January 6, 2026 Moreton Island

Early breakfast on Deck 9 in the Lido Market - bacon, eggs and orange juice to fuel our hike on Moreton Island today. The 7 a.m temperature was 23°C partly cloudy sky, wind S 6 kph and humidity 81%.

We were sitting in the World Stage by 8 a.m. having picked up our tour stickers, waiting for group of 56 to be called to board the tender boats for the 32 minute transport to shore. The route to the tender platform was through the crew stairs from Deck 1 to Deck A then Deck B close to water level Some of the group missed the tender and we needed to wait for the next one, just 10 minutes. The tender moored at the Tangalooma Resort jetty.

Meanwhile, we needed to show either our keycard or e-ticket to be checked in on shore. Our Tangalooma Ranger guide was Ben and his assistant was Leah, she stayed at the back to be sure everyone got to where they needed to go. The guide information suggested - This is a difficult hike with many steps, inclines and uneven, undulating terrain and soft sand.

Leaving the jetty, we walked along the sandy beach to the trail head, about 35 minutes. The beach is also the only “road“ to the recreation areas, so we kept to the hard packed sand by the water. Ben mentioned items of interest like spotting an Australian pelican. He said that they only weigh between four and seven kilograms. It is found throughout Australia and Papua New Guinea. We also saw a Pied Cormorant skimming the water.

The resort takes up about two percent of the island’s area. The rest is Gheebulum Kunungai (Moreton Island) National Park and the Moreton Bay Marine Park. Moreton Island is made of sand. The hike took about two hours, but there was at least 50 minutes of resting at viewpoints.

The Tangalooma Whaling Station operated on the island until 1962, when it ceased due the humpback whale population almost being exterminated, just 500 were alive. Today, there are more than 40,000 whales that stop in the bay from June to November.

In 1770, Captain James Cook first arrived on Moreton Island, traditional home of the Ngugi tribe for 2,000 years. Today it is a popular eco-tourism destination.

For over 2,000 years, the island has been home to the Ngugi people, one of three groups of the Quandamooka people. They lived sustainably by fishing, hunting, and gathering shellfish along the coastline. Middens (trash piles), stone tools, and other artifacts found on the island reveal their deep connection to the land and sea. The Ngugi people used fire to manage vegetation and relied on seasonal food sources, such as dugongs, related to manatees, turtles, and fish.

From the beach we followed the sandy forest trail to the first series of stairs, 95 in total up a gentle sandy slope and another set of stairs this time 178 to a lookout with a view of the Moreton Bay Marine Park. Step count only 3,894. It took over ten minutes for everyone to reach this point. Ben said the worst climbing was over. It was on to the Tangalooma Desert. More climbing on sandy slopes and uneven sandy steps. 43 up then nine down hill followed by 13 up then 24 down and finally up a 12 meters shady sand dune and ahead of us lay the desert. Most people stayed in the shade and took photos. The hike was only about 600 meters to the desert. Few hikers wanted to slide-walk down a 15 meter slope and then climb back up to actually be in the desert. The rest stop and photo opportunity was lengthened by a hiker venturing another 200 meters into the desert and tripping requiring Ben to go and rescue the man, who was only embarrassed, but who did not apologize to the waiting hikers for his foolhardiness. This added 20 extra minutes of waiting in light shade by the hot sand with a temperature of 26°C and very little wind. In the meantime, a couple of dozen hikers defied Leah’s pleas, to wait for Ben to return, and headed back to the beach. We did not see very many flowers along the entire route.

The group reversed its course and descended back to the beach where our step count was 5,618. There was a cooling breeze as we walked along the beach back to the jetty and the end of the hike. We wore sturdy water shoes and had to dump sand out of them four times during the hike.

We found the resort’s convenience store and paid AU$6.50 for a 600 ml bottle of water. We also purchased a couple of Magnum ice cream bars to cool off.

We lined up on the jetty to take the tender back to the ship at about 11:45 a.m. and were stepping unto one of the private shuttle boats just after noon. The Holland America crew had set up a water station to dispense ice cold water to passengers as they waited in line for the tender boats. Rianto, the maitre d’ from the Deck 3 dining room, was supervising. There was no awning to shade the crew. Usually one is erected on the pier by the ship. Today was not a windy day. Maybe the resort did not allow an awning. As we waited we could see a rain shower in distant Brisbane.

We were back on the ship just after 12:30 p.m., All Aboard was 5:30 p.m. We took showers to cool off and get rid of the sand sticking to our sunscreen. Then went to the Library Café for Iced Frappés.

By 2 p.m. under sunny skies it was 26°C, wind ESE 22 kph and humidity 70%. We took our books out to Deck 3 to read on the deck chairs on the shaded side of the ship.

We joined Ted, Margaret, Sue and Sandy for dinner. Rianto introduced us to another officer who asked if we would like some officers to sit at our table, in the two vacant chairs on January 12, a future Sea Day. We all agreed. During dinner the RCL Voyage of the Seas sailed by having just started a 7-day cruise out of nearby Brisbane. When dinner was over we all walked to the Library Café for after dinner coffee. We chatted with Ted and Margaret. Then we all dispersed to get seats for the 7:30 p.m. show - Timeless, which was as good as their production on the last cruise.

Total steps 11,554