Taylor Swift hugs a koala in Australia

HAMILTON ISLAND—I have one degree of separation with Taylor Swift. Because of a koala.

His name is Willy, and he lives on Wild Life Hamilton Island, a reserve for marsupials, snakes, lizards, koalas, kangaroos, and a crocodile.

"Thank you to the Australian Wildlife Conservation Fund for letting us hang out with Willy," Swift captioned the Instagram photo she posted of her, her mother Andrea, and brother Austin with Willy. "WE LOVE HIM and will miss him terribly."

It's one of the few places in the world where you can cuddle with a koala. The Australian Koala Foundation says that koalas are "in trouble" because their local populations have dwindled. That's why koala cuddles are done in a protected setting, in the presence of a ranger.

I had a chance to hug Willy earlier this year when he stopped by to greet guests at Qualia, a luxury resort where Swift and her entourage stayed this week. He smelled of eucalyptus and clung to me like a baby, even though he is 12 years old, mature for a koala. I had less than a minute with him. Cuddling time is restricted so as not to tire or stress out the koala.

Swift and her entourage of 125, the crew on her 1989 World Tour, descended upon this small island in the massive Great Barrier Reef this week for a mini-break. On Thursday, she performed an acoustic set for a select group of 100 fans at the Nova Red Room. Soon after, she boarded a private plane for the city of Brisbane, where she will resume her tour.

It's probably safe to say that few people in the USA have heard of Hamilton Island. Getting there from the east coast of the USA takes pretty much a full day. But the pop princess' choice of Hamilton Island as a vacation spot may very well change that.

So what's Hamilton Island like? I got a chance to visit earlier this year.

It is the commercial center of the Whitsundays, a collection of 77 islands off the central coast of the state of Queensland in eastern Australia. It's a popular spot for Australians and Europeans to explore the Great Barrier Reef, a coral reef system made up of about 3,000 separate reefs that stretch out over more than 1,300 miles.

The Reef and other aquatic destinations are some of Australia's biggest assets. According to Tourism Australia, two out of three international visitors choose to explore the country's coastal environments. More than 1.9 million people visit the Reef each year. Next year, a three-part documentary series on the Reef by British naturalist David Attenborough will debut in more than 130 countries.

According to WWF-Australia, the reef has 411 types of hard coral, 1/3 of the world's soft corals, more than 130 species of sharks and rays, six of the seven types of endangered marine turtles, and more than 30 species of marine mammals.

There are many ways to explore the reef, by catamaran, jet-ski or helicopter.

I start with a half-day snorkeling cruise on a 60-foot vessel to Luncheon Bay, a popular spot for spotting fish.

Rob Vickery and his two children have been snorkeling plenty of times. But before donning her snorkeling gear, 13-year-old Ruby makes this admission: "I'm scared of fish."

"You're in the wrong place," her father teases her.

Crewmember Tristan Grossman confirms that we will most likely see plenty of fish. The Great Barrier Reef has more than 1,500 species of them.

But there's nothing to fear, Grossmann assures Ruby.

"We're fairly sheltered and protected where we are going," he says. "We are very safe on the Whitsunday waters today."

Nina Miall, who is visiting from Sydney has snorkeled in some impressive waters, such as those in the Maldives, but the Great Barrier Reef does not disappoint.

"A lot of the corals seem quite close to the surface," she says as she dries off back on the boat. "It was very beautiful and there was good visibility and a good variety of fish."

Upon his return to the boat, Robert's 10-year-old son Cain excitedly points out all the fish he saw using a handy cheat sheet.

His list is long: threadfin butterflyfish, emperor angelfish, wedge tailed blue tang ("It sort of glows"), moon wrasse ("Its head was sort of flat in front), long-finned batfish ("That one was massive.")

"The coolest fish had to be the whitetip shark," his father declares.

No one disembarks disappointed. "The colors were phenomenal," says Anne Ball, who is on the boat with her mother.

Next, I take a jet-skiing tour with Bob Whitton, who gives me a historical lesson on the Whitsunday Islands while we circle around a few of them in the water.

It turns out that Whitsunday got its name because Captain James Cook thought he had discovered it on a Sunday. In fact, Whitton tells me, he had found it on a Monday.

During our hour-long tour on sometimes choppy waters, we search for fish. We see a few but I had better luck on the snorkeling cruise.

Perhaps the most awe-inspiring view comes from a helicopter. Over the course of an hour, pilot Tim Alexander takes me about 110 miles away. Our height varies from 500 over Heart Reef, named for its shape, and 2,000 feet over Reefworld, a floating launching pad for snorkelers and scuba divers.

There's a spot between Hook Reef and Hardy Reef known as the River. It's about 240 feet deep, which gives it a darker hue from above. The dark blue line actually looks like a river.

"From the boat you don't get any perspective of the size, color variations or patterns that the coral form," Alexander says.

During an ATV tour, I concentrate on learning more about the land. Deborah and Kev Campbell and their three children round out our caravan of ATVs.

We learn that the Qualia resort used to be a deer farm. Hence, the deer you occasionally spot around the island.

We see beautiful Dent Island to the west, which houses an 18-hole golf course designed by British Open champion Peter Thomson and operated by Hamilton Island.

Tilt your head and the imposing Pentecost Island looks like King Kong. Morning sunrises offer dramatic views of the surrounding islands.

"Life is fabulous," Deborah says.

Taylor Swift would surely agree.