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Published: August 8th 2007
Tin Can Dolphins
Victoria feeding "Mystique"Tin Can Bay
It sounds like the bay here has a rubbish problem but the only things we found floating in it was a pod of Dolphins!!.
For those heading this way:-
The town doesn't really advertise you can hand feed them, it just says "See the dolphins in the bay", but if you get down to the marina at 7.00a.m you have a very good chance of finding a dolphin or two right at the waters edge where you can wade in and stand right with them. There is a cafe next to the water that controls the experience via volunteers who also give you some information about the dolphins themselves.
We arrived at about 7.00a.m to find "Mystique", an Indochina Dolphin and far more rare than the Bottlenose, right at the feet of one of the volunteers. We just just waded right in up to our knees and stood inches away from one of the most gorgeous creatures you will ever see.
The reason the dolphins turn up here is because at 8.00a.m the cafe will provide, for a small donation some fish with which you can literally hand feed them.
They only provide
3kg a day so this doesn't effect the dolphins ability to hunt as they require about 30kg per day.
It all started when a fisherman accidently caught a dolphin in his net. Over a few months he helped feed the injured animal and after it recovered it still returned for food. A few years later it had kids (One being Mystique) and over the time she and her mate "Patch" also started to arrive for food. They have now had kids and these are being sighted more regularly a bit further out, they haven't quite got the nerve to come in as far as the parents yet.
We managed to have about 30 minutes with Mystique with only me, Victoria and about 3 other people around (we did hog it a bit). At about 7.45am Patch turned up and then at 8.00am the feeding started.
We had to wash our hands to ensure that we didn't pass on any diseases (They really are very careful with them) and then we went back in the water where you waggle the fish in front of the dolphins nose and it takes it, ever so gently out of your hand!
Another rule
Tin Can Dolphins
Me hand feeding "Patch" is that you are not allowed to touch them, but if you are lucky enough for one of them to nuzzle your hand (which Mystique did to me) or they nudge your leg (Which Patch did to Victoria) then....well your very lucky. By the way, they feel how they look, smooth and rubbery.
Fraser Island....Or not
Our next destination was for Rainbow Beach. This is the hopping point for Fraser Island, a very well known, beautiful, has to be seen, cannot be missed Island....which we didn't bother going to because after waiting for 4 days for the rain to stop we decided we couldn't wait anymore!
In the end we decided to travel up to Hervey Bay in search of a bit of sun for a change.
This is the worst weather for about 30 years the region/country has seen. Typical!!! the two places we really wanted to go to was Fraser & the Whitsunday's and we're down to one now!
Hervey Bay is also meant to be very nice, and to be fair the day we got there was nice and sunny. We decided to take advantage and hire a couple of bikes to ride the 12km
esplanade from one side of the town to the other. The ride was nice and easy, pretty flat all the way and for once Victoria decided not to fall off, although she did nearly run me off the path into a tree!
We spent the next day in Hervey but the weather changed again so we decided to move on up to the next destination and hopefully visit a second island choice.
Great Keppel Island
Keppel Island is accessible from Yeppoon, there's not much to do there but we found a nice campsite right near the beach, the sun was out and we had been told by the camp office you can walk the 2k to the marina via the beach where we can ask about the boat to Keppel
It turns out the the beach alone is a 2k walk, when you get to the end you have to go on the road, via a walk through scrub-land (in flip flops) no doubt hiding various poisness creatures, only to get the road which has no pavement and would be suicidal.
We decide to go back down the beach, via more scrub and had a quick
Dolphins
Gorgeous Creatures dip in the sea (nobody around so we just stripped to pants!)
Then walked all the way back!! We did get nice photo of a dead tree though (see pic).
We got back, climbed in the van and took the road to the marina instead, which turned out to be 6k away anyway (stupid cow in the camp office!)
We booked the trip for the next day and again luckily the sun was still out!
The Island is really nice. There is a large beach called Long beach (Ironically) which is probably about 1km long. Apart from the two other people we met on the walk to it we where the only people on it, we went one way, they went the other, we had a quick bonk whilst we were alone 😉 purely novelty value so we could say we've done it on a beach! Victoria commented it's always a novelty??
A few minutes later...er...hours later we went to the next beach, & did some snorkeling which was nice but freezing. We decided to return to the main beach and get food before the boat picked us back up.
We got a sausage roll and sat outside
Tin Can Dolphins
"Smile for the camera"...It's a shame the water wasn't clearer on picnic benches. There were birds everywhere, one of them dive bombed Victoria and attempted to whip the food out of her hand, missed the 1st time and then on it's second swoop she screamed as it landed on her and threw the sausage roll about twenty feet away!
Wonderful, now I have to give up half of mine! I'm just breaking it in half when two Larrakeets (small parrots) landed on the table in front of me. I ended up hand feeding them, they were dead cute, just like two squeaky toys! (See pic)
On our return journey to the marina we discovered the toilets had hot showers in them so we decided to free camp that night in a lay by and then used the marina's showers in the morning! Ha ha! The Gyspo's have nothing on us!
Next destination was Airlee beach, a.k.a. the Whitsunday's.
Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.............& a boat trip
Airlee beach a.k.a The Whitsunday's is probably very nice, when it's sunny, but again it's not.
We have again decided to wait for the weather to break before we book the boat trip to take us around
the islands and the Barrier Reef.
Favorite so far looks to be a catamaran boat that you can dive off, for 2 days, 2 nights.
So we wait, and we wait, and we wait and after four days we awake to find the sun out, finally!
The weather forecast looks pretty crappy still for the next few days but it does say it's meant to be raining today and it's not so...we go to book the boat.
