Thinking Of Going To The GBR...

[ameerat42]

That's NOT Great Britain, nor even GiBRaltar, but to Cairns and the
Great Barrier Reef in July.

But there's all the talk about the coral reef being bleached, and if so
what could you see of it?

Open to ideas and information.

Ta.
Am.

[Cage]

I'm sure there is some bleaching visible, a lot of it due to natural attrition, but Am, I can assure you that you will be in awe of what you will see. It's like swimming in the best and biggest aquarium you can imagine. :nod:

I was up there years ago and spent one whole day snorkeling. I was so entranced that they almost had to drag me out of the water when it was time to head back in.

They said I looked like a big pink prune. :lol2:

[Grant S]

My daughter vistied the GBR last week. She said Green Island was better than the reef itself. Apparently the area of the outer reef they visited showed damage mainly from people standing on or handliong the corals. :(

[Warbler]

Don't believe everything you hear from Green HQ.

[ameerat42]

Ta guys. Last time I was there (at Green Island, too) was 2002. It was too turbid to see anything as it was summer time.
In addition, I got sick from from breathing humid air/diesel fumes and MISSED OUT on the shipboard BBQ :(:(

So far it's Bris to Cairns via coast, so additional sights along the way would be good, though all up max 3 days to get there.

[Warbler]

From a report in The Australian:

Activist scientists and lobby groups have distorted surveys, maps and data to misrepresent the extent and impact of coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, #according to the chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Russell Reichelt…

Dr Reichelt said the authority had withdrawn from a joint #announcement on coral bleaching with [the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce headed by Terry Hughes] this week “because we didn’t think it told the whole story”. The taskforce said mass bleaching had killed 35 per cent of corals on the northern and central Great Barrier Reef.Dr Reichelt said maps accompanying the research had been misleading, exaggerating the #impact. “I don’t know whether it was a deliberate sleight of hand or lack of geographic knowledge but it certainly suits the purpose of the people who sent it out,” he said…“We’ve seen headlines stating that 93 per cent of the reef is prac#tic#ally dead,” he said.“We’ve also seen reports that 35 per cent, or even 50 per cent, of the entire reef is now gone.“However, based on our #combined results so far, the overall mortality rate is 22 per cent… Seventy-five per cent of the reef will come out in a few months time as recovered.”Former climate change commissioner Tim Flannery described diving on the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas recently as “one of the saddest days of my life"…“Having watched my father dying two years ago, I know what the signs of slipping away are. This is death, which ever-rising temperatures will allow no recovery from. Unless we act now.”Dr Reichelt said Dr Flannery’s language had been “dramatic” and “theatrical” and his prognosis, #although of concern, was “specul#ative"…Meanwhile, tourism operators have stepped up a campaign to fight back against the onslaught of negative publicity. “It seems some marine scientists have decided to use the bleaching event to highlight their personal political beliefs and lobby for increased funding in an election year,” said Association of Marine Park Tour Operators executive director Col McKenzie.

By the way AM, I have a bridge you might be interested in buying....

[ameerat42]

Ta Warbs. Interesting points made. Here I was telling a soon-to-visit-foreigner that it was not worth going there because of all this.
Same was pretty disappointed and so were we.

I'm OK with petrol fumes and moist air, but not diesel or kerosene (for tractors of yore, before it got cheaper to run them always on petrol:D).

[feathers]

Some chap got on the ABC the other morning and said it wasn't as bad as it's been reported, especially as you head down south from lizard island onward.:confused013
Sounds like you could have a flipping good time after all AM:D:nod:

[Bushy]

Hi Am, don't believe all the BS going around at present, I am out there very often as I live up here. Green Island is-has been loved to death by the Japanese, + expensive, go out wider to Moore Reef if you like Touristy stuff or use one of the many reef Charters, you probably won't even notice it,
Come up and just do it, enjoy it and savor the experience. and no, I am not involved with tourism.
PS- never know, if the weather is good, I could even take you pout myself

[ameerat42]

Gee, Bushy! That's really inspiring. Thanks for the info. What a turn-around for us, from NO GBR
to suddenly ALL GBR. And I see from your location that you're only an oar's dip from the place:D:D

[Lance B]

From a report in The Australian:

Activist scientists and lobby groups have distorted surveys, maps and data to misrepresent the extent and impact of coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, #according to the chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Russell Reichelt…

