or by hiring a bicycle, scooter or Moke.

Hinchinbrook Island

This large rainforest island is Australia's largest island national park. It is both mountainous, soaring to 1121m high at the top of Mt Bowen, and long, stretching 34km from north to south. Hinchinbrook is extremely close to the mainland, separated by the narrow but deep and mangrove-fringed Hinchinbrook Channel. Most of the island is untouched wilderness - some parts have barely been explored - and are only accessible to intrepid bushwalkers. The three-to-four-day coastal walk along the island's eastern side is the finest on any of the reef islands. There are some fine expanses of beach and wildlife such as wallabies, goannas, echidnas, bats, turtles and heaps of interesting birds. There are 23 species of mangroves around Missionary Bay.

Hinchinbrook has a small resort and campsite at Cape Richards, its northern tip. There are other campsites scattered around the island, and bush camping is permitted everywhere except near the resort. However, visitors are urged to use the campsites wherever possible in order to minimise damage. The resort has activities such as canoeing, snorkelling and fishing, but this is not an activity or entertainment-based place. Rather, its emphasis is on seclusion and appreciation of the natural environment. The resort's restaurant is particularly good. The main access point is at Cardwell, 192km south of Cairns and 157km north of Townsville. Mainland boat operators will also pick up walkers from other points on the island, and day trips are possible. There are no safe anchorages on the eastern (ocean) side of the island.

Lizard Island

Seclusion is the name of the game on Lizard. It's a large national-park island (21 sq km), located 240km from Cairns and surrounded by Osprey Island, Seabird Islet, South and Palfrey islands. Lizard has special historical interest due to Captain Cook's visit. It also has fine diving and fishing possibilities (it's only 15km from the outer edge of the reef), 23 superb beaches (among the reef's best) and great swimming and snorkelling. However, seclusion and isolation do not come cheaply, and children under the age of six are banned from the island's small resort.

The resort has the usual sporting facilities, including a floodlit tennis court and
swimming pool. The use of all water-sports equipment is included in the daily tariff, but boating trips cost extra. There's also a small campsite, but campers must be entirely self-sufficient, as the resort does not particularly welcome non-tariff-paying visitors. This is a pity, as it has an excellent reputation for its cuisine. There's great diving, even right off the beach, but again it isn't cheap. Heavy-tackle fishing is a big attraction, particularly from September to December, and many game-fishing boats use Lizard as a base during this time. The island has many fine walks and abundant wildlife, such as the huge lizards which gave the island its name, five species of snakes, a small colony of bats and more than 40 species of birds. Almost all resort guests arrive from Cairns by air. There is no regular shipping or ferry service, and the only other possibility is to take a cruise, which will anchor offshore for a night or two. Lizard is one of the most popular anchorages along the reef, and it's the last really good mooring place before you get to Thursday Island. Far Northern Section

North of Lizard, the reef is more convoluted, complicated and closer to the shore than ever, but there are no resort islands. In fact there's not even another hotel, restaurant or bar until you get to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. There are plenty of interesting islands but they are not as attractive as those further south, being windswept and barren, with safe anchorages hard to find. The prevailing weather conditions determine which of the islands can be visited on any given day, although it's a busy route with a steady flow of cruising yachts, prawn trawlers, container ships and bulk carriers. Two cruise ships operate regular return trips from Cairns to Thursday Island, stopping at a number of islands along the way.

About 50km north-west of Lizard is the Howick group of islands, with mangrove-filled reef flats and low-lying landforms. The Flinders group, Morris Islet sand cay and Night Island lead to the wildlife magnet of Raine Island. Despite its minute size (measuring less than 1km long by less than half a km wide) and its complete lack of trees, it attracts immense populations of birds and turtles (it is a major breeding ground for the green turtle, which in bumper years has arrived in numbers up to 100,000).

Torres Strait

The Torres Strait contains a scattering of islands which run like stepping stones from the top of Cape York to the south coast of Papua New Guinea. The islands are politically part of Australia, although some of them are only a few km from PNG. The population of the islands is about 9000 and the people are Melanesians, racially related to the peoples of PNG. Seventeen of the islands are inhabited. Thursday Island is not a resort island, and its population of around 2300 is mainly Torres Strait Islanders. It was once a major pearling centre, and the island's interesting pearlers' cemetery reveals what a very dangerous occupation this once was. The island has basic hostel and hotel accommodation, and most nosh is of the pub-grub variety. There are regular flights and ferry services from Cairns.