Tangalooma Resort Versus Monkey Mia Resort
Compare Two Australian Resorts Where Tourists Can Swim With Dolphins
Feb 15, 2009
On two sides of the Australian continent, Tangalooma in Queensland and Monkey Mia in Western Australia vie for the tourist dollar. This article will establish a few facts and figues about each resort to help the intending tourist make a decision.
Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort
For most tourists, Moreton Island is synonymous with Tangalooma Resort. Many bamboozled visitors actually refer to Tangalooma Island. The resort is built on the remains of a whaling station that operated on the island between 1952 and 1962. Thankfully, whaling was halted when numbers thinned, but, according to a paper by Forestell and Orems, not before 6277 humpbacks were slaughtered. Today, the resort runs whale watching tours.
Feeding Wild Dolphins
Of course, the most popular and remarkable activity offered by the resort is the daily hand-feeding of a pod of bottlenose dolphins. This is only available to hotel guests, although others may look on from the floodlit jetty. These wild dolphins come in of their own free will just after dusk and interact with the humans who stand in knee deep water.
Getting to Tangalooma
The resort offers the Tangalooma Flyer which leaves the Holt St Wharf in Pinkenba (Brisbane) at 7:30 am, 10 am, and 5 pm each day for the 75 minute trip to Tangalooma. Cost is $70 return and pickup from hotels in Brisbane and the Gold Coast for the 10 am run is possible. There is an additional service at 12:30 on Saturday and Sunday.
The slower Micat service leaving from 14 Howard Smith Drive, Port of Brisbane at 8:30 am daily is $45 return and has the benefit of being a ferry which will take the visitor’s 4 wheel drive vehicle, as well, for $190 return (incl. 2 passengers).
Tangalooma Resort Comparison with Monkey Mia Resort
Tangalooma is one of only two places in the world where wild dolphins can be approached. The other is isolated Monkey Mia in Western Australia.
Monkey Mia Accommodation
Monkey Mia is world-renowned, synonymous with swimming with dolphins, yet it is 850 km from Perth and far from other Australian tourist hotspots. Visitors there usually stay at the Monkey Mia Resort or in the town of Denham, some 25 km away. Four dolphins come in daily between 7 am and mid-day to be fed by park rangers and visitors, under the supervision of the staff. Given the hoards of people who come, many must go away disappointed.
Camel rides and Snuba Diving (Scuba with an air line from a raft) are popular extras activity at Monkey Mia. Sailing and bus tours are also offered. The resort has beach volley ball, minigolf and a range of other free activities.
Resort prices at Monkey Mia (quotes taken from to the Monkey Mia Resort site) will rise somewhat in April 2009. Currently, the motel style accommodation ranges from $212 per night ($222 from April) to top of the range beach front villas for $285 per night ($299 from April).
To their credit, the resort caters for a wide variety of visitors and offer backpacker accommodation at $25 per night in a 7-bed dorm, unpowered tent sites for $14, and the usual caravan sites.
Tangalooma Accommodation
Few people realise that the same dolphin-feeding experience can be had only minutes from the bustling metropolis of Brisbane, with the beaches and family parks of the Gold Coast nearby.
The resort offers a wide range of accommodation (quotes taken from the Tangalooma Resort website) starting at low season rates of $290 per couple for a motel room (actually sleeps 4). It is possible to get last minute specials as low as $79 from wholesalers such as Wotif.com. The resort also offers 4-bedroom houses – an excellent option for large families or groups of friends – for $400 per night or $2100 per week.
While this is by no means cheap accommodation, it is reasonably priced considering the range of activities (30 of them free) that the resort offers. Visitors can take a variety of island tours including whale watching and dugong sighting cruises, sand boarding and quad bike riding on the steep sand dunes, as well as parasailing, snorkelling, bushwalking and canoeing.
Tangalooma Day Trips
Because of its proximity to Brisbane and the Gold Coast, The resort group also runs day trips from those two centres for $40, which includes 4 hours use of the resort facilities – but no dolphin feeding. A $90 extended tour gives 8 hours at the resort and includes a dolphin feed.
For tourists already in Western Australia, obviously Monkey Mia should not be missed. However, tourists who want to stay on the east coast of Australia where many attractions can be visited at closer distances, then a few days in Brisbane or the Gold Coast should incorporate at least a day at Tangalooma Resort to feed the dolphins.
There are other accommodation choices on Moreton Island explored on another Suite101 site.
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