budget travel great barrier reef australia

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest and most complex reef system, a series of 2,100 individual reefs stretching about 2,300 kilometers from Papua New Guinea in the north down along the Queensland coast to Lady Elliott Island about 400 kilometers north of Brisbane.

Most of the Reef is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and various parts of it are protected in certain ways - for example, fishing is restricted in some areas, particular animals - like whales, dolphins, green turtles and dugong - are protected.

The Reef was World Heritage listed in 1981, and it would have to be one of the best scuba diving locations in the world, truly unlike anything else anywhere else. It is home to over 400 species of coral, 1,500 species of fish, 500 species of seaweed and 200 species of birds.

Exploring the Great Barrier Reef is exciting, safe and easy. You can snorkel or scuba dive on boat trips with experienced crew on hand to supervise, or alternatively view the reef from the comfort of underwater observatories.

To get out of the water there are scenic flights in a light 'plane or helicopter. There is easy access to the outer reef and islands from points all along the coast, depending on how far you want to go or what you want to do.

There are several resort islands and wilderness islands that cater to those who want to stay.

You'll find the easiest access and the widest range of tour options and tour operators between Port Douglas and Townsville.

There are a large number of day trips to the that depart from all of the Northern tourist centres (from Port Douglas to Townsville). There are also two-day, three-day and even longer trips, if desired.

The corals which make up the reefs consist of individual coral polyps - very small creatures which join together to form colonies. Each polyp is a tiny jelly-like blob crowned by tentacles looking a bit like a sea anemone, and each one lives inside a hard shell which we recognise as coral. The shells join together to create the forests of coral in many different shapes and colours.

There are different types of coral, the differences mainly being how fast they grow. Live coral is coloured by algae, but dead coral is white.

One difficult member of the reef community is the Crown of Thorns starfish, which was thought in the 1960s to be destroying the corals which make up the reef.

The ideal environment for coral to prosper is shallow, warm, salty water; reasonably low in nutrients and with plenty of light.

Reefs are sensitive to climate change, changes in water movement, agricultural and environmental pollution and probably also tourism. Fragile corals are broken by reef walking; tour boats leak fuel; even people in the water shedding sweat and suntan oils may be having a negative impact on the fragile reef environment.

More than 2 million people visit the reef each year, carried to the reef by more than 500 boats to nearly areas in the Park.

On any of these boat trips (particularly day trips) you'll spend the majority of your time travelling to the selected dive site.