day 72 Sep 4 Sun Tin Can Bay to Noosa

 

Today our adventures started early. We are in Tin Can Bay and need to be here for a very special encounter - except we need to be in the little marina by 7.30 a.m - After a "free camp" down a track just outside the town we arrive at the marina and the girls are delighted with the sight of pelicans - we had tried to spot pelicans while we were in Hervey Bay and had been unsuccessful so this was an added bonus!

 

Tin Can Bay is located at the bottom end of the Great Sandy Strait and is one of the few places where you can feed the rare Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins. This is why we are here!  Dolphins have been interacting with residents and visitors of Tin Can Bay for 30 years.They generally arrive at the boat ramp at Norman Point between 7.00am and 10.00am and today they make us wait - we almost think we have a wasted trip! It all started with “Scarry” nicknamed due to the numerous rough edges along her dorsal and tail fins. “Scarry” appeared with a young male dolphin, Mystique, believed to be her youngest surviving offspring.“Scarry” has not been seen since early 2003 but her son Mystique and girlfriend “Patch” still come  in to the boat ramp to observe humans and be hand fed. A ripple of excitement as two dolphins are spotted and swim up and almost onto the beach.

They are given the daily once over and then we are allowed to collect our one fish in a bucket and head onto the tiny beach and take our turn to feed them.

 

 

The dolphins are so gentle and the girls are overjoyed at the experience. Definitely worth getting up early for! We again vow to have further dolphin contact at the next opportunity.

Our next stop is at the northern end of the "Sunshine" coast at Noosa. We find an amazing beach and the girls enjoy an afternoon playing in the surf and on the beach.

 

 

 

We decide that we should pay for a camp stop tonight which has hot showers and more importantly a socket to charge the laptop and the camera battery which is on it's last few drops of power. We consult the Camps 6 book - now our bible and find a beautiful spot slightly inland right by Lake McDonald. It is owned by Scouts Australia and we resist the urge to light a camp fire and sing "Ging Gang Gooley!" but only just!

Not a bad place to spend a night!