Queensland Holidays - Bundaberg & Coral Coast -

The Great Barrier Reef's southern tail is an island idyll, where lagoons and coral cays make diving and snorkelling as simple as a walk to the shoreline.

The picturebook Coral Coast, east of Bundaberg, enjoys crystalline blue skies, warm clear waters, and amazing dive diversity, offering easily accessible shore diving in the spectacular Woongarra Marine Park.

Lady Elliot Island could be described as the final jewel in the Great Barrier Reef's crown. The Lady graces the reef's southernmost tip and is blessed with mating turtles (late spring/early summer), manta ray, leopard sharks (summer), sea snakes and the occasional sojourn by whales and dolphins (winter).

From the air, the island sits as an emerald green centre amidst a ring of shallow turquoise reef. Almost every area around the island is a diving and snorkelling mecca - be it the unnerving Shark Pools, the Manta Rays at Lighthouse Bommies or the schooling reef fish of Anchor Bommie.

Lady Musgrave Island, to the north, displays similar topography and marine life. You can visit on a day tour or set up camp. Dive sites range from a large shallow lagoon (home to sharks, rays and moray eel) to spectacular coral canyons where the big fish (batfish and yellowtail kingfish) school.

The big drawcard of this area is the marine turtle and every late spring and summer, these coral coast inhabitants turn their minds to mating.

A mainland rookery at Mon Repos is home to the largest concentration of nesting marine turtles in eastern Australia and every evening from November through March, visitors can witness these endangered marine reptiles nesting and hatching.