visit with care

View and take photos from afar – leave plants and wildlife undisturbed

Respect Indigenous culture and historic sites

Big coral

Mega marine faunagroper, marble rays, turtles - frequent the undulating seas

Keep pets on a leash at all times and out of National Parks.

Drive with care

You read that right – the Great Barrier Reef is off the coast of Townsville, with Townsville the official headquarters for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Great Barrier Reef Aquarium and James Cook University’s world-renowned Marine Biology degree.

Townsville is the gateway to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, and there are many ways to go deeper, not further and learn the reef’s greatest stories.

2300kmin length!

The Great Barrier Reef makes up 10% of the world’s coral reef ecosystems making it the world’s largest coral reef system.

3000 individual coral reefs, 600 types of soft and hard corals, 1635 types of fish, jellyfish, whales, turtles, dolphins and so much more!

Be a citizen marine scientist and contribute to the ongoing care and monitoring of the Great Barrier Reef by using the Eye on the Reef app, and by being Reef Smart.