Great Barrier reef?

You can visit Cairns. We've been there twice and there are plenty of snorkle trips from there. We normally stay at Green Island Resort. After the day-trippers leave, we share the island with less than 100 people. Truly enchanting.

Be sure to visit Kuranda for a day via the train and the sky rail.

Also, visit Cape Tribulation. Almost everything is poisonous or a man eater, but you will be able to say that you went there. Don't get in the water because there are salt water crocodiles and box jellyfish.

Have a wonderful trip!

Cairns is probably the most accessable place when travelling from Melbourne. As mentioned by another, it has a large airport, and flights there from Sydney and Melbourne are very frequent.

Sounds like you've got a great plan for your trip so far, just remember that people often think Brisbane and the Barrier Reef are close together. They are still over a 1000kms apart, so your plan sounds just about right.

Try Rockhampton, it's on the lower portion of the Great Barrier reef, cheaper, not so tourist crowded and the beauty of the reef is the same as further north. Also, there is a small town north of Rockhampton called Yeppoon and it's beautiful, beach to walk on it's awesome. So research flights from Melborne to Rockhampton or Gladstone and possibly drive up the coast.

Brisbane is a major airport in Queensland and depending on the part of the reef you want to see, you can fly to Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville or Cairns. You can even fly into the Witsunday Islands on Hamilton Island (the beach on this Island to snorkel) and from there go by boat or a criuse into different parts of the reef.

Its a big place.

The place you want to land at is Cairns-where the reef meets the rainforest! Cairns has an international and domestic airport, you can fly from melbourne to cairns direct, for flights try

www.jetstar.com.au or www.virginblue.com.au or www.flightcentre.com.au

If you want to see the best reef possible, you need to go to Port Douglas, preferably on the boat Quicksilver. The further north, the less visited reef, port douglas is the way to go!

While your in cairns make sure you see Daintree and Kuranda-highly recommended!! have fun :)

best airport to get off would be cairns....from there u can take a cruise/boat and that will get u to the barrier reef : )!

there are nice seafood restaurants in cairns and the town is definately worth checking out : )!

have fun : )!

You need to goto Brisbane (in Queensland) rather than Sydney (in New South Wales). Otherwise, its like going to Las Vegas to see the Grand Canyon!

Check out the Queensland Tourism site for more information.

No idea but tell nemo i said hi