A diver's paradise. How do you begin to describe the diving to be found on this huge continent? From the Tropics in the north to the more temperate waters of the south, Australia has lots to offer the diver and indeed the traveller. There are restaurants and accommodations to suit every pocket and the food is renowned for its quality. Internal travel is easy as long as you allow yourself enough time to acclimatise sensibly. Australia is a destination that offers innumerable holiday variations and can appeal to every type of traveller from the eco enthusiast, the adventurer, families, wine lovers, luxury lovers. The options are limitless. To the diver, Australia is famed for its Great Barrier Reef which is a site of remarkable variety and beauty on the north-east coast of Australia. It contains the world's largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc. It also holds great scientific interest as the habitat of species such as the dugong ('sea cow') and the large green turtle, which are threatened with extinction.
Cave Diving A number of world class cave diving areas are located in rural Australia. These include Mt Gambier region in South Australia and the Nullarbor Desert in Western Australia. Contrary to the British experience, the vast majority of Australian cave divers are recreational scuba divers and are not dry cavers using scuba equipment in order to travel through a flooded portion of a cave. Most cave diving sites require divers to have qualifications issued by the Cave Divers Association of Australia (CDAA) - http://www.cavedivers.com.au. The CDAA offers training to 3 levels - Deep Cavern (the entry level grade), Cave & Advanced Cave. The CDAA also will accept overseas cave diving qualifications subject to completion of orientations, knowledge/skill assessments and in some cases, additional training. Visiting divers interested in obtaining CDAA qualifications, should be aware that the following entry requirement exists for the Deep Cavern course - Advanced Open Water award (i.e. PADI or SSI), Entry Level diver qualification held for at least 12 months, minimum experience of 25 dives (post Advanced Open Water) including at least two night dives and five dives deeper than 25 metres (minimum total of 20 hours), 18 years age and be medically fit to dive.
Cave Diving: A number of world class cave diving areas are located in rural Australia. These include Mt Gambier region in South Australia and the Nullarbor Desert in Western Australia. Contrary to the British experience, the vast majority of Australian cave divers are recreational scuba divers and are not dry cavers using scuba equipment in order to travel through a flooded portion of a cave. Most cave diving sites require divers to have qualifications issued by the Cave Divers Association of Australia (CDAA) - http://www.cavedivers.com.au. The CDAA offers training to 3 levels - Deep Cavern (the entry level grade), Cave & Advanced Cave. The CDAA also will accept overseas cave diving qualifications subject to completion of orientations, knowledge/skill assessments and in some cases, additional training. Visiting divers interested in obtaining CDAA qualifications, should be aware that the following entry requirement exists for the Deep Cavern course - Advanced Open Water award (i.e. PADI or SSI), Entry Level diver qualification held for at least 12 months, minimum experience of 25 dives (post Advanced Open Water) including at least two night dives and five dives deeper than 25 metres (minimum total of 20 hours), 18 years age and be medically fit to dive.
Touring Australia in three months is a difficult challenge, but you have to check out the Great Barrier Reef. Take it from me, it’s worth it. I was working over the summer as an Account Executive in Brisbane, Australia and decided to spend the last week of October with my buddy Scott in Cairns. Cairns is located in the Northeast part of Australia, in Queensland, and is famous for being surrounded by some of the best dive sites, parks and nature trails that Australia has to offer. I explored all aspects of this part of Australia. We began completing a nightwalk through the Daintree Rainforest. This rainforest has existed for thousands of years and hosts over 12,000 different species of insect. Fun time, but I was pretty paranoid that something would fly into me and bite me. We also went to a few famous sites such as Mossman gorge as well as Port Douglass. Mossman gorge offers great freshwater swimming sites and nice hiking paths while Port Douglass is a sleep fishing village with a bohemian flare, bustling downtown and plenty of awesome restaurants and bars.
Small pristine reef only about 250km long. Abounds with whale sharks March - July, longer seasons often. Manta rays are resident in some areas but most prolific in the winter months. June through September watch the humpback whales swim along the reef. September and October they are resting in Exmouth Gulf feeding up the new babes before they head back south to Antartica to feed. After diving the Ningaloo Reef for 5 years I would say it's diversity is unbeatable. The viz might not be 40 metres but the acquatic life is awesome.
