Outer Reef, The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef 

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest system of coral reefs, mangrove and estuarine environments, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park covers an area of about 348,700㎢.

The Great Barrier Reef is a chain of coral reefs about 2,300 km long, skirting the continental shelf off the coast of Queensland, Australia, stretching from just south of the Tropic of Capricorn, towards the coastal waters of Papua New Guinea. It extends from below sea level to 40 m above sea level and is 72 km wide at its widest point. It has about 3 400 individual coral reefs separated by deep water channels, including 760 fringing reefs (1 to over 10 000 hectares) of various shapes. There are approximately 300 coral cays, including 213 unvegetated cays, 43 vegetated cays, 44 low wooded islands, and 618 continental islands. The islands include Lizard, Green, Fitzroy, Frankland, Dunk and Hinchinbrook.

The Outer Reef 

The Outer Reef marks the point where the complex coral system meets the great, wide ocean – the edge of the wall. Now you can probably see why the Outer Reef is one of the lesser-visited parts of the Great Barrier Reef. It is isolated from the mainland and takes a few hours to get to the Queensland shore.

How to get there

Visitors can find a number of tour companies that depart from the Cairns Reef Terminal to the outer reef include Great Adventures, Reef Magic Cruises, Sunlover Reef Cruises, down under cruise.

There are also other boats departing from Cairns Marina fingers. Guests are welcome to visit our hotel lobby for tour information brochures or ask one of our reception staff for bookings.

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