Tangalooma has been on our list for so long. We missed out on the QLD Beach Volleyball Tour Stop in February, and we didn’t end up going for my birthday due to bad weather. But mom’s last weekend here we booked it in. Only for the day. But what a day it was! We had the water package and didn’t sit still for one moment. Except for lunch. By which time we were all so exhausted.
To maximise our day, we booked the early ferry and had to leave Gold Coast at 5:30am. But driving our new executive Volvo XC90 with massage chairs is not too bad. The ferry leaves from Pinkenba in Brisbane and took 75min. The weather forecast did not look very promising, but we managed to stay dry (when intending to) the full day. Even with no rain, it was still mostly cloudy all day with the sun shining through every now and then.
We booked the water adventure kit which meant we had access to snorkeling gear to go out swimming on the wrecks, kayaks and stand up paddle boards. As for most people, we took the kayaks and paddled all the way up to the wrecks. That took about half an hour and was surprisingly tough but really enjoyable. At least for me. Both mom and Mikael seemed to have a slightly more difficult time finding good seating positions in the kayaks. Mikael and I had our scuba ABC kit with us so we wouldn’t have to borrow. I also had my 3mm wetsuit, which was too cold for me – I was freezing at the end of the snorkeling trip.
It was around 100m to swim out to the wrecks and Mikael actually had to turn around halfways. Such a shame. But mom and I swam out, swam around the wrecks, saw lots of fish, but unfortunately no sharks and no turtles. The visibility was not great. And it was cold. I am so excited to go again! And I hope Mikael will be able to come next time as well.
The last thing on our day itinerary was the stand up paddle boarding. Mom wasn’t too keen, so she sat on the beach watching Mikael and I try it out. I had done it twelve years ago i California and I seemed to still remember how to do it and managed pretty well. Mikael had never before tried and struggled a little bit with his balance but managed to stand up a bit and I do think he enjoyed it after a while. I would love to have one of my own to go on in the canals around home.
They had a kookaburra feeding at 5pm every day where usually there are several kookaburra’s coming in, but there was only one sitting and waiting at the time. Most likely because the rest of the family was nesting with new chicks.
It was very cool to see it so up close and eating from the ranger’s box of meat. It beat the meat against the signs to tender it and/or kill it depending on if it would have been alive or not. Pretty cool!
After this, we had our sunset drink by the ocean. We were so excited to see a sunset over the ocean, but due to clouds, we didn’t really get to see much. And after the sunset, there was the dolphin feeding.
We didn’t include the dolphin feeding and I am happy we didn’t. First of all, we had pretty good seats on the jetty and could see the dolphins very well. And secondly, it didn’t feel genuine. The lines were massive and it just felt commercial. I am sure it started out as something sweet and innocent, but I really didn’t feel like I wanted to be down there feeding the wild dolphins dead fish. I would assume that they are still hunting and feeding out in the open water as naturally, this is just their late night hassle-free snack. But still, didn’t quite feel right. But it was very nice seeing them so up close, I have to admit that.
As soon as the feeding was over, the ferry took us back to Brisbane and we drove back home to Gold Coast.
Bemm 