Great Barrier Reef | aaarticle.com

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, stretching some 2,300 kilometres along the coast of Queensland. A World Heritage wonder visible from space, it draws snorkellers and divers to its coral gardens and marine life.

Overview

The reef is not one reef but a vast network of nearly three thousand individual reefs and hundreds of islands in the Coral Sea, built by billions of tiny coral polyps over millions of years. It shelters an extraordinary web of life, from turtles and rays to reef sharks and clownfish, and it is reached from gateway towns down the Queensland coast. Warm, clear water makes it a year-round destination, though the reef is also under pressure from warming seas, and visitors are asked to tread lightly.

Highlights

Day boats and liveaboards run out from Cairns and Port Douglas to the outer reef for snorkelling and diving over coral and turtles. Further south, the Whitsunday Islands and the pure white silica of Whitehaven Beach frame the reef, and scenic flights reveal the swirl of Heart Reef from the air. Glass-bottom boats, reef pontoons and island stays offer gentler ways to take it in.