Diving & Snorkling
The Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Queensland, is one of the best diving and snorkelling areas in the world. Its underwater wonders have to be seen to be believed.
The
world’s largest World Heritage area, the reef stretches 2,000 kilometres along the coast of Queensland and covers an area the size of Italy.
Dotted with reefs, cays and islands, its turquoise waters harbour a profusion of marine life, from delicate starfish and anemones to multicoloured fish, harmless reef sharks
and turtles.
Snorkelling and dive tours leave from Cairns, Townsville, the Whitsundays and Port Douglas. A five-day learn to dive course will cost between $180-$500.
Ningaloo Reef, in
Western Australia, is just as spectacular as the Great Barrier Reef but much less well known.
The reef shadows the coast of the North West Cape, around 1,200 kilometres north of Perth. Extending for 250 kilometres, Ningaloo is home to hundreds of species of fish and
coral as well as dolphins, humpback whales and whale sharks, the world’s largest fish.
Whale sharks congregate in large numbers off Ningaloo from late March to June, when the plankton-rich waters draw them close to shore. Snorkelling alongside one of these
ocean giants is an unforgettable experience and can be arranged through diving centres located in the townships of Exmouth and Coral Bay.
Further south, you can interact with wild dolphins at Monkey Mia, on the shores of beautiful Shark Bay. Local dolphins have been coming right up to the beach to be fed by
rangers since the 1960s.
Elsewhere, dolphins can also be regularly seen at Port Stephens and Jervis Bay in New South Wales, Bunbury and Esperance in Western Australia and Sorrento and Gippsland in
Victoria.
 Like Ningaloo and the Great Barrier Reef, Lord Howe Island, which lies 700 kilometres north-east of Sydney, is World Heritage-listed. Lord Howe Island - The remains
of a seven-million year old volcano, the island is just 11 kilometres long and two kilometres wide, a crescent-shaped outdoor adventure playground offering excellent diving and snorkelling
on the
world’s southern-most coral reef. Qantas flies to Lord Howe Island from Sydney and Brisbane.
New South Wales has some great diving and snorkelling spots, from Ulladulla and Jervis Bay, south of Sydney, to Coffs
Harbour and Byron Bay.
Further south, the waters around Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia become chillier but offer no less impressive underwater sights, whether it’s diving on ship
wrecks or snorkelling with dolphins and sea lions.
For the more experienced, there’s cave diving in the area around Port MacDonnell in South Australia, while Rottnest Island and Broome in Western Australia offer superb
snorkelling.
|
