Australia’s underwater paradise
You need to head underwater around Australia’s coast for some of the world’s best diving sites, writes Kathryn Curzon.
Home to the world-famous Great Barrier Reef, ancient rainforests and more white sandy beaches than you can count, Australia just about has it all. Here are 10 of Australia’s best dive destinations.
The Great Barrier Reef, Queensland
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the best dive destinations in the world and is a highlight of any trip to Queensland. Hop on a flight to Cairns to discover all this incredible reef system has to offer.
Stretching over more than 2250 kilometres of coastline, and made up of thousands of individual reefs, you’re spoilt for choice when you go Great Barrier Reef scuba diving. From coral-encrusted pinnacles and shark dives to encounters with friendly dwarf minke whales, there is something for every diver.
Spend a few days on a liveaboard to explore the remote outer reefs or join a day boat trip to snorkel or dive the closer reefs. Either way, make sure you include a scenic flight over the Great Barrier Reef to take in its staggering size.
Raine Island, Queensland
This is one of the lesser-known highlights of scuba diving Australia and is perfect for sea turtle fans.
Tucked away in the far north of the Great Barrier Reef, Raine Island has pristine reefs and hosts one of the largest gatherings of sea turtles in the world. It has been a green sea turtle nesting site for more than 1000 years, and is visited by tens of thousands of nesting sea turtles each year.
Join a dedicated safari to Raine Island during the turtle nesting season and you can go diving with these charming animals.
Townsville, Queensland
If you love wreck diving, don’t miss a chance to dive the SS Yongala. In the centre of the Great Barrier Reef, the Yongala is one of the world’s bestpreserved wrecks.
It sank in 1911, and is in fantastic condition, thanks to being protected by the Historic Shipwrecks Act, which prevents anyone from entering the wreck. The interior is virtually untouched and the wreck is a thriving artificial reef, with corals, fish, bull rays, and even passing bull sharks. One dive is never enough at this wreck, so take your time and book a day or two.
Lady Elliot Island, Queensland
The Reef’s Lady Elliot Island is famous for its rare pink manta ray, named Inspector Clouseau. First sighted in 2015, this bright pink manta has returned time and again to the island and is impossible to miss thanks to its vibrant colouring.
While you might not see Inspector Clouseau, you have a great chance of seeing other mantas. It is one of the top five locations for diving with manta rays. The island’s rich waters also host whales, fish, sea turtles and healthy corals. Take your pick from the 20 or so dive sites.
Rowley Shoals, Western Australia
Rowley Shoals is surely Australia’s top hidden gem, 300km off the northwest coast of Australia and visited by around only 200 divers each year, this destination offers outstanding diving.
Consisting of three pear-shaped atolls rising from the depths and perched on the continental shelf, the shoals are a haven for reef and pelagic life.
As well as offering thrilling drift dives and snorkelling through coral-encrusted channels, there are wall dives and outer reef dives to enjoy. The reef walls host mackerel, tuna, trevallies, sharks, huge corals, sailfish, and humpbacks.
Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia
Ningaloo Reef, Australia’s largest fringing coral reef, stretches along the gorgeous Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area and offers exceptional diving far from the crowds of the Great Barrier Reef.
This reef in Western Australia is famed for its whale shark encounters, and hosts hundreds of whale sharks from March to June each year, which you can go swimming with. The reef is also part of a migratory route for dolphins, dugongs, mantas, and humpback whales, and the beaches are an important breeding area for sea turtles.
For a unique experience and underwater photography opportunity, dive Ningaloo from March to May for the chance to witness mass coral spawning.
Rottnest Island, Western Australia
Take a small ferry ride from Perth and you will find stunning Rottnest Island. This small limestone island is one of Australia’s best-loved dive spots, with unique wildlife such as quokkas, and excellent cave and wall diving.
The island is also home to historic shipwrecks, swim-throughs and abundant marine life. Expect to see barracuda, grouper, wobbegong sharks, numerous nurse sharks, and an occasional humpback at the aptly named Shark Cave dive site.
Port Lincoln, South Australia
If you’re feeling adventurous, go cage diving with great white sharks. It is a life-changing experience, and Port Lincoln is one of the best places in the world to do it.
