Cairns is where I completed my PADI Advanced Open water dive course. I went with Downunder Dive on their Atlantic Clipper for a 4 day live aboard dive course which was absolutely fantastic. I originally looked at diving with a company called Pro Dive but they seemed very up themselves and I had heard many a good thing about the PADI dive courses that Down under Dive offered. Also after some further research I found out they had probably one of the best boats. The SV Atlantic Clipper.

It’s an old 140ft tall ship but has been fully refurbished and has on the modern technology installed. It has very nice air conditioned cabins which cater for 2-4 people, has a large saloon, lounge and even its own bar. Of course it even has a hot tub on the front deck to sit in and relax, chill out and have a beer. The food was fantastic and served from a rather well built kitchen… one of the best things they prepared was probably the most basic of all and that was potato wedges with sweet chili sauce which was often sat waiting for us on deck for when we came out from night dives. Hmm hmm.

The Atlantic Clipper is permanently based at the Great Barrier Reef which would move every day to other parts of the reef, which would either be done over night if a long way or early in the morning if a short distance. This was excellent as you get to see a variety of reefs and have a truly unique diving experience. Downunder Dive had a fast transfer boat which takes you there and back which also allows you to spend as many days and nights aboard as you want.

I truly couldn’t recommend anyone else to dive with in Cairns but if you decide to look elsewhere please be very careful when selecting a dive operator in Cairns as many dive schools use fixed platforms at sea which you stay on and then commute by boat for the diving, not quite the live aboard you expected!

View more of my scuba diving travel photos in Cairns.

Cairns Travel Photos

Well actually the whole island is a sand dune so to speak. It’s the biggest sand island in the world about 260m high. Being made completely from sand Fraser Island actually moves 1-2m a year!

Fraser Island if I remember correctly is known by the Aboriginals as K’Gari which means paradise and was inscripted by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1992.

Fraser Island is easy to get to and is only a couple of hours drive from Brisbane you can hire out 4x4s out there, but heard many horror stories about cars getting stuck and arguments from hell. Hence decided to take a Fraser Island tour with Dingos which was excellent, no sleeping bags, no cooking, no tents and no driving, just relaxing and downing some VB and the best part of this you dont get your food eaten by dingos!

Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island – Travel Photos