MORETON ISLAND
Moreton Island is the 3rd largest sand island in the world. It’s an hours ferry ride from Brisbane which left at 7am meaning we had to drag the kids out of bed and be on the road at 5.15am!
Like Bribie which is also a sand island, Moreton is protected as part of a National Park. There is just one resort here called Tangalooma and we had booked in here for one night because there was so much to do here.
Its also the island where they filmed one of the 'ScoobyDoo' movies which Daisy thought was great!
We had booked to go on a whale watching tour around midday and as we landed at 8.30am we decided to make the most of the morning by playing table tennis, basketball, watching fish feeding at the aquarium and eating breakfast!
Tangalooma was a previous whaling station and was the biggest in Australia. Whales were killed mainly for the high percentage of oil used for a number of purposes. Whaling was banned in the 1980’s when their numbers decreased to between 300-600 whales. Since whaling has stopped the whale numbers have started to grow and now are back to about 14,000. Unfortunately whaling still illegally occurs today, mainly in Antartica by the Japanese.
WHALE WATCHING
The humpback whales are currently migrating north from Antartica up to the Whitsunday Islands in order to give birth and mate in the warmer waters. We are so lucky to be here at the right time to hopefully spot a whale. So from May onwards there is a possibility you might spot a whale all along the eastern and southern coastline. The first sighting of a whale is such a feeling. We could see it ‘blowing’ and then jumping like a dolphin does out of the water. We were really hoping to be able to see some breaching, tail slapping and fin waving, although usually this kind of behaviour happens after they have given birth and are ‘resting’ in the warm waters before beginning their long journey back to Antarctica again.
We spotted 8 whales altogether usually in pods of 2 in the main arching out of the water but we had one that waved its fins at us – awesome! Poor little Daisy got sea sickness it was extremely choppy on the way there like constantly being on a roller coaster, she was fine initially, laughing with yet another little friend she had made then as soon as we stopped to view the whales she felt ill and fell asleep and went really hot!
DOLPHIN FEEDING
Every night at Tangalooma up to 10 wild bottlenose dolphins come in for feeding. Guests at the resort are able to feed them as part of the package. The feeding starts at 6pm when its dark and when the dolphins have swum in. Because they are wild, you aren’t able to pat or touch them, but just hold one fish in your hand and they swim up and take it from you. The temperatures of 20 odd degrees in the day soon plummet at this time and its quite cold, especially as you are going to enter the sea (up to knee level). The resort hires out waders or wetsuits at a charge of $10 per person, we decided that £30 was a bit of a rip off for the 5 of us to be in the water for about 2 minutes so decided to brave it!
4 dolphins initially came in to be fed and the one that we fed was called Echo. He had a scar down his dorsal fin from a past attack from a shark! I went in with Daisy (you had to go in two’s and three’s), he was so cute, he swam up and took the fish from our hands. Another magical experience, one of many we have had on this trip!
DAY 2
The next day we spent the morning on the island and walked up to the Tangalooma wrecks which were put there to forma natural harbour for smaller boats and have also ended up as a great place for snorkelling.When we drove past these on the boats we saw loads of manta rays and massive one of them was at the edge of the water as we arrived up there. Richard and Oliver braved the swim up the wrecks while we played on the beach.
SAND TOBOGANNING
At Moreton Island you are able to go on a sand toboganning tour. Towards the centre of the island there is a place called ‘The Desert’ which a huge sand blow (hill) where you can slide down on a board (typically a piece of formica, waxed with a candle!). We ventured out there in a 4WD bus which was a bit of a bumpy ride over the sand ‘roads’ on the island. First we stopped off at Lightening Ridge so called because lightening is attracted to this stretch due to the high content of silica in the sand. When the lightening strikes it fuses together the sand to make small solid stones, its really bizarre.
Back to the sand boarding…. We had to climb the huge hill which was a mammoth task in itself! It was really steep and hard to climb because the sand is so soft and your feet sink right it. The kids whizzed up but it took me ages once I got nearer to top and I needed oxygen! The first time down was a bit of an unnerving experience. It looks really steep. You wear goggles because of the fineness of the sand which can damage your eyes. Woohoo! Its was amazing. You can get speeds of up to 50km an hour. Daisy had been on the lower slope and then climbed right up the hill so she climbed on my back and off we went! Richards first attempt saw his board break in two! On his third attempt, complete with Daisy on his back, he shifted sideways, and both him and poor Daisy rolled over at speed! They were completely covered in sand and Daisy was a bit shocked to say the least! It was a fab, really different thing to do and we all had a really good time.
