See the sights while parasailing at Tangalooma Island Resort, Moreton Island. Picture: David May Source: Supplied
An aerial view of the beautiful Tangalooma Island Resort on Moreton Island. Picture: Ross Eason Source: Supplied
IT WAS sunset and as the sky turned orange above Brisbane I stood knee-deep in the sea with a camera in one hand and, in the other, a dead fish.
Moments later, a free-ranging bottlenose dolphin appeared out of the darkness, cruised across my feet and eased the silver biddie from my fingers.
It is always a privilege to interact with animals in the wild, an opportunity that usually comes by chance but, at Tangalooma Island Resort on Moreton Island, wild dolphin feeding has become a sensitively managed nightly event under the command of Dolphin Care team manager Susan Hassard.
It is the resort's most popular attraction, accessible to guests, day trippers and, from March 16, passengers aboard Pacific Jewel as part of a four-night P&O SeaBreak cruise from Sydney, when the liner will become the first ship to include Moreton Island as a cruise port, anchoring off Tangalooma.
Lying 40km east of Brisbane, Moreton Island is 38km long, 9km across at its widest point and about 90 per cent national park, an ecological jewel with towering sand dunes, tidal wetlands, kilometres of sandy beaches, secluded swimming coves, rocky headlands and crystal-clear creeks and lagoons.
Tangalooma has partnered with P&O to offer passengers a selection of regular resort activities during their one-day visit and tours to access many of the island's natural beauty spots, some of which I was invited to check out.
I'd always regarded quad bikes as dangerous things that kept falling over and hurting people and, mounting one for the first time, I still did. But after a safety drill, a jerky start and a practice run along the beach, I decided I had its measure and followed a guided tour up into the high dunes.
Bouncing over tree roots and rough bush tracks we emerged on to a sweeping, sandy desert roaring around the steep banks, twisting, lurching and accelerating up along a ridge with gob-smacking vistas across the island and Moreton Bay.
By the time we braked down an almost vertical drop to the beach, I was ready to take on Casey Stoner. Instead, I took on a snorkel and flippers.
Tangalooma's wrecks are a line of old steel vessels that had reached their use-by dates and were sunk just offshore near the resort to create a small-boat shelter and artificial reef.
It was late afternoon when I joined a snorkel tour on a slow boat out to the wrecks with three young guides from Tanga Water Sports, there to reassure the newbies and the nervous. Weaving between the wrecks I was escorted by schools of small fish, a gang of slightly larger fish and what seemed like a teenage parrotfish. The water wasn't sparklingly clear so I plumped for a swim off the beach and a cold beer before a beef and barramundi dinner in Tangalooma's Rotunda Restaurant.
At sunrise, from the balcony of my Deep Blue apartment I watched early birds parasailing offshore and elderly Asian guests exercising on the beach.
Chopper pilot Tom Kennedy, who operates joy flights from the resort, was ready for takeoff. We climbed above the world's third largest sand island sandwiched between the largest, Fraser, and the second largest, North Stradbroke. We flew east over a broad sandy desert, north past Mt Tempest, 285m high and reputedly the world's highest coastal sand dune, then over streams, sedge and paperbark swamps, banksia heathlands, open woodlands and forests and the long ribbon of ocean beach.
We circled the big Blue Lagoon and its smaller sibling, Honeyeater Lake and thundered past a large sand-slip named Yellow Patch before banking around Queensland's oldest lighthouse (1857) on Cape Moreton, the only rocky part of the island.
We flew back to join Tanga Tours parasailors and on the back deck of a speedy launch, we were fitted with life jackets and harnessed in tandem to a pretty-coloured parachute connected to a winched lifeline.
As the winch paid out, the chute caught the breeze rising high behind the boat. It was peaceful and eerily silent yet exhilarating in a siesta sort of way and a lone butterfly flickered past my ear as we were eventually winched back down to the deck.
For a last look at the beautiful island, the 4WD Northern Safari tour took us up the eastern beach past the tiny villages of Cowan Cowan and Bulwer, bouncing across the island and up to North Point, gliding across the smooth sandy wilderness of Yellow Patch and stopping at the surfside swimming holes known as Champagne Pools.
In the late afternoon, we climbed a hill and down again to the secluded bluegreen waters of Honeymoon Bay then took the short walk up to the old lighthouse with glorious views down the island and, far below, a lone snorkeller and four lazy manta rays shared the serene green ocean.
Back at Tangalooma, the dolphins were getting peckish.
On the ship itself, the floating resort that is Pacific Jewel spreads over 245m with 11 decks taking 1950 guests, with facilities such as two pools, adults-only retreat, five dining choices including Salt Grill by Luke Mangan, casino, kids' clubs, casino, multiple bars and lounges, and even a high wire/trapeze area.
-- The writer was a guest of P&O Cruises and Tangalooma Island Resort.
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- PACIFIC JEWEL
Six Pacific Jewel four-night P&O SeaBreak cruises from Sydney will stop at Tangalooma this year priced from $399 a person, quad share (subject to availability, conditions apply), including accommodation, main meals, onboard entertainment and activities.
For more information and bookings contact a licensed travel agent, P&O Cruises on 13 24 94 or visit pocruises.com.au
Resort information at tangalooma.com, ph: 1300 652 250 or (07) 3637 2000.
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