I’m standing on the deck of a cruise ship. It is a warm tropical morning and the heavily rain forested coast of Queensland’s Cape York is beside us as we head south to Brisbane. A woman standing near me says “What’s that?”

“The mainland.” I reply

“So where’s the Barrier Reef?”

“On the port side.”

“No it’s not” she says “I can’t see it.”

I’m so glad she’s not the skipper.

A few facts about the reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system. It is 2,300kms long and almost the same size in area (344,400 square kms) as Germany.

Lieutenant James Cook and his ship the Endeavour ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. The ship was hauled ashore for repairs in what was later to become Cooktown.