The Great Barrier Reef
Larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing visible from space, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world. The spectacular kaleidoscope of colour stretched along the Queensland seaboard from south of the Capricorn to Torres Strait south of New Guinea.  A BBC TV programme rated it second only to the Grand Canyon on a list of 50 places to see before you die (Lonely Planet).
We (more like I) could hardly sleep with the excitement of diving this spectacular wonder. A 60km ride off the coast of Cairns meant we had to be up and on the boat rather early. It took over 2hrs to get to get to our first drop off. Sam signed up for the guided tour as she hadn’t dived since November and felt more comfortable with an instructor. I took an unguided tour and buddied up with Berry, the guy for the Netherlands.
To be brutality honest it was great but not absolutely spectacular which we were expecting. The time of year, weather conditions and visibility were not in our favour. Once in, Berry and I headed straight for the 80m coral wall, passing some nice shallow corals along the way, but once there we were a little disappointed. Although there was a great diversity of corals we were expecting them to be more colourful and surrounded by many more fish.  That said, we got to swim with turtles and a few white-tip reef sharks which was a first and damn amazing – we soon gulped our air as we chased them around. Sam unfortunately seen neither.
If we get the chance we will try another dive somewhere along the coast. The photos are a little disappointing and come nowhere near those taken in Indonesia.
UNESCO World Heritage Site #17
