** Watch also our video showcasing the natural beauty of Moreton Island (Video by Xavier Cicero) ** - Click here
Off the coast of Brisbane, Moreton Island is a natural gem, an opportunity to snorkel amid rainbow-colored fish, whiz down a sand dune, bathe in a blue lagoon, or even hand-feed wild dolphins.
The center of the island is made up of Moreton National Park – which covers 95% of the island – while its coastline reveals pristine beaches with both calm and surfable waves. Its Blue Lagoon is a haven for birdlife and shellfish, with calm, pure, and shallow freshwater.
Facing the coast, the man-made Tangalooma Wrecks, located a short swim from the beach, are home to 15 ships - sunk between 1963 and 1984 to provide a safe harbor for recreational boats - becoming a haven for a myriad of colorful marine life, with regular visits from green sea turtles and dugongs.
Walking is one of the best ways to see the island. Climb the southern hemisphere’s tallest vegetated sand dune (2.2km return walk - 2hrs), Mount Tempest, towering 280m above sea level, and be rewarded with panoramic views out over the bay as far as the Glass House Mountains. Other trails include the Cape Moreton circuit (1.3km - 30mins) and Five Hills lookout track (1km return - 30mins).
You can also explore Moreton Island and its 70km of sandy beaches on a full-day 4WD tour.
Tangalooma Island Resort offers a range of beachfront accommodations from 3½ to 4-star quality, including hotel rooms, units, villas, and apartments.
Tangalooma Resort has many attractions, but the stars of the show are their most popular guests, a friendly family of wild bottlenose dolphins who have been visiting the shores since the 1990s. Each evening they can even be hand-fed by resort guests, supervised by experienced rangers. Twenty-five years ago, the resort’s owners began tossing fish to wild bottlenose dolphins from the jetty after sunset, and the dolphins have kept turning up, night after night, ever since. An Eco Centre has been established since 1994 at the end of the Tangalooma Jetty to provide support and best-practice management for this dolphin-feeding program, considered one of the most sustainable in the world. It’s also there that travelers can register for this experience between 1 pm and 4 pm (Note that only guests who have booked official day trips and select overnight stays with Tangalooma Island Resort will be able to participate in the nightly dolphin-feeding program).
The island also welcomes whales (humpback whales from July to November), dugongs, stingrays, countless sea birds, and turtles.
Other activities include sand tobogganing, quad biking, scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, whale-watching, stand-up paddleboarding, fishing, and Segway touring.
The best way to reach Moreton Island is by taking a vehicle or passenger ferry from Brisbane. Tangalooma Island Resort hosts both guests and day-trippers on the Tangalooma passenger ferry, which operates between Brisbane and the Tangalooma Jetty.
Images :
Xavier CICERO
Tangalooma Island Resort
