Staff Trip Report: The Magic of Australian Wildlife - Part 1 - Sydney, Noosa, and Tangalooma Wild Dolphins - by Stewart Oak

Australia holds a special place in my heart, as it was there, on the East coast 8 years ago that I both met my wife, and simultaneously inflamed a passion for serious travel, that I have been expanding on ever since. My younger brother also arrived in Sydney 8 years ago, when I was first there, and he hasn't been back to live anywhere else ever since.

When my best friend Martin announced last year that he was to marry his girlfriend from Queensland, and that the wedding would be in Noosa, I knew we would be in for a treat. There are so many wonderful places in the world, that part of me does find it hard to go back to the same place, but Australia has so much to offer, and combining a chance to stay in Sydney with my brother, and be Best Man at the wedding in Noosa... with an opportunity to check out a couple of Wildlife Worldwide's Queensland hotspots... well this was to be a holiday of a lifetime!

I won't go into detail about Sydney, as the wildlife I experienced was mainly that which I encountered in the bars, especially on the stag drinks, or 'Bucks Party', as they call it down under. It all went very well, Bondi Beach is as beautiful as ever, and it was great to catch up with my Brother. We flew with Virgin Blue up from Sydney up to the Sunshine Coast airport (Maroochydore) and it was about a 25 minute drive to Noosa. The wedding in Noosa was perfect, and I even managed to do pretty well with my speech, which was a big relief. The actual ceremony was on a boat, and with a colourful sunset, and a Caribbean steel drum band aboard, it couldn't have been better.

Noosa, although a popular holiday hotspot amongst the Aussies, does have its own fair share of exciting wildlife... and I remember from my previous visit, walking for hours around the National Park in search of a wild Koala. After days of disappointment, I thought it was a local joke on the tourists that Koalas did indeed inhabit this forest, much as walking amongst the Eucalyptus trees, seeing the turquoise water, and glassy waves peeling into the shore is well worth the time spent there. So, you can imagine my delight, when this time, after a couple of hours of walking around arching our backs and looking up into the trees, we had just about given up, when we realised that we had walked straight past a lovely Koala sitting in a small tree right near the car park at the entrance to the Park!! We stood for ages watching as he posed for us. Brilliant.


After all the excitement of the wedding in Noosa, it was soon time for the 'work' part of the trip to begin, and it's a tough job, when it comes to sampling the products for Wildlife Worldwide, but someone has to do it! Our first stop was Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort, which we got to by driving the couple of hours down to Brisbane, and catching the organised shuttle ferry to Moreton Island. It was an enjoyable hour or so aboard the speedy catamaran, and we spotted a few dolphins in the distance which whetted our appetite. We checked into our beautiful room in the Kookaburra wing of this 4 star resort, but as we saw the colours of a spectacular sunset were transforming the skyline, we went straight for the beach.

The main Raison d'être for the Tangalooma resort is the Wild Dolphin feeding that occurs predictably every evening. The dolphins here have been subjected to rigorous scientific study, and everything possible has been done to make sure that they do not become too dependent on the interaction with the humans. The relationship with the resident dolphins began with serendipity, when fisherman on the jetty noticed that large groups of fish were attracted to the jetty lights, which in turn attracted the dolphins. In the early 90's one of the dolphins took a fish that was discarded by the fisherman, and so began the feeding link between man and dolphin.

The whole evening was organised extremely well. The dolphins arrived on cue (as they apparently do very predictably), and although there was something obviously contrived about the whole thing, it was a fascinating way to observe these wonderful mammals, and it was a delightful experience to offer a fish and feel their gentle intelligence from so close. No matter how sceptical you may be, the child in everyone would love this experience, as we did, I am sure.

The following day, things got even better. We started off the morning with a sand dune safari (Moreton is one of the largest sand Islands in the world), and this also involved some 'sand tobogganing'. In the 4WD vehicle there was an interesting and informative commentary about the Island's eco-systems, and wildlife.

After this, we had about an hour window before the next organised excursion, so we sped off to the Dive Centre, and hired some wetsuits and snorkel equipment to check out the 'artificial reefs' that had been created just offshore. I have never done 'wreck diving' (as offered by our sister company Dive Worldwide), and I am not a qualified diver, so being able to snorkel amongst these wrecks was an amazing opportunity to sample the adrenalin rush that I can now understand the wreck divers must get! There were loads of fish of all shapes, colours and sizes, and it was nothing short of breath-taking to watch them weave in and out of the 9 sunken ships in the dedicated marine wildlife site.

After returning our snorkel gear, we rushed over to the jetty to board our 'Eco-Explorer Cruise', which is advertised to feature viewing of Dugongs, Sea Turtles and Dolphins. After a short ride across to the part of the bay that is an allocated 'go slow' zone for boats, we came across a big group of Dugongs (sometimes known as Sea Cows) grazing serenely in the shallow waters. We cut the boat engine, and bobbed about with them for a long time. From the front they look a bit like a seal as they come up for air, but their rear fin is more like a small whale. We loved them.


After the high of the Dugongs, we then cruised around the bay a bit more, and soon spotted a huge Green Sea Turtle. The photos didn't really work, but it was great fun cruising along beside him. We were amazed at the speed he generated, probably trying to get away from our boat! Then, on the way back to the resort, we were joined by some of the resident dolphins. I have always heard stories of how they love to play in the wake of larger boats, and have been in many places where this is supposed to be observed without any luck. It was such a thrill when we had 4 or 5 of them all playing around the waves, and it somehow felt much more organic than the previous evening's show when they were just in it for the food. We managed to get a couple of pretty good pictures too!

Fully satisfied, we arrived back at the Tangalooma jetty, and with regret, had to board our return Catamaran to go back to Brisbane.

Although we do not currently feature Tangalooma in our Brochure and website, we will be more than happy to Tailor Make your Australia Wildlife Holiday to include this. It makes an excellent extension to our: Queensland's Reefs and Rainforests Wildlife Holiday.