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Published: November 8th 2017
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It all kicked off bright and early at 6am. Everyone was down at Holt Street Wharf ready to disembark on what is hopefully the most relaxing two days of October and November. Equipped with TAFE shirts and a positive attitude we boarded the launch set for paradise. Many slept, many were in awe of the gorgeous view we had cruising out to Moreton Island, as the coast of the mainland slowly disappeared it was beginning to feel more like heaven by the second.
75 minutes later, each with a bag in tow we arrived ready and refreshed to take on our first day of excitement. We were greeted by Hana from guest services who gave us a quick tour of the facilities what the resort has to offer. We had an hour and 15 minutes from when we arrived at our first tour, some walked around and explored more of the resort, other took full advantage of the gorgeous day. The sun was out, and many hit the beach straight away, I was one of them and the aftermath is still affecting me. Unlike everyone else I had previously been to Tangalooma so a refamiliarization was not needed. I was
however, used as somewhat of a guide for everyone who was experiencing this beauty for the first time.
As the hour ticked by everyone was getting more and more psyched about snorkelling and thinking about what amazing wonders they might encounter. I was very excited about snorkelling, I didn’t get to experience this last time, so this was really a thrill. The water was crystal clear with hardly any swell which were ideal conditions for this activity, we all piled onto the boat along with many other resort guests experiencing snorkelling for the first time let alone in such a beautiful location.
All ready and raring to go we got split up into groups each with a guide and once the safety briefing was over it was bombs away! I was lucky enough to be in group one so we had undisturbed water in front of us. With several shipwrecks to explore and discover no time was wasted getting through the wrecks and discovering all the fish wonderful sights, there were stingrays, toadfish, and many schools of fish that would just swarm around you.
As quick as it began before I knew it we were back on
our boat heading back the resort, snorkelling was such a gorgeous way to begin our two day getaway. It was time to have some lunch as it was about 10:30 when we got back to the resort. This was our first chance to explore the resort on our own time since we has the rest of the day to just relax and enjoy the island, most of us just lounged around on the beach, others participated in activities or hired out equipment for additional fun. Two o'clock came around and room keys were given out and everyone retreated out of the warm some for some air-conditioned comfort. With a double, two single beds and a rollaway on the floor our room was all set up with a stunning view.
The rest of my day was not very productive, I spent a lot of time pondering just how sunburnt I was going to be by the end of the trip, but it was all worth it. The day continued to tick away and dinner and dolphin feeding was creeping up on us and for me this was where it all started. Dolphin feeding came first as this was something that
I had previously participated in I was still just excited as I was the first time to do it again, we had a presentation with Jess before the actual feed and she gave us the in's and out's of all the dolphins and any related information.
Next up was the feed itself, we buddied up and I was with Georgia. We were first in line to feed Tinkerbell and before you get your fish you have to rinse your hands in a dolphin friendly disinfectant to remove and germs that could potentially harm the dolphin, once that was complete we grabbed our fish and patiently waited, the interesting thing was is that our feeder didn't put the lid back on the bucket full of fish so the massive pelican came out of absolutely no where and attacked Georgia and I. I ended up in tears and Georgia ended up having an extremely close call to a extremely hungry pelican.
Once the pelican ordeal was over we finally got to feed our dolphin, but then a small wobbegong shark thought it was his time to make an appearance when we were in the water. I don't personally like sharks
so this ordeal was really frightening. But he made his appearance short and sweet and soon enough he was gone and we could finally feed the dolphin. the dolphin feeding attraction provides a massive boost to the amount of guests that come and visit the resort, many will come just for the day and return on the last ferry after the dolphin feeding.
After dolphin feeding everyone could here the buffet calling, we had the brief chance to rinse off before dinner and all met at the Tursiop's Buffet. Dinner was done and dusted and whilst many headed off to bed, Lauralee, Tamika, Hayley and I stayed for the Halloween trivia which we won with an astounding 92/110. Two hours later it was time for us to go to bed and refresh ourselves for another busy day.
Day 2 arrived and after a slightly rude awakening I decided to take full advantage of the 5 am wake up and went on a very relaxing walk along the beach and watched the sunrise. Breakfast was at 7:30 and everyone was secretly excited for round two of the buffet and I was excited for my plate full of bacon. After Breakfast we had half an hour to prep ourselves for checkout and our behind the scenes tour of the resort.
Once our bags were tagged and left outside our room and kitted out in our tafe shirts we all met for our tour. We were met by several resort staff as well as the general manager Hank who conducted our tour. We were shown several features of the resort and got to go inside their new wedding facility which had a stunning view, as well as seeing the heart of how the resort runs. they have their own power station and worm farm and waste treatment plants. The tour went for about an hour and we got an insight on the resorts upcoming planned expansions and their plans for the future. We even found out that the resort has an ECOI-tourism certificate all due to the fantastic whale watching program they run in peak whale season.
After the tour we had a few hours to relax before our time in paradise sadly came to an end. I took advantage of some slightly overcast whether and hit the kayaks for a gentle paddle to say a final goodbye. as 3:30 ticked around it was time to all meet to get our boarding passes for the 4pm ferry back to the mainland. We all gathered around for the final roll marking then we bordered and said one final goodbye our boarding passes where taken and we found our seats.
Approximately 75 minutes later we arrived back in reality ready for the traffic filled journey back home, our carpool group took a short detour to grab some coffee. Traffic wasn't to much of a hindrance so we had a pretty smooth run up the highway before long behold we reach our final destination. the Sunshine Coast, what a journey.
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