Great Barrier Reef Australia
is the
largest coral reef in the world.
It runs 2000km along the east coast of Queensland
from Torres Strait in
north to Gladstone in south.
In its southern end it is broader (also
fragmented in very south) and farther away from the coast, while in
north it becomes narrower and closer to the coast.
GBR. Poster by AllPosters.
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Here
are some of the best ways to experience the GBR, whether
diving, snorkelling or simply watching this amazing ecosystem through
the glass bottom of a boat:
Corals of the Great Barrier Reef Australia
Corals are primitive animals called polyps that belong the phylum Coelenterata.
Because they don’t have any vertebrate, they grow an exoskeleton by
excreting lime. When they die, their skeletons remain and build up the
reef
over a long time. Most of the
Great Barrier Reef is two million years old, but there are sections
that are as old as 18 million years.
Diver. Poster
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Australia
Coral reef is one of the richest ecosystems in the world. There are as
many as 1500 species of fish in Great Barrier Reef. Other Great Barrier
Reef animals include 400 types of coral, 4000 types of molluscs such as
snails and clams, and countless other animals like starfish, sea
urchins, sea cucumbers, worms, sponges, crabs, sea snakes and also
larger animals such as turtles,
sharks,
dugongs, whales
and dolphins.
They all
belong to the huge and complicated Great Barrier Reef food chain.
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Blue Ringed Octopus and Australian Box Jellyfish
There are also some Great Barrier Reef animals that you don’t want to
touch, like Australian Box Jellyfish,
Blue-ringed Octopus, stonefish, scorpion fish, cone shells and sea
snakes which are all poisonous.
Others such as sea urchins and sea anemones may be less venomous but
still painful enough to not to be nice to touch or step on. Don’t let
the dangerous creatures scare you off, if you read the warning signs on
the beaches you’ll be alright.
Reef creature. Poster by AllPosters.
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Islands of the Great Barrier Reef Australia
There are two different types of islands in the Great Barrier Reef.
Continental
islands, such as Magnetic
Island, Hinchinbrook
Island, Dunk Island
and Great Keppel Island are just like
any other islands in the world, while coral islands, also called coral
cays such as Heron Island
outside Gladstone and Green Island outside Cairns
consist of no soil but only coral material. There are, however, corals
around both types of islands so just because an island isn’t a coral
island doesn’t always mean that you cannot go snorkelling and diving
and watch corals.
Coral island. Poster by
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Where to Visit the Great Barrier Reef Australia
Some of the most popular places to catch ferries to visit Great Barrier
Reef are Townsville,
Cairns
and Port
Douglas in north Queensland.
Popular islands to visit from Cairns are Green Island and Fitzroy
Island.
From Port Douglas you can go on trips to Holmes Reef; and Townsville
coral trips take you to the wreck of Yongala – one of the best and most
famous dives in Australia. Townsville is also the place to catch the
ferry to Magnetic
Island (there’s not much
reef there), and to Orpheus Island (which is off the coast from
Lucinda). Airlie Beach is the place from which to reach the Whitsunday
Islands, and Great
Keppel Island (again, not many corals around this continental island)
is reachable from Rockhampton. One of the best of the islands in
Australia and also a real coral cay - Heron Island outside Gladstone is
one of the southernmost islands of the Great Barrier Reef.
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Tours and Scuba Diving in the Great
Barrier Reef Australia
You may want to include a tour to your Great Barrier Reef vacations.
The Great Barrier Reef tour operators in Cairns include Great
Adventures, Compass, Noah’s
Ark Cruises, Cairns Dive Centre,
Down Under Dive, Sunlover and Falla. If you are in Port Douglas, try
Haba, Aristocat, Calypso, Poseidon, Quicksmart and Wavelength. In
Townsville, Pure
Pleasure Cruises has day trips to Kelso Reef, and there are many
different ferry services that leave for different Whitsunday
Islands from Airlie
Beach.
Coral. Poster
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Tours without Snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef
Australia
In case you don’t want to dive or snorkel but still want to see the
impressive marine life on your Great Barrier Reef vacation, you can go
on a trip with a glass-bottomed boat, a great way to see coral
reef animals. If you don’t get time
to go on a trip to the reef, there’s an excellent chance to see the
many Great Barrier Reef animals and the life in coral reef in the
famous Great Barrier Reef aquarium, the Reef
Headquarters in Townsville
in north
Queensland.
Reef. Poster
by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to
buy. Map of the Great Barrier Reef Australia
Here's a Great Barrier Reef map, where I have tagged the places that I
mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags to see what
places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to zoom it in and
see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to
see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top
right hand corner.
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What Other Visitors Have Said
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GBR at Whitsundays Not rated yet We took a GBR trip while in the beautiful Whitsundays.. and it was the best thing to do!!!
It was a great day out and a great way to get two destinations …
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