Winter Day Trips
Tangalooma Tropical Paradise If you are looking for a slice of paradise only 75 minutes by ferry from Brisbane, you will find it at Tangalooma Island Resort.
Tangalooma Island Resort, on Moreton Island, offers a wealth of tours and activities all year round. Families Magazine was invited to visit Tangalooma to put some of the activities to the test. We saw exactly what can be done in a day, and why it’s worth extending your stay a little longer.
Day Tripping to Tangalooma Island Resort Can Tangalooma be done in a day? Yes! You can visit for one day and have an excellent time, but there are so many activities on offer it’s recommended that you plan your trip and build an itinerary to make the most of your time there. There is so much to do that we ended up staying for 2 days. Here are some of the highlights.
Free activities There’s swimming and beach play of course, and bush walking trails and the fabulous eco-centre, but our favourite free things to do were the wildlife talks.
The journey to the dunes is aboard an all-terrain six-wheel-drive coach through bouncy sand tracks with the forest close enough to touch each side of the vehicle, and hills and views aplenty. Our guide gave a very humorous and engaging safety instruction, and then we were handed our boards to began our climb. The climb is physically challenging but tobogganing back down the hill was a blast! Apparently speeds of 40km per hour can be reached, and it was a surprisingly smooth ride with only a few minor bumps and ripples. The entire tour lasts approximately 90-minutes and departs three times daily.
Segway beach tour This turned out to be my son’s favourite activity. He’d always fancied having a go at riding a Segway, and I honestly thought it would be a lot harder to do than it was.
Every day wild kookaburras and pelicans visit the resort for a free feed, while staff members give informative and entertaining talks about the birds that call Tangalooma home.
Whale watching lunch cruise If you’re visiting the island in the winter months, the 3-hour whale watching lunch cruise is a real treat. Whales travel the Humpback Highway to breed, with peak season for local sightings being May To October.
PREP – YEAR 12
OPEN DAY Thursday 6 August
The lunch cruise is aboard a 3-level catamaran with seating inside and out. We recommend eating lunch inside before venturing onto the bow or open top level to take in the fantastic island views. We saw a good number of humpback whales during our cruise, mostly juvenile or adult, and for each whale spotted Tangalooma Island Resort makes a donation to charity.
Desert Safari with Sand Tobogganing For those who don’t know, Moreton Island is the third largest sand island in the world and has the world’s highest coastal sand hill at 280 metres (don’t worry, you’ll not be tobogganing down that!). The dunes you toboggan down are inland, and a pretty steep 35-40m high. 20
Your Local Families Magazine June/July 2020 www.familiesmagazine.com.au
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