Moreton Island
Trip Start
Jan 2003
1
110
200
Trip End
Dec 2003
Moreton Island,
Australia
Friday, July 18, 2003
Gain we've taken advantage of the facilities with ore physical activity but we've also tried to do a few of the less ordinary things on offer. The first of these pursuits involved a plank of wood and a particularly large sand dune. Sand tobogganning is not something you coe across frequently and this isn't solely because of the required terrain. Sand hasn't had the same marketing and investment as snow and if you want to go down, you have to clib up of your own accord. Walking up sand dunes is a seriously tiring affair and the first person to introduce and implement an effective piece of machinery to transport people up sand is likely to make themself a millionaire. So, you carry your 'toboggan' to the summit of the dune (summit is a realistic word by the way), briefly collapse of exhaustion, before preparing yourself for descent. This involves waxing one side of your board and lying face first on it. You then wait to be pushed off and imediately hold the front of your board up and hope for the best. Although allegedly reaching speeds of up to 50kph, the silica sand prevents injury. This is essential because there is absolutely no way of steering. The sand forgives no mistakes. If your elbows or feet youch it, you slow to a standstill. If the board turns to one side, you'll come off. Most amusing however is those who don't adhere to the hold-your-board-up idea. After sweating profusely on the way up, the resulting explosion of sand onto their face sticks leaving a bizarre appearance.
Kirsty sandboarding
Even doing it properly, as I'd like to consider I did, still ends up with hours of picking sand out of your nostrils and ears. In summary, while it was a laugh, I wouldn't consider it worthy of the effort of the initial clib and is therefore probably best left as a spectator sport where you can laugh at others' misfortune.Following the frolics in the sand was a snorkel around the wrecks (in turn followed today by a dive round them). While the visibility and coral around the Great Barrier Reef were vastly superior it was still interesting enough. We saw the largest school of fish I have, got to follow a turtle (and duck dive down to get a closer look) and also saw our first shark. Luckily the Wobbegong shark (about 1.5m to 2m long with a kind of beard, yes - beard) does not attack humans unless provoked and we were sensible enough just to watch it swim past. Unfortunately the dive was deeply disappointing. we got to see the Wobbegong close up (it was sleeping) but the other diver didn't have a clue what he was doing (couldn't really swim, used his air up in about half the time that even novices like Kirsty and I do and even kicked out Kirsty's regulator). Being our first wreck dive we just have to put it down to experience.
Our last sojourn into the offerings of Moreton Island was the one that everybody comes for - feeding the dolphins. Every evening around 5:30pm up to 8 dolphins turn up around the boat jetty expecting to be fed. Although these ones can catch fish themselves for around 30 years these dolphins, attracted by the lights on the shores, have been coming for their evening meal. Every guest of the resort is permitted to feed them once during their stay and while it's a conveyor belt of tourists, it's still an emotional and amazing experience.
