The Great Barrier Reef

We left Cairns and drove down to Townsville. We stopped off on the way at a delightful little holiday town called Mission Beach - a proper seaside resort.We sat on the idyllic beach eating our picnic lunch and watching some mad people jump out of a plane and skydive onto the sand in front of us!The rest of the trip down was completed in thunder and rain (so who still thinks Oz has fantastic weather!?)


all that beach - and you can't swim (without a stinger suit!)

Ok - so it is now time to check out the Great Barrier Reef! We started with a ferry trip to Magnetic Island. More beautiful beaches with so much coral I didn’t know where to look first. In true Mad Dog and Englishman style we walked far too much in the sun around the island. It was great fun though.

Two of the lovely bays we rested on at Magnetic Island

Townsville itself was a town in need of regeneration - which it was getting. We stayed on the beach front on a road called The Strand and it was beautifully designed with artworks, cafes, trees and pools to swim in. Broadstairs meets Poole and Miami!

From there we went to Airlie Beach. We were lucky to get accommodation as the place was overrun with “schoolies” - all the final year students who congregate in hot spots and make a lot of noise to celebrate the end of exams and school. Lucky them - I would have been left at home as it would have been beyond my budget at 18! They weren’t too bad and most of the trouble is caused by the “toolies” who are previous year’s school leavers who come back and join in again. Weird.

Us at Whitehaven Beach - sooooo beautiful.

I will have to try and be brief here otherwise I will bore you all silly with how fabulous this trip was. A great catamaran trip over to the islands with morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea all included.We stopped first at Whitehaven Beach - about 5km of pure white silica sand. We popped on our stinger suits to protect ourselves from the jelly fish and went for a swim and sunbathe.


Then to Hook Island where we looked at the corals from an underwater observatory; then a glass bottomed boat; and then - get this - we went snorkelling! I actually managed to put the mask on and put my head under the water. I didn’t go out very far but the corals and fish I saw were fabulous. So many different types and little fish coloured green and blue. Gordon was a bit more adventurous and went out a bit further to where the fish were fed from a dingy - when he finally got his flippers and mask to fit! He saw lots of big fish including an enormous wrasse about 2 foot by 2 foot. Gordon thought it was much harder to do than he expected but I (amazingly) found it much easier. Next time I will try to go out further.

The Hook Observatory Mr Snorkell Man!

The last stop was Daydream Island. Here they had built a “man made” reef using corals and fish from the waters around the island. This meant that we could see the amazing colours of life from much deeper in the reef than snorkellers usually see. A wonderful last stop. From there we sailed back to the marina at Airlie Beach to look at the photos and anoint our sunburn. I know but it is the first burn in over 2 months!

Look - we found Nemo!...........and a parrot fish (the beaches are made up of parrot fish poo after it eats the coral and poos it out!)