Brisbane Day 3 - Tangalooma

Our second day on at Tangalooma began with a Pelican feeding at 8:30 in the morning. Everyday, people congregate at the beach to feed the pelicans. Usually 3 or 4 of them will come in each morning for their treat. A staff member, with microphone, provided us with detailed information about the pelicans.

Immediately after this, we boarded a boat for a 3 hour eco-cruise.

The main attraction on this cruise was the potential for viewing the elusive Dugong.

 

Photograph by OSF/D. Fleetham/Animals Animals—Earth Scenes

Allegedly, there were a herd of around 600 of them in the Moreton Bay area, so our hopes we high. Although, the tour guide warned they were lucky to see 1 or 2 on a normal outing. The cruise itself was a very smooth ride, and the weather was beautiful. The clear waters made it easier for spotting creatures of the deep. Our first encounter was with a pod of dolphins, which swam along side the boat.

The bay is also full of sea turtles, however we were told not to expect any sightings, as they can stay under the waters for hours at a time. Well, it must have been our lucky day. We experienced about 15 minutes where turtles would surface every minute or two, to bask in the sunshine. Our guide said it was the most she had ever seen at once, and was very surprised.

There was also an abundance of bird life over the waters.

Unfortunately, after hours of searching we were unable to find any Dugongs. They even have one, named Fatty, that normally hangs around close to the resort, but even he was in hiding today. The captain offered to take us out on a tour again for free the following day, however we were checking out this evening, so didn't get another chance to search for the Dugong.


After grabbing a quick lunch back on shore, we headed over the the quad bikes for a 1 hour spin around the island.

This turned out to be a total disaster. About half way through the tour, they seperated the group, sending me in one direction and Anna in a another. My group went on a slightly more advanced trail. I spent the whole time looking behind me, wondering where Anna was. When we joined back up with the group, it appeared that Anna was stuck with the 'novice' group. Basically she sat on the hill for 20 minutes, while the family in her group took photographs. As you can imagine, Anna was a little upset. We went back to the tour desk after the ride, where they promptly refunded our money, rather than feel the wrath of Anna.

After this, we boarded the ferry back to Brisbane, for the final few days of our trip.

Macarthur Chambers - Downtown Brisbane

For the last few days we are staying at the Macarthur Chambers, which is in the heart of downtown Brisbane, next to Queen St Mall, the main shopping district. Anna definately made a great choice with this apartment. The rooms were beautiful. Ours was a 1 bedroom apartment, which had 2 bathrooms and a study. The first picture shows the living room and kitchen (loaded with modern appliances).

There was also a large balcony outside, which was accesible from the dining room and bedroom.

Connecting the bedroom was the main bathroom with spa tub :)

All of the apartments here are privately owned, and rented out to tourist whenever not occupied. There was a 2 bedroom apartment up for auction while we were there, expected to sell for between 450 and 600,000 US dollars.

Anna's Aussie Tidbits:

I discovered mudbugs at dinner today. What's a mudbug? Well, it looks like a lobster without its head. Just a lobster tail like body with a small, flat head attached. It taste a bite like crayfish but the texture is very tender and flaky, like fish.