Hand feeding Dolphins Tangalooma

And so our Australian Adventure continues.....

Day 21

We had booked to spend 2 days on Tangalooma Island which is located on Moreton Island and just 75 minute catamaran cruise from Brisbane.


Moreton Island is a sand island, Queensland is home to the four largest sand islands in the world, the largest being Fraser Island, whilst Moreton Island is considered the Adventure Island.


There is plenty to keep you busy here no matter how long you want to stay for and plenty of options of accommodation from hotel rooms to apartments.


We had to wait a little while for check in and so headed to the B&B's Bar before  heading to our room.


We went to the Dolphin Eco Centre to book on the Dolphin feeding that happens every evening around 7pm.  Andy was advised not to feed the dolphins as they discourage people with colds so that no infections can be passed to the dolphins.

 There is lots of information about the dolphins in the centre and you can learn all about how it all started.

 The dolphins are wild and visit the resort every evening, they are mainly all related and have grown in size since the resort owner Betty Osborne first befriended Beauty a dolphin almost 20 years ago.

 Its an incredible experience and a memory that will stay with me for a lifetime!

We had lunch in the Beach Cafe before relaxing on the beach and then collected our beach towels from reception and having a little dip as it was so inviting.




Tangalooma doesn't have a high crime rate so this must be the easiest police station to work in and what a great way to get around by Police Quad Bike.



As we left the room to head down for the dolphin feeding the sunsets were just amazing.

The wild dolphin feeding experience is included in a number of the overnight and day cruise packages from Brisbane.

 We headed along to the beach for the briefing on the jetty for the chance to hand feed a bottle nose dolphin, that's if you can keep the seagulls and pelicans away from the buckets of fish lined up on the beach.

The dolphin feeding is run by the Dolphin Care Team consisting of Eco Rangers and dedicated staff who all stick to strict guidelines to ensure the protection of the dolphins.

It was quite a rough evening and the waves were quite high.   All in all about 7 dolphins came along that evening. 




About 100 people lined up on the beach to enjoy this amazing opportunity.  Now I am a scuba diver and I don't agree with interfering with nature but Queensland law states you are not allowed to touch the dolphins, you just hold a small fish, normally herring, under the water and the dolphin swims past and takes it.  
Tangalooma only feeds each of the dolphins between 10% to 20% of their daily food requirement; this means the dolphins must still hunt for themselves daily in order to meet their food requirement - so think of it as a dolphin starter course before they have to catch their main course.

My dolphin that evening was Nari who was born in 1997 and rescued at four years old after being caught up in a fishing line and then in 2009 after a shark attack.
As we walked back to the room (soaking wet) we decided to have take-away pizza, salad and a bottle of wine in our room so that we could get up early the next day and enjoy the resort.



 There are a number of free activities to enjoy although the majority of them do have a charge so be careful as they can add up especially if you want to do everything.
The snorkelling around the Tangalooma Wrecks is very popular or maybe taking a clear bottom kayak out over it during the day or when its illuminated at night.
You can go off exploring by segway or by ATV quad bike from $55 per person or  head off on a desert jeep safari where you can try your hand at a bit of sand surfing or take to the sky as you sore up to enjoy the aerial view of the island on one of their scenic helicopter flights from just $90 per person .

 There really is a lot to do and you can see why so many local Brisbane residents pop over for a weekend break or even for the day as there is plenty to do.

We spent the morning on the beach doing some snorkelling and just enjoying the beautiful weather, it may sound funny but we hadn't really done much sunbathing during our time in Australia.

 We had lunch at Stone and was supposed to be a snack but was a bit larger than we anticipated washed down with a jug of beer between the two of us.

 It wasn't long before it was time to board the boat for the journey back to Brisbane and wave goodbye to the island the pelicans.


 We travelled to Tangalooma courtesy of Tangalooma Resort in December 2018

For more information or for your own personalised itinerary for Australia 

Call me on 0800 983 0075

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