FRASER ISLAND
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and a really unique place. It is massive and we would have liked to have spent a night there so we could make the most of seeing the island over two days. The best way to do this is to camp, but because temperatures overnight can plummet to 5 degrees we decided this wasn’t a good option for the children. The accommodation on the island is also quite expensive, so because of our time constraints of just one day we were limited to what we were able to see. Nonetheless what we did get to do was great. Another early start (5am to leave). We saw the sunrise over the Noosa river which was stunning.The journey begun with a 4WD ride (the only mode of transport possible in the National Park) down Teewah Sands. This was fantastic driving at the side of the sea with the waves crashing in at one side and the sand dunes on the other.
We headed along to Rainbow Beach which has sand cliffs of different coloured sands. Although they look like cliffs, they are really sand and are very picturesque.We had morning tea and a muffin here taking in this scenery. Then it was back in the bus again and down to Inskip Point for our 10 minute ferry journey across to Fraser.
We really were hoping to see one and just as we drove off the ferry we saw one foraging about for food. The next part of the journey was down the 'aptly named ' 75 mile beach!
After about a 20 minute drive down here, we turned off to the sand road inland and headed to Lake McKenzie which is a perched lake. A perched lake means it is above sea level and has no inlet of water so is completely filled just by rainwater. It is crystal clear and refreshing for a swim I would imagine in the height of summer, although Richard went for a swim! It was freezing! We then had a bbq lunch, cooked by the driver before being taken on a rainforest walk. Although we liked Fraser Island, because we didn’t get to see much of it being so vast, at this point Moreton Island probably has the edge.
RICHARD’S BIRTHDAY
What do you get someone, 12,000 miles away from home with absolutely NO room or weight allowance in the suitcase for a present? Well we decided that we would book him a secret skydive!We didn’t know if he would be ok with it or not. He’s scared of heights a bit but I thought if I can do it – then so can he! So we made him a card which we gave him the morning of his birthday, 2 hours before the jump! At first, he was a bit quiet and shocked by it and I thought id made the wrong decision, but once he got his head around it, he was ok.
Instead of my skydive jumping out of a plane in the cold, cloud into a field near Cleethorpes, this was clear skies, warm and landing on the beach! The ‘training’ before hand consisted of little more then putting a harness on, telling him to put his head back and legs back when they had jumped and that was it! Unlike my training video, special jumpsuit, goggles and awful hat that I had to wear! Very laid back!
The kids and I went on the bus to the beach and watched him jump out of the plane. He really enjoyed the scenery which was fantastic but not sure he would do it again, although 1 to ‘cross of his list’!ANOTHER WHALE WATCH
Although the Moreton Island Whale Watch was good, it was a bit as Emily described it - ‘good but not as impressive as she hoped' with the whales’ so we decided to book a second one. We booked with Whale One which is Steve Irwins whale boat. The trip was a completely different experience, very comfortable, personalized service and a lovely buffet lunch. We spotted a pod of whales quite early on and they did a bit of tail slapping. But what everyone wants to happen is for a whale to breach (jump right out of the water). We moved on to find more whales but we seemed to go ages without seeing one. Daisy had met yet another friend – Callum from Ireland! She stayed inside playing with him whilst we looked on deck we all felt really queasy on this boat which was odd because the weather and wind were perfect unlike the last very choppy sea.
Then Daisy was really sick. Poor thing, but actually she felt a lot better and came round after that. Just before lunch was served we found a female whale, she was swimming not far from the boat alongside us. It is such an emotional feeling seeing one up that close. Lunch was served so I was further behind in the queue than the others and all of a sudden she came so close to the boat you could touch her! So I ditched the lunch idea and grabbed my camera and watched again. It was great, she did lots of tale slapping and then all of a sudden she breached! Absolutely awesome and unusual for a female. Oliver got a fab photo but because I was caught unawares the photo I took was all blurred! Luckily for us, the skipper on the boat who was on top of the boat, spotting whales managed to get a great photo that he has also passed onto the passengers.
TUESDAY 26TH JULY….
Well that’s the end of our Australian leg of the trip – ahh! We have all had a thoroughly amazing time and are sad to leave this beautiful country but are looking forward to the next leg of our trip…THAILAND!
Goodbye Oz
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