After a bit of deliberation and a discount offer we agree to go on the Pacific Star.
This is still a sail / motor catamaran but also a dive boat and is one of the few that actually goes out to the outer reef, not just the one around the islands.
The departure was that night as well so we didn't have to wait long. We got to the marina and met up with some of our other passengers. We all spoke about how nice the boat looked in the brochure and everyone hoped for good weather to enjoy the luxury of it all.
The crew turned up to get us on board and down the marina we went to the very last
jetty. On seeing the boat our first thought was "it might look better in the daylight??. Our second thought on arriving on the boat was "What a heap of junk!
It was unfortunately not as luxury as we had hoped and this was also mirrored in the faces of all the other passengers as well.
The up-side was that we ended up in a cabin on our own when it should have been share. The down-side was that the cabin was super small, damp and the linen provided had stains on it! (The roof also leaked water onto us when it rained we later found out))
After a bit of quiet discussion with the other passengers we all decided to make the best of it and complain to the office afterwards.
Everyone was really nice on the boat including the staff, who to be honest in the end made the whole trip more than bearable.
We sailed for about 3 hours in fairly choppy water which amused most but made others throw up, then arrived at the mooring area for the night. We had all brought our own drinks and and Irish family in true tradition got everyone
Keppel Island
"Nooky Beach" boozing.
Next day we had a walk on the "3rd Best Beach In The World", Whitehaven Beach. The rating is official but no-one seems to know where the info comes from...anyway we've been on loads nicer, although it was overcast again so that never helps & it was still a nice view from the lookout point.
That afternoon we went to another island for the first dive of the trip.
Now I'm sure most of you will remember Victoria's previous dive exploits? It took three days for her to stop crying and she only managed to go under 2m.
Well Holy Crap she's only going to try again!!!!!
I didn't even have to convince her that much, the dive instructor appealed to her most sensitive side...her purse, and suggested if she didn't get down then she didn't have to pay!! The deal was already $60 for two dives (12 pounds per dive!!), so all in all it was a great deal.
I went down for mine, not the best I've been on by any means but o.k. The visibility was quite poor.
Victoria and two other girls (Gemma & Suz) kitted up for their first "Try dive", they all
My first camp fire
Me make heap big flame, Ug! looked nervous.
The two girls were the first in and after bobbing back to the surface to wait for Victoria they looked just about ok with it all. Victoria stood on the edge of the boat, mask on, regulator in her mouth, water in her mask....eh? she's not even in yet...The tears had started!!
Fair play to her after a bit of encouragement from the crew & other passengers she eventually plucked up the courage and jumped in. After a bit of instruction she was under, breathing and off for her 1st dive. I managed to get a bit of it on video. (See video on You Tube:
)
She came back up after 30 minutes saying it wasn't exactly the best thing she had ever done but it was o.k. Typical! Though it was pretty crappy visibility to be fair.
The next day we went to the outer reef for more diving, again I thought very disappointing, not much to see, the same went for the night dive. I think the run of bad weather we have been having is effecting everything.
Victoria went down for a second dive as well. Whilst she was diving I
Keppel Island
Little Parrots snorkeled of the back of the boat with some massive Trevalli (a good 2.5 feet in length) and some Moiri Wrasse (again about 2.5 feet). The people on the boat were throwing some scraps of food pretty much at me so the fish were literally swimming all over me. (See video on You Tube:
).
All of a sudden a gigantic Male Moiri Wrasse appeared. It was about four feet long, 2 feet high and very friendly. It just came straight up from underneath me and swam between my arms so I was able to give it a hug, then it just kept swimming close enough for me for me to stroke it!!! I played with it for about 10 minutes then suddenly Victoria was back.
It seems that the Wrasse had been following them for almost all of the dive. She actually sounded excited by it all.
I'm not sure who was more pleased, her for finally doing a dive or me for having girlfriend who wants to dive with me!!. Saying that that, it will involve spending some money on a certified course....never mind the dream was good while it lasted.
Next day we finally
Whitsunday Trip
The Pacific Star gang headed for home. The final nail in the coffin for the boat was that Victoria got bitten to death by bed bugs!!! They had warned us of this before getting on the boat as it is very difficult to control but it didn't really help the cause.
Overall I think most people enjoyed the trip but as we had agreed at the start of the journey we would complain about the way the boat had been sold to us a luxury live aboard.
A Manager turned up at the pier and after confronting 12 people who wanted to complain decided to take us back to his office.
The upshot was after all of us having our say, he offered a refund! None of us heard him say how much but when somebody asked him Victoria stated "Full isn't it". The Manager just looked at us...and then agreed yes a full refund??????????
Nobody expected that and everyone was stunned but obviously didn't question it. I'm not sure if he intended a full refund so Victoria shouting up probably swung it...good girl!!!
Just before we left Airlee Beach I managed to lock the keys in the van!
I then tried
Whitsunday trip
Yet another cheesy picture & what lovely weather! to force a top window in the roof...which then shattered. Crap!!
So now we have to find someone to fix the window and also deal with the insurance company. "It never rains"/i]....Oh yes it does, for the last 2 weeks!!
Our camper van trip and Oz is drawing to a close, we only have townsville and the Cairns area to go...
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anonymous
non-member comment
Cant believe the weather! You two go to what is one of the sunniest places on earth.........and it rains! Just a few things. You can't say gypos any more, it's pronounced "travelling people". And also whats this about sex on the beach, I thought you were both staying pure till you get married. Finally, a big well done to Vickeeeeeeeeeeyyy for diving. The outfit very like Lara Croft!!