A dream come true - dolphin encounter.

I can't believe it is already December - time is going so fast for our last 6 months here in Aotearoa- and there is so much still to pack in!

On Rhian's birthday - 7th Nov - we hopped on a plane across the ditch to Brisbane for a week (yes I hear you say 'Not another holiday!!'). We stayed with old friends from Singapore days - the Betts family. super to see them all and catch up with many years of news. We landed in an amazing Thunder storm and at first were not allowed off the plane into the airport because of the lightning strikes!

 

Friends here in NZ had told us about this amazing island resort on Morton Island just off Brisbane where wild dolphins can be fed from the beach at the Tangalooma resort.Shona has had a dream of seeing dolphins like this since she was a student and heard about Monkey Mia in Northern Australia - so off we went.

The resort is big and attracts a lot of Asian tour groups, but the whole experience was very well managed and a real highlight of our 2 years down here.

Tangalooma Dolphins

 These two are Echo and Nari, who are older male dolphins, on Echo in the foreground you can see where he has been attached by an orca! Echo has a really interesting story, which you can read on the link above if you want. You can also see how very gentle the dolphins are where even small children can hold out a small fish and they gently take the fish without touching the child's hand.

We had 10 dolphins came in to visit when we were there including Tinkerbell who brought her baby in to meet the people - she was about a foot long and has only been been seen the week we arrived - soooo special.

The island is the 3rd largest sand island in the world after Fraser and Stradbrook islands nearby. The sea, sand and palm trees were beautiful and all within distant sight of downtown Brisbane!

  Here are a few idyllic beach shots - it was lovely!

 As you can see Aussies like to drive their cars on beaches where there are no roads - there were even speed limit signs on the sand!

It was not just the dolphins that were friendly at the resort - the Kokoburras, pelicans and herons were also showing off!

 

 After leaving the island our good friend Janine then lent us a car and we went off up the Sunshine coast staying in Noosa beach. It is a lovely rather upmarket place with nice walks out on to the headland. It must get very busy during school holidays though!

 We stayed in a lovely motel just near the beach with this lovely view of the river.

 Views from the headland walk - we saw Black Cockatoos while we were walking.

We also visited Rainbow Beach, a bit further north -where again you have to watch out for cars on the beach! and there a colourful range of sand cliffs.

 

 

 We also enjoyed staying in a traditional 'Queenslander' timber house. The lady who runs the backpackers is a real character with a very precious puppy dog! - it even had a nappy on as apparently it was scared of walking down stairs to go out!!

 See the nappy??

 Malcolm again very relaxed reading the paper on the balcony on sunday morning!

 

On the way back we stopped for a lovely walk at the Glasshouse Mountains and had gorgeous sharing plate lunch at a café/microbrewery called Wild Rocket in Montville - kanagaroo bruchetta, emu spring rolls and crocodile fish cakes!- all superb and washed down by the local ale!

 

We finished our week staying with Janine and having a day on the gold coast - quite a different character to the sunshine coast and a lovely day in Brisbane.

 The coffee culture is just as strong in Oz as it is in NZ - thank goodness.

 A lovely break and a dream come true.