The Great Barrier Reef
Queensland, Australia
The reef itself lies offshore and every boat that reaches it sells a ticket, so these three challenges stand on the coast that faces it: the Cairns waterfront, Yunbenun (Magnetic Island) with its fringing coral, and the Daintree shore where rainforest runs down to the water. A member can walk all of it without a booking, and at Geoffrey Bay can wade off a free public beach onto living coral.
3 challenges · 18 stops
STARTERTrinity Bay First Light
≈ 2,000 steps0.9 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.Two hours on foot along the Cairns waterfront, best started early. You walk the boardwalk over the tidal mudflats, stop at the free saltwater lagoon the city built because you cannot swim in this bay, and finish at the wharf the reef fleet leaves from.
ADVANCEDWhere the Rainforest Meets the Reef
≈ 4,000 steps + 70 mi by car1.9 mi on foot · 1 day or moreAdvanced II · 9 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.Two days up the coast road from Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation, most of it inside Daintree National Park (CYPAL) on Eastern Kuku Yalanji country. Every stop is free ground; the only money is fuel and the Daintree River vehicle ferry, which is the public road crossing. The boardwalks are open around the clock, and the crocodile warnings on these beaches are real.
ADVANCEDYunbenun and the Fringing Reef
16 mi by cara full day · + the walk in to 1 stopAdvanced · 6 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.A full day out of Townsville on the public ferry. You start on the Wulgurukaba headland at Garabarra, cross to Yunbenun, wade onto living coral at Geoffrey Bay, and climb two hours to the wartime forts on the ridge. Stinger season runs November to May, so swim between the flags at Alma Bay.
Counted between stops; you'll walk more at each one.
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