Be an ambassador for the ocean – why the Great Barrier Reef’s future depends on responsible tourists
Life and style | The Guardian
Tropical North Queensland is home to two extraordinary ecosystems side by side. Expect unbelievable wildernesses, ancient cultures and the privilege of realising your visit is protecting their future. Here’s everything you need to know
Covering an area of about 350,000 sq km along Australia’s Queensland coastline, the Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system and living structure – so vast that it’s visible from space. I first learned to dive here in my 20s and it’s an experience that stays with me to this day. It might have been poorly captured by our disposable underwater cameras, but the memories are all the more precious in the absence of anything tangible. Returning to dive in the years since has never eroded that sense of wonder and humbling privilege.
The reef is also the only Unesco world heritage site that sits directly alongside another: the Wet Tropics of Queensland, which includes the Daintree rainforest and Daintree national park. This fact isn’t only remarkable in terms of diversity and richness, but means that travellers can access marine and rainforest experiences with ease.
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