The Great Barrier Reef

Along with the Amazon, the Great Barrier Reef was the destination on my itinerary that most stirred my imagination. Having now returned to the mainland after my stay there, I can report that it was every bit as spectacular as I’d imagined!

To get there, I first had a 250km drive from Brisbane along the Pacific Coast Way. It seemed a long way, but the road signs to Cairns were displaying a distance of 1600km. Things are on a different scale here!

The city centre car rental location with which I’d booked was closed when I arrived, but thankfully a vehicle was available at the airport. I was very relieved as I had had half an hour of frantically trying to work out what to do (rather like my experience with car hire in Norway last year…).

I enjoyed the drive up, which took me through eucalyptus forest and among some of Queensland’s mountains. I stopped off for a late lunch in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast, recommend both by Josh’s family and by my Kiwi guide, Simon.

I spent the night at a comfortable hostel in Hervey Bay, ready to fly out to Lady Elliot Island, at the southern tip of the reef, the next morning.

Lady Elliot Island is a “coral cay” (coral island), 80km from the Queensland coast. It is run sustainably as an eco-resort and is one of the most wonderful places I have ever visited. It is Lonely Planet’s top snorkelling location in the world for 2025 and it is internationally renowned for the clarity of its water and its abundance of sealife.

I packed as much I could into my 30 hours on the island, bouncing from one organised activity to another and often having to rush my food…

I used to love snorkelling and scuba diving in the Med with Mum, Dad and Paul, and it was great to do both again in the legendary Great Barrier Reef. I didn’t feel confident doing the latter after 20 years without a refresher, so I took a “Discover Scuba Diving” course (although this did involve a frantic dash around the island to find a doctor who could help me prove that I met Queensland’s stringent medical requirements…).

The course culminated in a thrilling dive to 9.5m (I’d forgotten how amazing it is to explore the sea’s depths!), in which we swam into a huge shoal of colourful fish and I saw my first green sea turtle. These are the most beautiful, graceful creatures, much bigger than the jungle turtles I saw in Brazil, at over a metre in length. I ended up swimming with many during my stay.

In the afternoon, I went snorkelling in the lagoon, the shallow area in the foreground of the aerial view of the island. The highlight was seeing this cow-tailed ray:

Evening on Lady Elliot was magical. I watched the sun go down by the lighthouse, with a cider and good company. Everyone seemed to be revelling in their time on the island and this bred a lovely camaraderie among the guests and with the staff.

On the beach we also found a female turtle making a nest to lay eggs, and some hermit crabs, both of which we saw again (alongside tree frogs and birds that sounded like crying babies!) on a night walk later.

The island is covered in beautiful tropical vegetation and is also, at this time of year, a major nesting ground for seabirds, particularly the white-capped noddy.

I got up early on my second morning to benefit from the high tide, which enabled snorkelling in the lagoon, then walked around the perimeter of the island after breakfast.

The sea was rougher than the day before, and the only snorkelling allowed when the tide had gone out was as part of a glass-bottomed boat trip, which was another fun experience. We were also able to “reef-walk” on the lagoon, which allowed me to take a few pictures of the coral…

Two hours before my departure, one of the snorkel sites, “coral gardens”, was reopened. I checked the current, ran across the island and waded out to the platform where reef shoes were replaced with flippers. What followed for the next 45 minutes made everything I’d seen up to that point pale by comparison.

The moment I got into the water I was surrounded by a shoal of foot-long parrotfish, as colourful as the macaws I saw in South America. The colour in the coral here was much more vivid, and almost as varied as it was among the fish.

I was mesmerised by the large shoals, and the turtles that passed by, undeterred by my presence.

But I wanted to see a shark. A few other guests had seen one, but I was telling myself not to be greedy. Then just as I’d returned to the shallow waters by the platform, one amazingly appeared. A black tip reef shark, about the same size as me, ominous-looking but not dangerous. I was overwhelmed by it all, thanking God that yet again such a treat had been pulled out the bag at the last moment.

I can’t recommend Lady Elliot Island highly enough. They’ve thought about every detail to make the guest experience as comfortable as possible and everyone there wants to enjoy and protect the unique environment. I had a very happy two days there.

As I sat in the warm sunshine or under the star-filled night sky, listening to the wind, sea and birds, and absorbing the visual feasts around me, I had a few moments to reflect on the great privilege it has been to experience another wonder of the world. There is something very stimulating about being in a place teeming with life in the way the Great Barrier Reef is, and in a community like Lady Elliot Island. My friend Claire expressed a hope that my travels would afford moments of peace, wonder and connection. As I tried to take it all in and hummed one of my grandmother’s favourite hymns, this felt like one such moment.

All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all!