Tangalooma Last Day

The last day on Moreton Island we took a boat trip to see the Dugongs at the south of the Island. They are really difficult to photograph as they only briefly come up for air. There was about 40-50 of them feeding on seagrass.




Theres only about 600 dugongs left in Moreton Bay. Brisbane is unique in that you get dugongs so near to a big city.

Tangalooma Views

Here's a shot of the sunken vessels including the dredger. They form a harbour for small boats to shelter behind and sand is deposited in front of them.

The sunsets really are this beautiful. The sun sets behind the Brisbane coastline and the dust in the atmosphere gives it beautiful red colours.

Its amazing that there is such a beautiful island just a short boat journey away from Brisbane city.

Dolphin Feeding - 3

So here we are in the water feeding Nari and Echo.

It was nice to see how gently they took the fish out of your hand. We got to feed them three small fish.

Nari is the famous dolphin as he was attacked by a shark earlier this year and had a huge bite out of his head in front of the blowhole. He was rescued and taken to Seaworld to recover.

We had waders on to keep out the water, Inge found it just too cold to go in with just a swimsuit or wetsuit on. Nice and warm.

Dolphin Feeding - 2

More dolphin feeding. You wade into the water and let the dolphin take a fish out of your hand.

Wild Dolphin Feeding - 1

Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort – Day 2

Day 2 was spent relaxing, walking along the beach enjoying the sunshine until we had a dolphin feeding experience at 6pm. This resort is really special as it has wild dolphins that visit every night to take fish out of the hands of resort guests who wade into the shallow waters, all under supervision of course. We took some photos and videos the night before using the mobile phone, these photos will be uploaded when we get home.

A group of dolphins about 13 in number visit regularly. The dolphins don't depend on the handouts, the fish amounts only to 10-20% of their daily needs.

The photo of the rusting ship is a dredger that got purposely sank here to create a safe haven for small boats. So this is what happens to dredging ships when they are no longer needed!

Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort – Day 1

We traveled on the boat to the Resort from Brisbane, a 75minute journey on a high speed catamaran. On arrival we checked in and booked a whale watching cruise for the same afternoon on the same boat which we travelled on in the morning. The room was quite nice on the 4th storey with a view across the bay to the sunshine coast you can even see Brisbane in the distance.

At this time of year the humpback whales travel from Antartica to the Great Barrier Reef where the females give birth in warmer waters. We were treated to a group of whales moving along the coastline, we saw 13 whales in total. One of the group was splashing his pectoral fin onto the water. The whales fin is over 5metres long. Quite incredible to think that the whales don't feed again until they get back to Antartic waters and that the mother feeds its young 250litres of milk per day all from its blubber reserves.

Cat Proof Fence

Last Friday we had a bit of a scare as our siamese cat "droelie" escaped from the garden whilst we weren't looking. I found him wandering the street two doors down. We were lucky to get him back as he is a real house cat and not used to exploring the neighbourhood.

He showed us how he got out, basically by jumping on the roof of the shed, so we had to close off that escape route. We erected a temporary fence made of a sheet of thin bamboo, only $20 at the local DIY shop.

Now he's tasted freedom he is literally like a caged animal pacing up and down looking to see where else he can escape from. Hopefully he will soon forget his adventures and be happy with the house and garden again.

Perfect Winter's Day

Today Sunday 19th July I went gliding at Boonah.

A perfects winters day, temp 22C.

I flew solo on one of the great club gliders called the "Wasp".

Flew a closed circuit close to the gliding field, never more than 20km away I got upto 2000m and had a great view of the countryside. The clouds only started at 12o'clock and had dissappeared by 3pm.

The flying here is just so much fun compared to Holland, better weather and a laid back atmosphere. I think my flying future is in gliding its much more convienient than hanggliding.

