The Tangalooma trip

It has been a very long time since I updated Eli's blog - apologies for that! - but we have been very busy. Recapping the past five or so months will take a while, but to get you up to speed we have been spending a lot of time with Jenny, Izzy and Alex, including the trip which is the focus of this blog post, to Tangalooma. We took this trip right at the end of the 2013 school year and made the most of that fact that Jenny's work Christmas break up was in such a nice place - so instead of staying just for a single day, we spent three days enjoying the sun, sand and sea. It was absolutely beautiful weather and as you can see, we had an awesome view from our apartment balcony...

 
We also enjoyed all that Tangalooma has to offer for kids (and adults that want to be like kids - ie me). Of course we absolutely had to see and feed the resident (wild) dolphins that come into Tangalooma each night. It was amazing to see them up close and the kids (and Jenny and I) really enjoyed feeding them too (despite the slimy, smelly fish we fed them). Even though they are 'wild' these dolphins new the drill perfectly - not only did they all come in right on 'showtime', but they also lined up in rows ready to be fed, which certainly makes it easy to get the hundreds of people that want to fed them through swiftly.   

 
 

We also enjoyed a lot of swimming, especially out the front of our apartment - the eastern side of Moreton Bay really is beautiful - and Eli spent a lot of time trying out his new snorkelling gear too (and that is why most of the photos have him swimming around our legs acting like some sort of shark!).

The afternoon sunsets were magical too - there's nothing quite like the sun setting over water - and we all enjoyed a stroll (and a jump and a run!) down the beach - here are some photos of the kids (and Jenny) splashing along the water's edge as the sun set behind Brisbane.

On our second day at Tangalooma we decided to take on two major activities - snorkelling the wrecks in the morning and tobogganing the sand dunes in the afternoon. The wrecks were deliberately skittled (all 16 of them) to create an artificial reef and a great diving and snorkelling environment. We signed up for the morning snorkel tour and spent a bit of time getting all kitted up - here is Izzy, Eli and Alex all wet-suited up and ready to go. We then walked across the beach, jumped on the boat and headed to the wrecks. It was all pretty exciting - and Eli was super keen to put his new-found snorkelling prowess into action.

The way they run the snorkelling tour is pretty clever, depending on the tide they drop the group in the right spot and simply let everyone just drift through the wrecks, observing the fish and coral as they go. It's great that you don't need to swim against the current (which is pretty strong) and Alex and Eli had the added benefit of holding onto the life ring and being close to the tour leader, so they got to see all sorts of amazing sea life (those of us at the rear of the group saw a lot less as fish swam away after the first few people drifted by).
 
We did see some good corals and fish, all growing on the rusting wrecks, but before we knew it we were out the other end of the wrecks and getting back on the boat. It was a pretty quick tour really, but since the water was deep and cool I don't think too many people were worried about it.

As you can see from this photo, Eli and Alex were pretty happy after the tour, although by the time we marched back up the beach we were all pretty hot again so Eli decided to take a dip in the bucket that we were all supposed to wash our wetsuits in... 

We were all quite tired after the snorkelling adventure, but our day was not done, not by a long shot. After having some lunch and a bit of 'down time', we climbed onto a large 4WD bus and headed out to the massive sandblow for some sand tobogganing fun. Here's Eli, freshly landed on the 'desert'. 
















After some relatively simple instructions on how to sand toboggan, we grabbed our 'boards' and started the trek up to the top of the dune..

...some time later we were at the top and as you can see from this photo back towards the buses, it was a far climb. Alex was the first to head back down on his sand board, and he almost took out the very brave photographer that was perched about a quarter of the way down the slope... 

Next came Izzy and then Jenny - and in some ways you might say that the sand was the winner. For some strange reason neither of them were particularly impressed by the face full they received...I did want to get a photo of Jenny covered in sand - it was everywhere including all over her face and through her hair - but she wouldn't let me (even though she agreed later it would have been a good photo!).

Eli was next, and he got to the bottom of the dune without incident (and he loved it). I followed suit and slid uneventfully to the base of the sand dune (I imagine it had something to do with following instructions...?).  

As you might have guessed, Eli and Alex were super keen to get back up and have another go, but it wasn't all plain sailing (or sand tobogganing). Here's a video of Alex followed by a spectacular crash of Eli's...

 

After a really big and eventful day we were all pretty knackered. It really was a great trip though and we had incredible weather. It was hard to decide what part of the trip was the most enjoyable in the end, but we all agreed that the dolphins were great and that the snorkelling and sand tobogganing were great experiences too (even if they were a little bit uncomfortable at times).

I'll sign off from this post with a sunset photo - it was really hard to decide which one to include though, as there were so many taken and each had its own character and colour. What a stunning way to end each day...