Monday April 3rd

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Monday April 3rd

Lo all from OZ!

Today we got off to an early start, with us getting out of the RV Park around 7:45 am, in order to get to the koala sanctuary by it’s opening at 8:30. This allows us a few hours there, before we catch a high speed ferry to Tangalooma Island to see the wild dolphins.

Let me tell ya rush hour traffic in Brisbane is busy, especially when you’re driving a bus! We got to the koala park right at 8:30, and for about 30 minutes we had the place to ourselves, which was really nice! We went off and did the koala photo’s right away, as we couldn’t resist. We got a small male koala, maybe 15 lbs or so. These guys look small and light, but they sure are solid! There’s a lot of meat on their bones. Everyone got to hold him, and a lot of photos were taken. Koala’s sleep 22 hours a day, so after us, he gets to go back to his enclosure, not to be used in photo’s for a week or so. There are over 130 koala’s in this park, I mean they are practically everywhere!

After that we went off to the kangaroo and wallaby enclosure. I think these guys are probably the best fed kangaroo’s in existence, as at the start you got to beg them to take your food. Once they realize that you bring the food to them, they’re more into it…just lazy kangaroo’s I guess. In one area of the enclosure we came across hundreds of them…kind of a kangaroo congregation. After the kangaroos we went to the lorikeets area, just when it was feeding time. There must have been hundreds of these guys, all squawking. A few landed on our heads, waiting to get fed. The feed is a liquid mix that is placed into these round tins on sticks, which you can grab and walk around with….lorikeets in tow. The kids had a real ball here. We also see some of the usual zoo type animals here also, some deadly snakes, and lots of lizards. Our time is up; we’re off to Tangalooma now.

To get to Tangalooma Resort we have to take a high speed ferry, as the island is about 50 kms away from Brisbane. To get to the ferry we have to drive through the city, to the dockland community of Pinkenba. Again, driving with a bus in rush hour traffic isn’t fun. On the way there, Jason spotted the resort offices, and we stopped in. Originally we only planed a day trip leaving at 1 pm, and coming back to Brisbane at 9 pm, but due to us having to find a campsite late at night we changed our plans and booked a night at the resort. We grabbed some grub at the café there, and were off to catch our ferry.

The ferry was a new high speed catamaran, nice stable ride, and this thing really moved. Our trip over to the island took about 45 minutes. When we got to the island we got a tour, explaining the dolphin feeding, and all the various things to do here. Quite a few cool things to do, like snorkel 15 sunken wrecks just off the beach, ride an ATV, parasailing, jetsking, etc. We’re gonna have to try a couple of those things out!

So we get to the resort, and get checked in with to our room, which is nice. 1 queen bed, with 3 singles in another room. Finally some time away from the kids?. We spent a couple of hours swimming at the beach. The water was really clear and warm. After that we had a bit of a snack, drank a little and watched Wes make another friend, this time his friend was from Bangkok Thailand. Wes certainly knows how to socialize here, as he’s making friends everywhere he goes. He’s met a girl from the Philippine’s, one from Australia, now a little guy from Thailand, plus a few others. So 6:30 comes around and the sun’s just starting to set. We head off to the pier to watch the dolphins come in. Right on schedule they arrive, 2 at first, and 10 in total a few minutes later. Just amazing creatures, these dolphins are 100% wild, with the dolphin research group only giving them about 10% of the food they require a day. The girl comes up and does a little speech on what we can and can’t do with the dolphins when we get to feed them. One thing is no flash photography from in front, as it could hurt their eyes. The resort managed to do the photo’s, just at 16 bucks each…ouch. Anyhow, we go down to the beach, and proceed to go out to the dolphins to feed them. What a cool experience, the dolphins are so gentle, they don’t grab the food out of your hands, they lightly take it from you, and I even felt their teeth on my hands! The kids had a blast here, as it’s not everyday you get to feed these guys!

After that was over we went back to the room, got showered & changed and headed off to dinner, which even though it was a buffet, turned out to be pretty good.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day.

Ttyl

Lee

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