Explore the underwater world of the Great Barrier Reef from your own home!

With everyone buckling down at home and waiting for the day we can freely venture out again, a lot of us have plenty of free time on our hands.

One of the things we’re missing most is diving and snorkelling through the Great Barrier Reef. This amazing living organism is unlike any other in the world, and in-person is more beautiful than any other reef we’ve ever seen.

We thought we’d take a journey to the reef from our lounge room and thought you might like to take a ride with us!

• Finding Nemo

  First stop, Finding Nemo! Maybe it’s a bit of a cop-out, but this classic family film beautifully animates the busting underwater world of the Great Barrier Reef.

  The film is a great way to learn about the vast variety of creatures that live throughout the reef system, from sea turtles to hammerhead sharks, to manta rays and anemones. It is also surprisingly accurate when it comes to the migration of many animals.

  A fun game; Finding Nemo is full of hidden Disney characters, affectionally called Easter Eggs. Can you spot Mr Incredible, Boo from Monsters Inc. and Buzz throughout the film? You’ll have to keep your eyes wide open for these sneaky character cameos.

• Attenborough’s Reef

  Explore the Great Barrier Reef and hear from the world’s most soothing voice, David Attenborough. In 2015 the king of nature himself released a four-part series entitled The Great Barrier Reef supporting this series is a bespoke interactive journey for you and your family to enjoy.

  Here you’ll traverse the reefs within the larger system and undertake an expedition down the coastline. The experience sees you diving under the surface to follow schools of fish and see the most bizarre creatures up close.

  Learn all about the plight these creatures face as the Great Barrier Reef continues to change, and in many ways deteriorate. This insightful journey will inspire you to act and guide you to get involved with the protection of the reef.

  A fun game; You’ve just watched Finding Nemo, see if you can find all the real-life animals the main characters were based on. Why not make it a family competition to see who can spot the most. We’ll give you one hint though, good luck finding Pearl. She’s a flapjack octopus, and they’re only found in California, whoops!

• Restore the Reef online game

  After spending the day learning about the reef and its inhabitants it’s easy to see why you might want to help protect it! Why not get together and play the Restore the Reef game? This online game will see you cleaning up virtual trash and litter from the sea that may disrupt the reef.

  The game might only by virtual, but the lessons you learn about keeping our ocean clean will stick with you for life!

We can’t wait to visit the Great Barrier Reef in person once again, but for the time being these are just some of our favourite ways to connect to the reef from home!

Related article: Beginner Dive on the Great Barrier Reef

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