If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know I’m a sucker for any destination with wildlife. Located only 90 minutes from Brisbane by ferry is the Tangalooma Island Resort. This is the ultimate island getaway, complete with beautiful beaches and even friendly wild dolphins! I was lucky enough to visit this beautiful place before the lockdown in 2020 for my Dad’s birthday. Unfortunately it rained for most of the trip, but it was still pretty amazing! In this post, I will share how to spend a (rather damp) weekend at Tangalooma Island Resort.
A little introduction to Tangalooma
South-East Queensland is home to the four largest sand islands in the world! Moreton Island is the third-largest of the islands and is a bit of a hidden gem in comparison to the others. You can only get there by ferry and it can be quite bumpy so make sure to take seasickness tablets! Most of the island is a National Park and you need to have a 4WD car and permit to drive around. However, there are also a few townships and the Tangalooma Island Resort.
Tangalooma Island Resort is located on the Eastern coast of the island and was originally a whaling station. More interestingly, it was one of the filming locations for the Scooby Doo movie! My sister and I grew up with Scooby Doo so we thought being on “Spooky Island” was pretty cool! Tangalooma is famous for its wild dolphin feeding and proximity to the Tangalooma Wrecks, where you can do some pretty epic snorkelling and diving.
Staying at Tangalooma Island Resort
There are a few different types of accommodation at Tangalooma Island Resort. We chose to stay in one of the villas. The word “villa” makes it sound really fancy… In reality it was just a two-storey house. We chose it because it was the only accommodation on the island where all four of us didn’t have to sleep in the same room. Compared with the other accommodation options, the villas are located further from the restaurants and other facilities. However, they are worth looking into if you want to have your own kitchen and they can sleep up to 6 people. With a balcony complete with table and seating (and an awning for when it rains), they are perfect for getting the whole family together for a birthday party!
Top 5 things to do at Tangalooma Island Resort
1. Snorkel the Tangalooma Wrecks
I knew snorkelling the wrecks would be cool, but I didn’t realise HOW cool! There are 15 wrecks in total, and while they were originally sunk by the Queensland Government to provide a safe anchorage spot for boat owners, they’re now covered in coral and home to over 100 species of fish! Sometimes you can see turtles and dugongs, and we managed to spot a Wobbegong shark! If you have an underwater camera like a GoPro, make sure you bring it along!
We chose to go on a guided snorkelling tour of the wrecks on our full day on the island. We’re not the strongest of swimmers and the currents can be really strong so we weren’t confident going on our own. In some ways, the tour was great because transport and gear were included, and our guide pointed out cool things to us (like the shark!). On the downside, I felt like we swam through so quickly and didn’t get the chance to really take it all in. I could have spent ages just swimming around admiring all the corals and fish!
2. Feed wild dolphins!
The main thing Tangalooma is famous for is the wild dolphin feeding. It all started because the lights on the jetty attracted the fish which attracted the dolphins. Slowly over the years, the resort owners fed the dolphins and they learnt to trust people. Fast forward to today and over 13 dolphins are known to come to the resort for a feed. They don’t just rely on us though… The resort only provides a small percentage of their diet so they still have to find their own food. We actually saw them hunting for fish while they waited for us! It’s important to note that Tangalooma has a special permit for feeding wild dolphins and no visitors are allowed to touch the animals. You should not approach a wild dolphin under any other circumstances.
Wild dolphin feeding was included in our accommodation package and is only available to resort guests or day-visitors. It’s important that you go sign up at the eco centre (open from 1pm) so that you can claim your spot, especially if you’re only there for the one night. Since we stayed for two nights, we decided to feed the dolphins on the first night and watch the second night. It was a good choice because the second night it was BUCKETING down rain!
3. Go for a walk on the beach
What island trip would be complete without a walk on the beach? The coastline of Moreton Island is seriously beautiful, with views back to the mainland on a clear day. We saw (and rescued) loads of starfish and a few species of bird. It was also impressive to get up close to the dunes! I would recommend walking South of the resort to the point for nice views over the ocean and to spot birdlife. You could also walk North to the Tangalooma Wrecks, which would allow you to see the wrecks from the coast. If you have a drone, you could also get some amazing aerial shots of the wrecks! Just make sure you double check the laws before you go.
4. Go to at least one of the talks run by the Eco Centre
The eco centre runs three talks each day: pelican feeding, dolphin talk and kookaburra feeding. The dolphin talk is great because they introduce all of the dolphins! It’s definitely a must-do before you feed the dolphins so you know who’s who. They also told us some really nice stories about dolphins that they’d rescued. The story that really stood out to me was about this one dolphin that got a HUGE shark bite!!!! Luckily, he got rescued, treated at Sea World Australia (NOT AT ALL related to Sea World in America) and released back into the wild.
The other two talks are a lot more informal… But you get to see the birds being fed, which is always fun. Like the dolphins, only a small portion of the animals’ daily diet is provided at these sessions. This means the kookaburra feed is really short as there’s only three birds. The pelican feed is quite a bit longer given that there’s lots more birds of a variety of species. Cormorants and Brahminy Kites are also regular visitors to the pelican feeding.
5. Watch the sunset
I am a firm believer that beach sunsets are the best in the world. Due to the rain, we didn’t have the most amazing sunset at Tangalooma, but it was still a really nice way to end our evening. If you’re lucky enough to have clear weather, you should get a great view of the sun setting behind the Glasshouse Mountains on the mainland. Overall, I’m always going to recommend sitting on the beach admiring the sunset, and Tangalooma is no different.
Where to eat at Tangalooma Island Resort
There are limited places to eat at the resort so we brought our own breakfasts and snacks. The cafe is quite nice with a range of cakes, muffins and hot and cold drinks. We also had takeaway pizzas for dinner one night from the Beach Cafe (different from the actual cafe). The pizzas were yummy and sitting on our balcony was a really nice way to spend the rest of the evening. We also got hot chips from there on the last day. They might have been delicious but they were also expensive! This is a bit of a common theme on the resort, so it’s worth seeing whether you can get a deal when booking.
We also went to ‘Fire and Stone’ restaurant. Unfortunately you have to pick between “Fire” (Chinese) and “Stone” (Japanese) instead of just picking the best dishes from both. In the end we went with the Chinese as they had more vegetarian options. The food was really nice, except for this one bean dish that my cousin ordered which was absolutely COVERED in chillies! I don’t know who would want that many chillies, but I’d recommend the restaurant anyway.
Next time…
I’d love to go back to Moreton Island because I feel like there’s so much more to explore than just the resort! It’d be cool to go snorkelling again on a sunny day to see all the colours of the corals (or maybe even try scuba diving)! I’d also love to go up north to see the Lighthouse and nice lakes.
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