Yet from coral planting dive trips to Indigenous-led reef tours, there are more opportunities than ever to experience this fragile ecosystem sustainably, helping to ensure that this incredible slice of nature can be enjoyed for generations of visitors to come. It’s no secret, of course, that the Great Barrier Reef faces a number of threats. Home to more than 600 hard and soft coral species and a colourful array of other marine creatures, from tiny nudibranchs (sea slugs) to huge manta rays, this World Heritage-listed area also has cultural significance to more than 70 local Indigenous groups, their connections to the reef dating back some 60,000 years. Visible from outer space, it’s also one of the planet’s most precious ecosystems – and a gobsmackingly beautiful one to boot. The Great Barrier Reef isn’t just the world’s largest living organism. Queensland/Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sea country The best way to get here is on the museum’s ferry, which departs from Brooke St Pier. SEE IT! Mona is 12km north of Hobart’s city centre. Opened in 2011, and housed in a Nonda Katsalidis-designed three-storey bunker burrowed into the Triassic sandstone of a peninsula jutting into the Derwent River, Mona is a showcase for founder and owner David Walsh’s remarkable collection of ancient, modern and contemporary art, which is loosely curated under the themes of sex and death.Īll cultural roads lead to Mona in January (for Mona Fofa, or Mofo for short) and June (for Dark Mofo) for Tasmania’s largest contemporary music festival. Mona: a three-storey bunker burrowed into the Triassic sandstone of a peninsula jutting into the Derwent River. Undeniably eccentric, the Museum of Old and New Art (almost universally known as Mona) has ushered Hobart on to the world’s cultural stage. ![]() Be confronted and inspired by art at the extraordinary Mona Park rangers can supply the informative visitor guide, leaflets and walking notes, as well as other park information. ![]() Displays and exhibits focus on Tjukurpa (Aboriginal law, religion and custom) and on the natural and human history of the park. There is no better way to experience the rock.Īround 1km from the rock itself, the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre adds depth and perspective to your Uluru experience. The walk takes you away from the crowds – very few visitors spend long enough here to get to know Uluru this well. Sacred sites are everywhere entry to and knowledge of the particular significance of these areas is restricted by local law, and knowing this only adds to Uluru’s mystery. Along the way, it passes caves, paintings, sandstone folds and geological abrasions and generally initiates you into the scope and detail of this remarkable place. ![]() There are many options, but most fold into the Uluru Base walk, a 10.6km circumnavigation of the rock. You can also get up close by taking one of the walks that encircle the base. The sunset viewing areas are once-in-a-lifetime experiences understanding its singular beauty when surrounded by the vast desert around it. Uluru is a monolith textured with layers of profound spirituality and timeless beauty, the epitome of desert stillness and, in the plays of light and shadow that dance across its surface, one of the richest shows in nature. If that’s not sufficiently impressive, remember this: two-thirds of the rock lies beneath the sand. Its dimensions are one thing: it is 3.6km long and rises 348m from the surrounding sands (867m above sea level). ![]() Photograph: Maurizio De Mattei/Shutterstock
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