Dr Reichelt said the authority had withdrawn from a joint #announcement on coral bleaching with [the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce headed by Terry Hughes] this week “because we didn’t think it told the whole story”. The taskforce said mass bleaching had killed 35 per cent of corals on the northern and central Great Barrier Reef.Dr Reichelt said maps accompanying the research had been misleading, exaggerating the #impact. “I don’t know whether it was a deliberate sleight of hand or lack of geographic knowledge but it certainly suits the purpose of the people who sent it out,” he said…“We’ve seen headlines stating that 93 per cent of the reef is prac#tic#ally dead,” he said.“We’ve also seen reports that 35 per cent, or even 50 per cent, of the entire reef is now gone.“However, based on our #combined results so far, the overall mortality rate is 22 per cent… Seventy-five per cent of the reef will come out in a few months time as recovered.”Former climate change commissioner Tim Flannery described diving on the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas recently as “one of the saddest days of my life"…“Having watched my father dying two years ago, I know what the signs of slipping away are. This is death, which ever-rising temperatures will allow no recovery from. Unless we act now.”Dr Reichelt said Dr Flannery’s language had been “dramatic” and “theatrical” and his prognosis, #although of concern, was “specul#ative"…Meanwhile, tourism operators have stepped up a campaign to fight back against the onslaught of negative publicity. “It seems some marine scientists have decided to use the bleaching event to highlight their personal political beliefs and lobby for increased funding in an election year,” said Association of Marine Park Tour Operators executive director Col McKenzie.

By the way AM, I have a bridge you might be interested in buying....

Wow, who would have thought. Activists distorting the truth for their own agenda. I'm sure this is the only case, though. :rolleyes:

As for Tim Flannery. Probably best left unsaid.

[Bushy]

You are welcome Am, yes I am close, 10 minutes from home to the boat ramp, then 20 minutes to the reef. Spoiled eh.:2encou:

[Warbler]

I saw Waleed Idiot or whatever his name is going on about it on The Project saying the reef had been thriving for 18,000 years. Do yourself a favour and google "sea levels 18,000 years ago". You'll find that since the last Ice Age 20,000 years ago, sea levels have increased by 125 metres. Most of that increase was achieved over 200 years ago, and it's been very slowly rising since then. When the Green Industry first raised concerns about the reef, they cited rising sea levels. Now it's coral bleaching. The reef adapted to 125 metres higher seas and is still here. By the way, the reefs are often exposed to the hottest part of the day when they emerge from the water at low tide twice a day.

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You know we're in what is known as an interglacial period right now. The name implies that we will have another Ice Age BTW. Anyway in the interglacial period before the current one, 125,000 years ago, sea levels got to 6 metres higher than today's sea levels. There might be some way to go. All this has nothing to do with coal-fired power stations either. Ice Ages last many millenia. Here's a reference:

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/gornitz_09/

[Mark L]

And the beat goes on.

[aussirose]

There's so much to do in and around Cairns apart from the GBR. Fitzroy island is great. Kuranda, Milla Milla Falls, Daintree, Mareeba and the rock wallabys, even up to Cooktown and across to Daintree and Cape Trib. Some amazing scenery. I just loved our road trip up there :)

[Mark L]

Well AM, reckon you should just go and visit Ann on the west coast. You'll only run into bad weather if you head north.
And the beat goes on.

[ameerat42]

We were thinking of undertaking some happy Perth days, but had to fit in with travel plans of others.

[Warbler]

Perhaps you should consider coming to the southern part of the GBR where the news on coral cover is much better than from north of Port Douglas. Heron Island is a jewel, and you can get there from Gladstone, by boat or by helicopter. Has good bird life as well as being surrounded by coral reefs. Accommodation is limited though, and winter is the tourist season around here, judging by the numbers of grey nomads towing big vans with their gas guzzlers.

GBRMPA report - http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/media-room/latest-news/coral-bleaching/coral-bleaching/the-facts-on-great-barrier-reef-coral-mortality
Heron Island Website - http://www.heronisland.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw-Mm6BRDTpaLgj6K04KsBEiQA5f20ExMTacaYeAdj2DlhXNKByG8twlQqy9WW_yPpK6BrwJYaAmws8P8HAQ

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and if you want to see some toothy lizards, we have those here too. There's one around the 4 metre mark keeping the fishermen on their toes at the boat ramp in Coorooman Creek. Probably the same one that was sighted inside the harbour at Rosslyn Bay last year, and Ross Creek the year before. The locals say there are many more in the same creek system.

http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/yeppoon-jet-skiers-close-encounter-five-metre-croc/3036258/

[ameerat42]

Ta for all your info, Warbs. That is indeed a good idea and I was told the same years ago.
Am.

[Fedgrub]

A friend of mine is thinking of trekking up there for that very reason - he's also not really sure where he should go around there though.