Great Barrier Reef Ocean Swim Series: Jetstar pilot brings tourists to Cairns
An out-of-work airline pilot has managed to attract scores of southern visitors to the Great Barrier Reef by using new-found spare time to market Cairns as “the new Bali”.
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AN out-of-work airline pilot has managed to attract scores of southern visitors to the Great Barrier Reef by using new-found spare time to market Cairns as “the new Bali”.
Jetstar Captain Craig Needham is not used to sitting idle so when the pandemic put his career on hold, it hit him like a brick.
He set his mind to two key tasks – providing for his young family and using his contacts in the close-knit world of triathlons to launch a new tourism drawcard for Cairns.
His efforts have borne fruit with the launch of the Great Barrier Reef Ocean Swim Series – a new event that has booked out an entire Great Adventures reef trip with 80 swimmers set to take part in the world’s most scenic race on Saturday.
“About a year ago, I had the idea to run a community swim event in Cairns – purely for the benefit of the town,” he said.
“The idea was to have a swim out on Moore Reef, to try tell the message that Cairns was open for business and to highlight our reef.
“It’s an informal race – the winners are not getting trophies, they are getting stuffed Nemo fish.
“We’re saying that every swimmer is also a spectator.”
The event was a sellout within 48 hours of being promoted on social media.
Mr Needham said the vast majority of swimmers were coming from Brisbane, and about four-fifths were bringing their families.
“That’s 80 lots of accommodation for a few nights and 80 lots of dinners out at our restaurants, 80 lots of coffees,” he said.
“It keeps the staff on the reef boats employed for another day, the staff in the hotels, the cleaners.
“It’s my way of trying to say you don’t need to go to Bali, come see the reef, come see your own backyard.”
Mr Needham said he had help from Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch and Barron River MP Craig Crawford when running into snags – including sourcing the Life Guards required under health and safety laws.
“He’s not making a cent out of it,” Mr Entsch said.
“He’s using his free time to promote our region, because there are a lot of people now thinking about going to Bali before they go to Cairns.”
This weekend’s event is just a taster with Mr Needham hoping to build the race as more border restrictions topple over the coming years.
“This year is intrastate with everyone coming from Brisbane,” he said.
“Next year we will try fill a whole cat with 300 people from Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth. And the year after that, we want to make it a bucket list swim and bring people all the way over from Europe to take part.”
Dates has already been set for two events next year, on August 27 and October 22.
“I hope, like a raindrop into a waterfall, those 80 people can go back to Brisbane and say how great the event was, what a great town, and how beautiful the reef is,” Mr Needham said.
“Through the lens of my world as an airline captain, I love our town.
“I love the fact that Jetstar has a pilot-base here, and I want to do my bit with the spare time I have while being stood down, to try and help out.”
All profits will be donated to the Reef Restoration Foundation to help fund its work replenishing healthy coral populations.
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Originally published as Great Barrier Reef Ocean Swim Series: Jetstar pilot brings tourists to Cairns
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