Morten Island

The last 3 days of our trip we spent on Morten Island which is a large sand island in Morten Bay (a long boat ride from Brisbane). We stayed at the Tangalooma Resort which is the only place you can stay on the island it was a little overpriced but you did have your share of activities to choose from. We participated in some archery, badmiton, croquet, a wild dolphing feeding (at night these wild dolphins come voluntarily into the island and they let you feed them one by one , it all started back when the island was home to fisherman who would feed them and they are still coming here is the link to the info if you are interested http://www.tangalooma.com/tmecc/home/)

We went sand tabogganning on this very large sand hill


Diving at these shipwrecks (they sunk these ships just off the shore and we decided to rent diving equipment and squeeze in one last dive). Turns out you are on your own diving so we hauled our equipment on our backs about 1/2 mile down the beach and back.


Last but not least here is the view from our room and our last view of the island before heading back to Brisbane on the boat.

And that's the end, hope you aren't overwhelmed by all the pictures

And now for the best part

While in Brisbane we took a day to go check out all the wildlife unique to Australia. A local referred us to the Lone Pine Sanctuary which was about a 30-45 minute bus ride from where we were staying in the middle of the city but they have a super easy transportation system so it was an easy and comfortable trip. This place was amazing. It was a small private zoo and you were so close to all the animals, you could even pet the kangaroos, and hold a koala under their supervision. My favorite were the baby koalas. Here is a sampling of what we saw.

Kangaroos

Koalas

A large weird looking bird. I tried to get Tim to pet it but he wasn't so sure about that idea. It was in the petting area and we did see other people doing it but this guy looked like he would turn on you without warning.
Wombat
Dingos Tasmanian Devils

Crocodiles

Platypus

Cassowary

Sheep

Sheepdogs in Action
Mommy Sheep Dog and her Pups

At the end of the day it was getting chilly but we stuck it out to watch the sheepdog show and it was so worth it. It was so fun to watch the dogs get into work mode and keep those sheep in line, you could tell they loved doing it. Before the show started they were in ready position and one dog named Tim get sneaking up on the sheep, he was so anxious to get started. Once they had them in the pen they would just walk around and lay down on the backs of the sheep. One of the dogs took a liking to me and jumped up on the fence with his face in my face for the rest of the time expecting to be petted; of course I obliged and he was happy to give me kisses as a thank you.

Next and last stop: Morten Island

Australia Recap Part II

As promised here are more pictures from the rest of our trip.

The last day in Cairns we rented a car and drove an hour North to Port Douglas to check out the rainforest. We stopped in town which turned out to be a super cute little town and made me wish we had a little more time before we had to return the rental car but we were able to do some quick window shopping while I sipped my morning latte. Then we headed off the rainforest trailhead and covered ourselves in nasty bug repellent. We hiked for a couple hours taking our time to enjoy all the neat vegetation and keep a look out for creatures.







We also stopped at the Four Mile Beach and took a nice walk and enjoyed the views


The next day we took the "scenic" train to Brisbane which didn't turn out to be very scenic (oh well, live and learn). Brisbane is just another big city but we managed to stay busy exploring. We spent our first day riding around on the CityCat which is a river ferry that takes you along the Brisbane River to different parts of the city. We had some nice meals down on the river and took in the views.


I'll save the rest for one last post which happens to include some of my favorite days from the trip. Wait and see :)