We had a great day from Airlie, out on the big cat thing, scuba diving and submarine on their platform moored on the reef , back to hamilton island in the chopper and ferry back to airlie. A bit exy but we enjoyed every minute.

You could always try the Bundaberg Flyer to Lady Musgrave Island.

I don't know if the service is still operating but it was a very good day trip a few years ago.

There was also a float plane operating to the Lady Musgrave Lagoon some time back.

No doubt the local info centre wiil have all the details.

Have Fun Haji-Baba

I liked Airlie too. Some great reef experiences. One we particularly enjoyed was an intro scuba course. Only needed no medical problems. e.g. breathing. Snorkelling is also good fun. Would try to do it at different places and see what you find.

The best.... tours of the reef are found in FN Qld. The higher up the coast you go the better the reef experience. Port Douglas is a great place to head to for a top experience as opposed to the most southern entrance being Bundy.

I went out twice on Reef Magic out of Cairns. They have a pontoon out on the reef from which you can take a helicopter flight, scub dive or snorkel, go for a cruise on the glass bottomed boat, where you sit in the glass hull and get a close up view of the fish and reef.
The meal was great both times. I really enjoyed both trips. I thought the price was also reasonable.
Another time I went out with a group from Hinchinbrook Marina near Cardwell. We went out to the island, but we didn't really do anything around the reef. The resort on the island was closed after TC Larry.
Maybe out of Townsville is another option if you don't do Airlie.

Thanks for all the advice folks, we have decided to head north to Port Douglas when we leave here and 'do' the reef from there, then go to Atherton in the highlands before coming back to the coast and heading south. Isn't it wonderful to have the time to just mooch around wherever suits and not have a timetable to stick to?