Tin Can Bay

September 18th
After settling in at Tin Can Bay, we took in a bit of local exploring, there are several kilometres of a good walking trail, below the street from the park. One can choose the path along the Environment Walkway to Toolara, along the coast amid trees and mangrove shoreline. With the tide out, there are miles of mudflats, anchored boats lying on their side. A prettier picture when the tide is in, a myriad of birdlife; parrots, lorikeets, White Ibis and a variety of honey eaters, minor birds and the harassed ravens. At one point we had a raptor of some kind swoop down and flew away with a fish carcass. Appropriately, this walk is known as the Bird-walk. The other direction and the path is to follow the wooded shoreline of Snapper Creek to the marina and fishing wharfs. Not far from the marina is the Public Boat Ramp. Next to the ramp is the cafe that is famous for Dolphin Feeding.

Dolphins:
For many years, successive generations of Estuarine Dolphins’ have been coming up to the little beach to interact and get a feed of small fish. At around 7-7:30am, 2 or three dolphins swim up to the beach awaiting their 8am feeding time. We were lucky enough to get there when two of the regulars turned up. For $5 children were able to walk into the water and have a dolphin carefully and gently take fish from their hand. These are wild animals, from the same pod; it was wonderful to see them in their own environment. As soon as the last bucket had been emptied, they turned away and set off with the tide out to the Sandy Straits proper. (See photo in our albums).

Another feature of the estuarine waters is that the tidal flats are home to a variety of marine life. Most spectacular is seeing the hoards of Soldier Crabs. These little crabs, 1-2 centimetres in size, move along the mud in unison. They look like something along the lines of the Orks in Lord of the Rings. With blue shell-backs, an area of around a square metre moving en-mass, one can imagine a Stephen Spielberg Epic filmed in miniature.

The Mary River flows into the sea, through Maryborough, birthplace of P L Travers, creator of Mary Poppins, the famous nanny, . At Maryborough, we were in time to see a school spectacular, the annual Technology Events, head-lined by a 24 hour Pedal-Prix, over 100 school teams with a variety of human powered vehicles, (HPV), they were all very serious about it and some of them were really moving in their machines around the street circuit. Behind the scenes, in “Pit-Lane Tents”, teams rested, machines repaired and even massages for the young rider/drivers. So good to see teenagers from many kilometres away, doing something so physical. A special mention must be made about the hundreds of hours that teachers, parents and community members had to have put in to organise and run the event.

The Mary River Valley drive provides a scenic route to several small towns and is also the route of the Mary Valley Rattler, a wonderfully restored and maintained steam engine. The train runs from Gympie, through Kandanga to Imbil. We caught up with the train at Imbil and Vicki was chuffed to be allowed up onto the foot-plate to see the controls and feel the heat of the boiler.

Hervey Bay Whale Cruise
On Friday 16th, we travelled to Hervey Bay to take an afternoon Whale Watch Cruise. We booked on the twin-hull Tasman Venture, the same operator that we used back in 2006. The weather was good, clear and only light winds, we had a great time. Being Friday PM cruise, we were fortunate that there were only 12 adults on a boat designed to carry 90. This made it much more comfortable to be able to run around the deck to view the whales. We got to see several small pods of whales and it was, as if scripted, the last pod of four that put on a good show for us. We saw rolls, mugging, pectoral flips and tail waves. Best of all, we got to see “breaching” where the animal leaps clear out of the water. Just awesome! Visualise up to 40 tonne of marine animal putting on a spectacular show. The day was rounded off by a magnificent sunset over the bay as we returned along the north shore of Fraser Island, The cruise is a highly recommended experience.

Tin Can Bay is a very pleasant and relaxed little town, growing like so many but it should remain quieter than the busier Rainbow Beach or Hervey Bay. We would come here again. Not sure yet as to when we will be heading back south, it is school holidays time in NSW and QLD so many towns along the coast are very busy. Decisions-decisions!!!!!

Meanwhile, take a look at some of the magnificent pictures that Vicki took, (hundreds taken, few were selected!), yes, all her own work and no Photoshop editing: https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/WhaleWatchingHerveyBayQLD?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIvh9oKJ5a2crQE&feat=directlinkauthkey=Gv1sRgCIvh9oKJ5a2crQE&feat=directlink

Click on the link below to view some photos in the album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/GowintaFarmToTinCanBay?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOCv56vUxZGOXA&feat=directlink