In May last year I published a blog post (41. Pig, the Dugong) about Moreton Island, one of the islands in Moreton Bay. We see it most mornings, in the distance, when we walk along the foreshore to the Shorncliffe Pier. It is only on rainy and hazy days that it disappears from our view.
Blog post 41 included short stories about the whaling station, about the Ngugi people, who inhabited the island for thousands of years, and about one of the ships which ran onto the rocks close to the island. It also gave some general information about the island and its history and a story about the rescue of a dugong pup.
This time, I would like to tell you a little about my recent visit to the Tangalooma Resort on Moreton Island, together with about 50 members of our local Probus group. Probus, for those of you who are not familiar with the name, is, as it says in its publicity material, for “Fun and Friendship in Retirement”, an organisation that “provides retirees with the opportunity to connect socially.”
You will find Probus clubs all over Australia, as well as in other countries. My brother, Max, in Holland is a member of his local group, as is my brother-in-law, Dick, who lives in a different city in The Netherlands. Before moving to Queensland, I was already a member of Probus in Sydney and since arriving in Sandgate, I have been attending the local Probus Club here. We meet monthly, “to enjoy the company of like-minded fellow retirees and listen to interesting guest speakers”. Sue was also a member until she was no longer able to come to the meetings, due to health issues. She and I made many enjoyable short, and longer, trips with Probus in New South Wales as well as some in Queensland.
As mentioned, the destination on this particular Probus trip was the Tangalooma Resort. Tangalooma means “where the fish gather”. It is the island’s main settlement and has roughly 300 permanent residents. Other much smaller settlements on the island are Bulwer, Cowan Cowan and Kooringal. Moreton Island (also known as “Mulgumpin” in the Quandamooka language, meaning “place of sandhills”) is itself a large sand island located 58 km north-east of Brisbane. Tangalooma is only a very small part of it.
Molly and Dawn (see post 44, “Molly – The Immortal”) picked me up at 7.30am and drove us to the assembly point, where we, as part of a car sharing arrangement, transferred to Simon’s car to drive, in early morning traffic, to the ferry terminal close to the city. The four of us are friends, early morning walkers and members of the Sandgate Probus club. In fact, Molly is the President and Simon is on the committee and responsible for members records as well as for publishing the club’s newsletter.
All cars arrived safely and at 9.30 a.m. we boarded the “Tangalooma Jet”, an aluminium wave piercing catamaran, which can carry 340 passengers at a cruising speed of 25 kts. Simon and I sat on the upper deck. It was very windy and once the boat sailed out of the Brisbane River, and headed into the bay, it began to rock and to roll and for that reason, and because of debris still in the water from the recent cyclone, it had to reduce its speed. I estimate it took about 1 ½ hours to reach the island’s jetty at Tangalooma.
Upon our arrival, we were welcomed and shown around by one of the staff members. I was surprised by the size of this resort. It appears to be set up to cater for a large number of visitors, with a variety of accommodation options, including hotel rooms, units, villas and apartments, all along the waterfront, and houses, further up in the hills. We walked past cafes, bars, bistros and restaurants and I was impressed by the beautifully landscaped gardens and the various facilities that were spacious and well maintained.
Simon and I had an early lunch in the Fire & Stone restaurant, which offers Asian cuisine, featuring a wide range of Sichuan, Cantonese, Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian dishes. I think that we were the only two of our group who had lunch there, most of the Probus members trying out the other food options available in the resort. I very much enjoyed the ambience of the restaurant and my “Singapore noodles” (and a beer), served by the Asian staff. It made me feel relaxed and “on holiday”.
After lunch we walked around a little more. Several people, Simon included, spent time swimming in the shallow water of the bay and others swam in the resort’s large swimming pools. I settled down in the shade of a big umbrella to look after the bags of Molly and Dawn and others, who decided to walk towards the shipwrecks which are located close to the resort. It was while I was quietly sitting there, that I noticed the bird in the photograph above.
It seemed completely relaxed and unafraid as it walked close to me and around and between the tables. I was, and I still am, curious to know whether this bird was a sandpiper, plover, oystercatcher or some other wader. Moreton Island is known as a feeding and roosting site for shorebirds and as there are several large freshwater lakes on the island, it is a haven for many different bird species.
Of interest also is the fact that there are pelicans visiting Tangalooma. We saw many of them when we arrived, next to the jetty. The resort’s staff feed them each morning. Guests who stay overnight are invited to be present at the feeding and to listen to a “sea bird talk”. As the publicity material states: “During the feed, Tangalooma Rangers will tell you more about these charismatic birds, the cheeky Pied Cormorants and any other sea and shore birds that grace the shores of Tangalooma. On occasion even a whistling kite drops by to visit and may catch a fish in mid-flight!” The rangers also feed the Kookaburras who visit the resort. This is advertised as: “Laugh with the hungry Kookaburras at our daily feed.”
Another animal encounter for guests at the resort is “the opportunity to hand feed one of the wild bottlenose dolphins that visit the shores each evening at sunset.” Tangalooma has a permit to feed them and has implemented strict rules for this program. They claim that: “We are often recognised as the world’s best wild dolphin feeding programme.” The Bottlenose dolphins in Moreton Bay were the subject of blog post 63.
I must also mention the cruise ships which visit the island. P&O, Carnival, Princess and Seabourn are some of the cruise lines mentioned. Carnival, for example, advertises a 4-day cruise from Sydney to Moreton Island on “Carnival Splendor”, which is a very large ship with more than 3000 passengers and 1100 crew. It drops anchor close to the resort and from there the passengers are ferried ashore to the Tangalooma jetty. On cruise days the resort must be an “impressive” hive of activity.
Fortunately for our Probus group, there were no cruise ships and no crowds anywhere to be seen. It was a peaceful and unhurried day for us. In fact, it was the quiet island environment which, for me, made the visit to the Tangalooma resort a thoroughly pleasant and relaxing experience. Being on the island, so close to Sandgate, I felt “a thousand miles away!”.
O.P.
P.S. The next post on Sunday morning, 6 July, was written by my friend, Frederick. You may remember his earlier post: “The Wedding of the Giants”, (post 61). His new post is titled: “Staying out of trouble: backpack travelling in India”.