O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat

Tree ferns from Jurassic Park

We walked on the wobbly tree top walk

We got to see the beautiful Regent Bowerbird

Saturday we went to O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat, its a true nature paradise, is situated in Lamington National Park, two hours south of Brisbane. Lamington National Park is World Heritage Listed and is the largest sub-tropical rainforest in Australia. It is home to over 200 bird varieties, 500 waterfalls and has 160 kilometres of walking tracks. The journey is a great 40km drive up through the rain forest. Its at 110m above sealevel so was a fresh 10C compared to 20C in the valley below

O'Reilly's is famous for its Tree Top Walk which offers visitors a close up view of the rainforest canopy and its wildlife.

We had small birds almost hopping on our feet.

Dutch lunch package

This morning we got a nice suprise when a package arrived in the post from Holland. Petra (Inge's friend) had sent us a joint birthday package full of eating treats, thanks Petra its much appreciated!

Inge tucked into the rye crackers straight away...went nice with our gouda cheese.

I still had my herring brought here in Brisbane a few weeks back

It was a beautiul winters day, 22C with perfect sun and clouds

Ulhuru (Ayers Rock) - Keep Off....!!!

Authorities want to ban people from climbing one of Australia's great natural wonders - Uluru.

An estimated 100,000 people make the steep ascent each year.

The Director of National Parks wants to close the climb for 'visitor safety, cultural and environmental' reasons.

The plan quotes Kunmanara, a traditional owner.

'That's a really important sacred thing that you are climbing ... you shouldn't climb,' Kunmanara is quoted as saying.

Uluru, which is located in Australia's 'Red Centre' and used to be known as Ayers Rock, attracts about 300,000 tourists a year. Most are from overseas.

Visitors are free to ascend the path up Uluru most of the time. But signs urge people not to do so out of respect for indigenous culture.

At least 35 people have died on the track.

Seems like a good idea to stop people climbing it.

Strange Fruit - the Custard Fruit or Sugar Apple

Being in a sub-tropical climate means there are all sorts of nice fresh fruit to buy like pineapples, mangoes & passionsfruit to name a but a few. They all taste really delicious seeing they dont have to travel so far.
There are other more exotic and less well known fruit available and this picture shows one of them which Inge bought today - the Custard Fruit or Sugar Apple. It is fairly large with a knobbly outer shell which protects a creamy inside.

The fleshy inside contents taste like the name says - custard, only its white not yellow, and surrounds seeds which are the size of kidney beans, the flesh is quite sweet to the taste. You can eat it with a spoon. It originates from Thailand. Very exotic.
More info on it here :
http://www.simply-thai.com/Thai-Market_Fruit_NoiNa.htm

Gliding Certificate

On Sunday I went to the gliding club at Boonah to do my C Certificate and Exam. I had to do a flight with an instructor, practise spins and then land in a farmers field away from the airstrip. I didnt have my camera with me so sorry no photos of this flight. Here's a photo of the sky.

My flight was at 5pm and the sun was almost setting casting beautiful sunbeams onto the mountains then when it set the sky lit up a beautiful red glow.
The outlanding went perfect and I proved that I can land a glider away from the airstrip so now I am able to fly a glider on a cross country flight away from the airfield. I am looking forward to Spring and a flight along the mountains of the Scenic Rim. Oh yes, I am allowed to take friends as passengers too, I know Inge wont want to go as she gets airsick.

Flowers and Cheese

As expat "dutchies" the two things both Inge and I miss from Holland are flowers and cheese, for flowers we have our own garden which is a joy even in the winter. Cheese however is a bit more difficult to derive pleasure from here in Queensland so we tracked down a cheese importer and paid them a visit in a warehouse near the airport. They sell all sorts of imported foods and had Edam & Gouda chesses from Holland a 4,5kg piece sealed in wax. Its was a bargain at $75 dollars as you'd pay double that and more in the supermarkets....they only sell "fake" dutch cheese which tastes like cheddar.
These ponceittias(?) "Christmas" flowers make a good show in the garden, a whole bush of vibrant red...

Here's is one of Hollands best export products...
"Cheesehead - proud owner of an imported Gouda