Discover Closehaven Marina at Port Douglas

The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is undisputed as one of the world’s most important natural assets. It is the largest natural feature on earth stretching more than 2,300km along the northeast coast of Queensland, Australia. To put it in perspective, it covers an area about the same size as the United Kingdom, half the size of the state of Texas or the length of the entire Japanese island chain. It is the only natural structure that can be seen from outer space.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is not just one reef, but is made up of over 2,900 reefs, 600 rocky continental islands and 300 coral cays stretching from the tip of Cape York in the north to Lady Elliott Island in the south. Covering over 348,000 km², it comprises 70 different bio-regions making it the most ecologically diverse system in the world.

Although coral reefs have been around for over 500 million years, the Great Barrier Reef is relatively young at 500,000 years, and this most modern form is only 8,000 years old, having developed after the last ice age.

This World Heritage listed marine park supports the greatest concentration of life on the planet with over 1,500 species of fish, 450 different species of hard corals, 4,000 species of molluscs and 10,000 species of sponges. Six of the world’s 7 species of sea turtles are found here. Whales are often encountered in these tropical waters from May to September.

The Rainforest

The World Heritage listed Daintree Rainforest is one of the oldest continually surviving rainforests on earth! Some of the plants and animals found here have been around for more than a 100 million years. When the rest of the world experienced dramatic climate changes, these rainforests remained relatively stable and undisturbed. As a result, this living museum shelters plants found only as fossils elsewhere in the world.

From Port Douglas, there are many daily tours that can take you into the heart of the Daintree and Cape Tribulation region. You can walk into the rainforest with a local guide, see it from the river during a river cruise or get above it all at the Daintree Discovery Centre. This interpretive facility allows visitors easy access to this unique rainforest wilderness via boardwalk tours, a 23 metre high canopy tower, aerial walkway and display.

Covering just 0.1% of Australia’s land surface, this World Heritage area contains 30% of Australia’s marsupial species, 60% of bat species, 30 % of frogs, 23% of reptiles, 62% of butterflies and 18% of bird species. Amazing!