It's taken us 2000 km of driving to get to Brisbane, and the car is going back tomorrow, thank goodness! That's a total of 4500 km we've driven around Australia over eighteen days of having vehicles.

We're up at 8am to drive to the ferry port in Brisbane. We park in a lock-up, and the car is immediately swarmed by ants - we can only hope they're gone by the time we get back. We get on a big catamaran similar to the one we took to the reef in Cairns. The place we're going is Tangalooma Resort, on Moreton Island, around 40km east of Brisbane in Moreton Bay. The catamaran has people on day trips and staying for some time at the resort, mostly Japanese, who apparently favour the Gold Coast between Sydney and Brisbane for holidays.

[Hope I don't get my regime changed for taking this...]

We motor slowly down the Brisbane River, which winds through the city. We see an American nuclear submarine, which isn't very covert. There are a few dolphins in the bay, but we don't see any whales - Hervey Bay is more popular with them.

[Feeding time!]

The boat takes just over an hour, and as we disembark there's a guy on a boat feeding wild pelicans and cormorants with fish, which is fun watching them all scrabbling around in the water. We have a wander round the resort. Moreton Island is the world's second largest sand island (Fraser Island, in Hervey Bay, is the biggest) and it also has the world's highest sand dunes.

[Tree!]

There are wrecks off the coast for snorkelling in. Although Moreton Bay is large, it's very shallow, and plenty of boats have sunk here. It's also an ex whaling area, and Tangalooma has an old whaling station, which used to process about two whales a day for ten years in the 1950s. We have lunch overlooking the beach and bay; it's tranquil and quiet, though there are plenty of people around.

The Dolphin Research Education Centre opens at 1pm, and we have a look round. There's a nightly feeding of wild dolphins, but I'm alarmed to see in the literature that people with respitory infections shouldn't take part - the dolphins can get ill. Happily I'm told that it should be fine, since I've been ill for a few days and probably am not contagious. We learn the history behind the feed. Ten years ago a nursing female dolphin was hanging round the quay with two calves, looking hungry. Some fisherman took pity and threw her some of their catches. She repeatedly returned, and within a few months was taking fish offered by hand. Although she died a few years ago, her calves and friends in the meantime have come daily for food, just after dusk, and there are now ten regulars. It's monitored by the Univeristy of Queensland, who are conducting research into dolphins, and monitor their health and lifestyle. The dolphins are only fed 10% of their diet by humans here, and could easily catch more by just swimming around the quay. However they seem to enjoy human contact, recognise the staff who feed them daily, and return when they feel like it. Yesterday there were nine dolphins (all named and noted), and two the day before.

[Scrape away the top sand, and...]

[The dune]

We've booked an afternoon excursion to the dunes. There are plenty of trips available, but I'm feeling rough with tonsillitis and don't want to do much, particularly involving salt water. We get a 4wd bus through the sand - quite an experience, flying down sandy hills and through trees. Everyone shouts and screams, and it's a pretty scary ride which the driver hams up as much as possible. After ten minutes we stop by some beautiful and untouched dunes, and are shown the sand. There are 33 colours of sand on the island. It's a mineral-rich area.

[Iain slides down a hill]

[Whooosh]

The main reason for this little trip, however, is sand-tobogganning. I'm avoiding this, partly because my foot won't allow me to climb a dune, and partly because breathing in sand sounds painful right now. Iain, though, is enthusiastic. We're shown how to wax the thin wooden boards we're given, and Iain gamely clambers up a 50m dune. People are sent down one at a time, and apparently reach speeds of up to 50kmph. Except for a couple, who fail to lift the front of their boards, and get facefulls of sand at low speed. Yuck. Iain's one of the fastest, and seems to enjoy it. He gets three runs, which means climbing the tough and steep dune to exhaustion.

[Pelicans]

[Kookaburras]

[Wrecks]

We're back at 3.30pm, so we have a walk around the beach and dunes. We spend a bit of time in a dayroom, using the TV to pick our best whale photos and free up some others for tonight.

Sunset is at 6pm, and the dolphin arrive shortly after. The number of people around increases gradually until there are over a hundred lined up on the quay looking out to sea. There are lights off the jetty, gradually brightened, so the water is clear. Suddenly the first dark shape appears, and it's not a shark (though they do arrive occasionally, and scare off the dolphins). A whisper goes through the crowd as another dolphin follows, then a third, fourth, and by 6.30pm there are six of them, includin a nursing calf and its mother.

[Mmm. Fish.]

[Blurry dolphin]

[Feeding]

The dolphins know what to do, and are hanging around the jetty, playing, as the humans are briefed. We're told how to feed the dolphins without risking hurting them, and not to touch them. We line up in four lanes, around 25 people in each. People are taken out to knee depth, in groups of 2-3, by a staff member. We wash first our arms first, take a fish, and head out slowly. Our dolphin swims over, and sits next to us in the water, grabbing proffered fish. It happily stays close even when not being fed, and stomps on Iain's foot with its pectoral fin, for support, much to his discomfort. We stay in the water for 2-3 minutes; each lane goes in and out of the water in sync, to minimise disturbance to the dolphins.

It's a great privilege to feed these animals, and to know they've chosen to be here - only six nights in ten years have none turned up. We have plenty of time to watch them playing and chasing one another around the shore.

Our catamaran turns up, but leaves a little late as one engine needs fixing. We watch The Simpsons on the boat, and get back to dock at 9.15pm. Despite parking in a fairly empty field, some idiot has tried his best to block us in, and it takes a bit of work to get the car out.

We get back to the house at 10pm, and show Pam and John our photos, then crash out exhausted at midnight.