The Neptune Islands off Port Lincoln host white sharks, including enormous females, from April to June. Pack your camera, leave any fears behind and dive with these charismatic ocean giants.
Lord Howe Island, New South Wales
Lord Howe Island in New South Wales is another perennial favourite with divers, thanks to having more than 60 amazing dive sites, gin-clear waters and being in a truly unique location.
At the crossroads of five major ocean currents, Lord Howe’s waters are filled with tropical marine life and subtropical and temperate species.
It is an underwater playground for photographers and naturalists, and hosts the world’s tallest sea stack.
Fish Rock Island, New South Wales
Fish Rock is another hidden gem to add to your wish list. This rocky outcrop off South West Rocks in New South Wales is famous for its sea cave and astounding biodiversity.
The cave runs straight through the island, starting at 24 metres and rising to 12m deep. It’s not one for claustrophobic divers but adventurous divers will enjoy the sheer volume of life in the cave. There are almost countless nurse sharks, as well as huge schools of fish, wobbegong sharks and stingrays.
Iwas 7 when my parents took our family on a three-month road trip around North America in a Volkswagen Westfalia campervan. And when I finished high school I bought my first car, a 1966 VW Kombi T1.
A few more Volkswagens later, I found myself planning a holiday in a new Volkswagen Grand California with my own family, including daughters Louisa, 5, and Zofia, 7 – the same age I was on that epic journey.
Our aim was to visit places we had missed or overlooked on previous South Island trips, since our return to New Zealand in 2016, concentrating on areas around the West Coast, Milford Sound, The Catlins, Banks Peninsula, and avoiding the major centres to concentrate on the finer points of our backyard.
So we packed up the family and a few too many belongings and hit the road in a really capable, tidy campervan from VW.
The finish of the interior is similar to a modern aircraft cabin, but you don’t have to share the space with a lot of other people.
It was a bit tight, and we did have to rearrange things to create the dining space, and for the girls to retire at bedtime, but to those well versed in the art of travelling in a camper, there’s an art to making it work well.
We live in Nelson, so the first part of the journey was to get out of our own patch and straight into some new adventures.
The top of the West Coast was the first call with the truly magnificent O¯ pa¯ rara Basin Arches. The scale of the natural arches is amazing, and the surrounding bush, rivers and walkways are beautiful.
We had to hire a small vehicle to go up the narrow, winding road, as campervans are not permitted, and we spent the night at the sandflyfriendly Ko¯ haihai Shelter.
We took three days to travel the more than 1000km to Milford Sound, with stops at the Pororari River Track, and a beach near Hokitika for some greenstone spotting.
Zofia is obsessed with rocks, stones and gems, so the latter was a must.
There was another sleep stop at Wa¯ naka, then we were on our way to Te A¯ nau to use as our base for two nights from which to launch our Milford offensive.
Milford is one of New Zealand’s great destinations. Its staggering vertical mountains rise from sea level to upwards of 1256 metres (The Lions) from as little as 500m.
We pretty much had the place to ourselves as international visitors are scarce, and not many Kiwis can find time for a midweek jaunt to Milford. As for being one of the world’s wettest places, it was the first of many days of sunshine for us.
Then it was on to The Catlins, one of the country’s best-kept secrets, through the southern coastal regions of Southland.
After a stunning night at Fortrose, The Catlins lived up to its reputation, with lighthouses, seals, seabirds, and magical Hector’s dolphins. We weren’t sure if we would see them, but there, surfing in the waves in front of us, was a pod of the playful marine mammals.
Dunedin is my hometown and I had been longing to spend time getting to know the city again with the family.
We took a ride on the Taieri Gorge railway, we drank good coffee, the girls had a play on the scooters at the skatepark, and we explored the street art.
Heading north, Warrington Beach seemed like a good place to ease back from the asphalt and concrete of the past two nights, then it was on to Moeraki Boulders, which we never tire of. Louise and Zofia enjoyed playing around the rocks at low tide on the relatively calm and sunny day.
Oamaru, with its famed historic precinct, was the perfect backdrop to get a few photos with the