Far North Queensland has the tropical luxury of Port Douglas with lazy ceiling fans, cocktails and fantastic food but also back to basics four-wheel driving beyond Cape York with hidden pristine beaches. Even the main road from Cairns is a World Heritage area. The Coral sea is the most eye-catching aquamarine but take heed of the signs warning of salt-water crocodiles (salties.) The realisation that you're no longer top of the food chain gives you a whole new perspective on life. Still wanting to feel small in the marine world but much safer? Take a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef from Port Douglas. Much quieter than the backpacker chaos of Cairns, no "salties" out this far, choose a boat with a marine biologist on-board and swap watching on BBC 2 for a snorkel and flippers. See it soon - global climate change might mean its all gone in thirty years time. Even that fact on its own has been life-changing for us.

We visited the reef with Wavelength www.wavelength.com.au/ - oldest in operation, set up by a marine biologist
Shop 20, Meridien Marina Mirage, Wharf Street Port Douglas
+61(0)7 4099 5031

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Arriving in Cairns we looked forward to our first swim, alas after checking out the signs about jellyfish, mudflats off the foreshore and talk from the locals about the two crocs that were found in the swimming nets a couple of days before our arrival, the sea seemed out of the question but not the swimming lagoon. In glorious sunshine, sitting alongside backpackers and babies we spent the day making the most of the water, changing rooms, lockers and lifeguards, strolling to one of the many close restaurants in the evening. There are also free early morning fitness activites run at the lagoon, like yoga and pilates. What a way to start the day!

Once in the city centre just follow the signs to the Esplanade - you can't miss it.

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In Australia the star of the show is the Great Barrier Reef. The only living organism visible from space is in fact a collection of corals, living and growing in the shallow seas and forming hundreds of reefs which stretch 1,430 miles along the Queensland coast, home to thousands of fish and plants.

As a first-time snorkeller, I swam from pristine sandy beaches and from the dive platform of the Coral Princess into another world so beautiful it takes your breath away – especially when your snorkel’s on the wrong way round and you swallow half the Coral Sea! Unforgettable.

Google map: tinyurl.com/l96ynr

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