By KATE HUNTER
We’re Queenslanders who had never been to the Great Barrier Reef.
Shameful, huh?
Over the years, Jim and I have dived and snorkelled the waters of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and we’ve been as a family to Fiji and Vanuatu, but our own wonder of the world was something we took for granted. One day, we’d get around to seeing it.
Weirdly, it seemed easier to go overseas. The sheer size of the Great Barrier Reef made visiting it an overwhelming prospect. Cairns is a long way from Brisbane – and Cairns is the hop-off point for the reef, right? Wrong.
The Great Barrier Reef is the size of Italy and it stretches almost the entire length of the Queensland coast, so its southern end is day-trippable from Brisbane or the Gold Coast.
Who knew?
Now, our little tribe does. We took a day trip to Lady Elliot Island. About and hour and twenty minutes in a 12 seater plane from Redcliffe, on Brisbane’s northern outskirts. We took off at 8.30am and two hours later we were swimming with clownfish. Snorkelling kit, reef shoes and wetsuits (for the wimpy – the water was warm) were supplied.
Lady Elliot Island is about 110km off the Queensland coast – the nearest major town is Bundaberg (you can fly from there too). The accommodation on the island ranges from simple eco cabins with shared facilities to two bedroom family suites. There’s a dive shop, restaurant and swimming pool.
Top Comments
Great Barrier Reef is really a good place, it needs more protection.
And i have knew it from http://attractions.bz/Great..., but yours is better than it, thank you for sharing this
I'm a bit late reading and commenting on this post, but thanks for writing it. I live in Bundy, and get so frustrated that no one knows that we are the start of the reef! If you can't afford to fly, you can take a day trip from Bundy on the boat (they pick you up from your accommodation, drive you to Agnes Waters, you go out on the boat and the drive you back that night). Stay in Bundy over December/January/February and see the turtles hatch and lay at Mon Repos beach. Not to mention the many other terrific things to do in our region!!