Day 3 – Wildlife Everywhere

Todays original plans were changed last minute, as unfortunately the turtle boat tour we were going to go on was cancelled late yesterday due to high winds. Safety first. Without any solid plans in place, I got up relatively early and started trying to catch up on yesterdays blog. I was quickly distracted from this by a text from Amy, inviting me down to the beach across the road to at least dip our feet in before we leave tomorrow for our next accommodation. The water was lovely and the ocean foam was glistening in the early morning sun. I could easily wake up to that sight every morning.

I’m not complaining, I actually love the fact that Amy can’t sit still while away. So naturally, she already had ideas for what we could do today. We settled on starting the day at a small aquarium in town called Reef World Hervey Bay, then onto a Dingo sanctuary in Maryborough (YAY!) with a few sights sprinkled in between.

The aquarium was only a few minutes away from the motel, so we were ready and heading in by 10. We were greeted by a very enthusiastic gentleman who stamped our arms so we could come and go as we pleased throughout the day, lead us through a door and into the small aquarium to give us a rundown of what we will find throughout the space. This place only consists of 2 main areas. The main tank room has a large tank in the centre of the room, with smaller tanks hugging the walls. These tanks are naturally filled with the sea water pumped in from just outside, with natural sunlight coming through so you get to view the creatures and corals in a way that mirrors how you would view them in nature. An interesting side effect of how they maintain these tanks is that they will periodically pick up a new sea creature or two – mainly sea stars and small fish – from pumping water into the tanks directly from the ocean outside. The other part of this aquarium is made up of a small touch pool inside, and just just a step from here outside a door there is a large, deep pool housing 3 green sea turtles. This facility has a female named Rocky separated from two boys named Sam and Hook. They have to keep them separate because they cannot allow them to breed. This is for 2 main reasons: these turtles are permanent residents of the aquarium, meaning that they will never be able to be returned to the wild, and secondly, Rocky would need a beach to lay her eggs, which she could not gain access to as she could never be released. We got to meet the two boys quite intimately, where we were able to feel the texture of their shell and fins at feeding time. While we were giving them pieces of lettuce and cabbage, we learned that when they chomp down on some food, they expel any water that was in their mouth or throat out their noses, making adorable little spouts every time they took a bite. The team at Reef World really made the experience here special; the enthusiasm they brought with the knowledge they were sharing was fantastic, and you really got to see just how passionate they are about what they do.

Now that we were heading out into the sun again, I realised my mistake while packing for this trip. To save on luggage space, I opted to rely on sunscreen alone for my sun protection, leaving my hat at home. I realised that this was a mistake and was now on the hunt for a hat to help me protect my pasty white skin. We found a place called The Hervey Bay Hat co, with a lovely lady inside to help Drew and I find the perfect fit for us. This was unexpectedly a very cool experience. I wish I got the name of this angel who helped Drew get his perfect Akubra style dream hat, and me who had no idea what I was even looking for, we walked out very happy!

With hats on heads, we started walking towards Urangan Pier, which is known for its length (just under a kilometre out to sea). We didn’t have a lot of time before we needed to leave to make our way to our dingo experience, so we made a quick dash to try and get to the end before leaving. Unfortunately that didn’t happen as we were distracted about half way down with an army of tiny blue crabs who were sifting through the sand on the sand bank under the pier.

As is tradition for Good Friday, we stopped to grab a bite to eat at the fish and chip shop just at the start of the pier, then moves along to our dingo experience at Fraser Coast Wildlife Sanctuary! This place felt very local, very private, like you were being invited into someones home. We were introduced to Shaun who would take us down to meet their dingos. Up until now, I had a very specific image of what a dingo was in my mind. So when we first met Spirit, their white alpine dingo, I was a bit sceptical about her origin. Speaking with Shaun, I’ve learnt that there are multiple breeds of dingoes, and the image in my head more represents the northern breed. The red colour and the lean body’s are what you would expect to see on K’gari, for instance, but spirit, a white, thicker dingo who more closely represents something similar to a Husky dog is known as an Alpine dingo that would be native to places like northern Victoria and southern New South Wales.

While we were here, we met a couple of dingos of the different varieties, but we got very closely acquainted with Spirit, who is the leader of the pack, and very friendly with the visitors to the park. All of these dingoes have been raised in captivity, so they have very few learned behaviours of the wild ones, but as with any traditionally wild animal, you have to be cautious. You wouldn’t know it though, as Spirit came up to each of us and showed us that she knew how to sit, lay down and shake hands. It would be very easy to forget that you are not playing with a domesticated puppy. What an eye opening experience this was!

While we were here, they also had a plethora of rescued Aussie animals. We were able to meet emus, kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos (which I personally didn’t realise was a thing, it’s a cross between a wallaby and a kangaroo), native birds like the wedge tailed eagle, cockatoos, galahs and also a couple of peacocks. The park usually has a reptile shed where you can visit some of the Australian creepy crawlies, but unfortunately this was closed for repairs. Fraser Coast Wildlife Sanctuary did feel a little outdated, but it was a lovely experience seeing the owners and staff with their passion and knowledge of these beautiful animals and their care.

By the time we left these gorgeous creatures, it was late afternoon and the sun was going down. So we headed back to the rooms to sort out what we were doing for dinner – Good Friday did limit our choices, we were not prepared – have some ice cream from a local shop and then head to bed. We’re heading to Bundaberg next, which has never really been on my list of must sees, but it’s sure to be interesting with Amy at the helm, so I can’t wait!