Archive for the ‘Bonding : Overseas trails’ Category

All it takes is to ALLOW ourselves to slow down our pace, take a little breather, look around us and treasure the moments that we live.

No worries, no distractions, no work, and no urge to get connected to cyberworld or telecommunications at least for a few days. 

And then, we will be able to……

Appreciate the BEAUTY around us.

Cherish the quality time with our families and relive the youthful moments with our kids. 

Value other’s ways of lifestyle, parenting and realise how it is time to give our own kids more independance and faith.

Realise how much injustice we have done to ourselves and how much quality time we have lost till we slow down that pace, how much our kids have grown and be thankful over every valued moment that we are spending with them.

Having the rest and recharging that we so badly needed before it is back to the hectic life and buzzling city again. How we wish good times will never end.

We have seen dolphins a number of times.  Most of them at performances and they are trained.  These trained dolphins seemed to have built some kind of “chemistry” with their trainers.

To be with WILD DOLPHINS and have a chance to feed and touch them, it was a first time for our family!  Our close encounters with these wild dolphins were made possible when we visited Tangalooma *smile*.

Interestingly, the same group of wild dolphins visits Tangalooma jetty every night.  They have been named Echo, Storm, Bobo, Tinkerbell, Rani, Nari, Tangles, Shadow and Silhouette.  I guess it is natural instinct for them to frequent the same spot - knowing there is food. 

These lovely ”stars of the night” are not shy to visitors and  they respond well to feeding, warm touch and photography by humans. 

Unfortunately, our boys were chilled by the cold weather and water at night  over at the Island. So, only Papa Ed had the privilege to get really close to these dolphins. Though just a short encounter, it was a worthwhile experience afterall especially when our Papa Ed has a special affection for water and sea animals *haha*.

We spent our first day in Australia at Moreton Island, Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort.

Look at the really blue sky and water at Moreton Island. We didn’t do much photoshop effect to this photo, taken with our iPhone, and I already love the NATURAL DEEP BLUE:)

We got off from our overnight flight from Singapore, then hopped onto the tour bus, went on a quick supermarket tour near the airport and then took an approximately 75-minute boat ride from Brisbane. Finally, there we were! At the beautiful Island of Moreton in Queensland Australia.

Wow! The first impression we had was “Such crystal-clear and turquoise sea water, such a relaxing getaway destination and so many pelicans!”  An awesome blue, green and brown sight! At that scorching noon time, the first idea I had was to really dip into the crystal clear water and have a swim. Haha!

The crystal-clear and turquoise sea water at Moreton Island and the boat we took

Nature, wildlife and sea lovers or those who just want a relaxing getaway would love an experience at Moreton Island.  Besides being a protected nature reserve (95% National Park), the island houses the Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Island Resort and is the world’s 3rd largest sand island. It is popular for its beaches, sea activities, tall sand dunes, dolphin feeding and encounters, whale watching, snorkelling, sand toboganning, quad biking, Tangalooma Wrecks and historic lighthouse (oldest in Queensland) and many others.  For families with children, it offers kids’ activities too ranging from eco kids environment activity, board games, dolphin education, tennis, badminton, playground, swimming pool and more.

The beaches at the Moreton Island

Nature, ocean, relaxing moments enjoying the calming ocean breeze, close encounter with sea animals, thrilling sand toboganning…..These are definitely what our family desires:)

For bird lovers, you will be rewarded with beautiful sights of pelicans and sea gulls who play beautiful hosts to welcome you to the island

So. As soon as we had our lunch, we headed for the Desert Safari for sand toboganning/sand sledding/sand ski/sand boarding (there are so many names for it) at what they introduce as the world’s tallest stabilised sand dune, standing at 80m.

As soon as we alighted from the bus, what fascinated us was the awesome sight of sand at the Desert Safari…PLENTY of soft and clean SAND!  Haha…the closest to describe the land of sand would be “brown snow”:)

They are so gentle to the feet and we were so tempted to dip ourselves in…haha:)

The boys were jumping high in the air - for JOY:)

Kids being kids…it doesn’t take much instructions from the parents before they were around and about …running, jumping, building sand castles, burying the sand toboganning board, wrapping themselves in sand, attempting that sand toboganning at one-quarter slope.  Simply creating their own fun in their own way….feeling unrestrained in a vast sand land.

As for the adults…..the feeling of wind and sand brushing against the face and that adenaline soar is such an excitement and it got Papa Ed busy sand toboganning again and again:)  Despite the determinations to climb up that sand dune again. Despite the sand flying into the mouth with that screaming. Despite the sand splashing into the face.  Despite sometimes accidentally dashing into people along the way. It is still a rewarding experience and fun sand boarding down the dune!

To summarise our experience on our activity at Desert Safari of Moreton Island : “An awesome experience for the family - kids and adult!.” :)

We have more to share about Tangalooma and our other getaways in Australia :)

Meanwhile, catch this YOUTUBE video with Papa Ed in action while sand toboganning.

[See that tiny man sliding down and our Darren running towards him? He is definitely Darren's HERO of the day:) And our Brendan humming that joyous tune? They are obviously in an ENJOYABLE mood] :)