Great Barrier Reef - Reef and Beyond

00:00:07 MONTY HALLS: The Great Barrier Reef is huge.

00:02:46 They're all driven by the same instinct

00:05:12 This speck in the ocean is barely a kilometre long

00:07:02 All around me, it's like the troops are massing

00:09:47 Whale watching's become a local tourist attraction

00:13:14 They're one of 70 species of whale that visits the reef each year.

00:16:04 Using her front flippers, she first digs a protective hollow for herself

00:18:25 But quite a few stragglers are left behind.

00:20:47 or it could be being buried

00:23:54 At four degrees, it's the same temperature as the sea in the Antarctic.

00:26:03 and under cover of darkness, they graze on floating algae close to the surface.

00:28:48 Turtles trapped in rock pools begin to refloat on the incoming tide.

00:31:41 and as an opportunistic predator

00:34:23 so this gathering of 76 is extremely unusual.

00:36:11 creating tropical storms that spiral in from the Coral Sea.

00:37:56 HALLS: Island resorts were destroyed

00:40:03 living in their tissues.

00:41:57 but it does have a chance

00:45:03 The first light of dawn's just touching the horizon

00:47:14 But Raine is not the only island with nesting seabirds.

00:50:33 In late afternoon, the parent birds take their positions.

00:54:09 And there's something even more sinister up ahead.

00:56:37 of wildlife an the Barrier Reef but many of its animals are visitors

00:58:22 or whether it becomes something much poorer.