We are spending last days of our trip on southeast Queensland coast. Our friends are hosting us, and we can take it easy. We are enjoying beaches, walks, and clean clothes.
In Tin Can Bay, tame dolphins come every morning to get breakfast in Barnacles Dolphin Centre. Supervised by volunteers, anyone is invited to help with feeding. We arrive at 7:30 AM, just in time to see a feeding of mother with a 4-week-old baby dolphin. About 30 people are waiting, but none is allowed to join the feeding. We understand, if there was a crowd watching us eating breakfast, Baby might get distracted (or Mummy aggressive, for that matter). So instead feeding dolphins, we get a brekkie ourselves while the crowd disappears. We are about to take off, when two other dolphins come! For 5 bucks we each get a fish, and head to the water. The actual feeding is very undramatic. As these are wild dolphins, no touching, playing, or riding is allowed. Still, it is very cool.
Baby is the best traveling companion, but even he can have a bad day, or specifically, a bad teething day. High fevers mean we drop all plans and take care of our little boy. We google nearest hospitals, alert local friends to be on call. Thankfully, 24 hours pass and Baby is running around like nothing happened. Uff. These situations are unavoidable, and always stressful for us. The only recipe we have is to keep the baby comfortable and safe, and try not to panic. Also, having the best travel insurance and a trusted doctor on phone always helps.
TIPS:
Rainbow Beach on Fraser Coast: check out moonlike landscape on Carlo Sand Blow, overlooking a colorful cliffs of sand. You can also drive on the beach, but only with a 4WD. Renting one on the spot is awfully expensive, but if you are already driving one, must be great. Count with couple days extra, if you want to visit Fraser Island when in the area, our itinerary was too packed to add it in. But heard it’s awesome.
Sunshine Coast Hinterland: worth to see the area around Montville and go for a walk to Mary Cairncross Reserve. Rainforest is beautiful, and longest walk is about 1 hour, but shorter variations easily done with a stroller.
Sunshine Coast Beaches: Mooloolaba and Noosa are both perfectly suitable for babies, with showers and other amenities close by. When in Noosa, visit the National Park and do a coastal walk, it’s very nice. If you want a more local experience, Coolum Beach is excellent. It’s more cozy, has some shade, and especially at low tide the water is easy and shallow. No showers (or at least we did not find them), and couple stairs to access, so leave the stroller at home.
