It was a nice early start for us today. Steve and Lloyd had chatted on the phone last night and they were going to take off early to go fishing. They were heading over to Moon Point on Fraser Island, so Steve needed to be over there by 6.30am. If I wanted the car for the day, I had to deliver him. I had thought that I would come home and crawl back into bed for an hour or two, but by the time I got back to the caravan park, the children in the van next to us where up and about and fairly noisy in a kids kind of way. Also the birds were in full song mode also, so getting back to sleep was impossible.
Instead, I ended up just writing up my holiday journal and then editing some of the many photos I had taken. Sim, Lloyd's wife rang about 8.30am to see if I had any plans for the day. She was taking both her boys to "ReefWorld" and wanted to know if I would join her. As I had nothing better to do, and I hadn't been there before it all sounded pretty good to me.
We decided to meet at her place around 10am. It was a bit of a circus trying to find the place. Simone received a new GPS for for her birthday and was keen to use it. I think there was something drastically wrong with it because both times we used it whilst I was there, it took us no where near our destinations.....
"Reef World" was really good, way better than I expected it to be...
We decided to make a day of it. Sim had free passes for the boys, and it cost us $20 each, for an extra $12 it entitled us to lunch at the restaurant, and we could have anything on the menu to the value of $20. Pretty good value. The boys were an extra $6 each I think. Also our passes entitled us to come and go as we liked for the whole day. They had turtle feeding at 11.30am and then shark and fish feeding at 2.30pm. That was another reason we decided to stay and have lunch there so that we could be there for both feeding sessions.
When we first got there we spend an hour or more checking out the main tanks and aquariums in the main building. The boys were fascinated by it all, and they really did have some really large fish and so really colourful ones also.
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| Simone and the boys checking out the fish in the big tank... |
The owners were very helpful and spent quite a bit of time talking to people and answering all our questions and pointing out fish of interest... The boys love it and had questions galore for them.
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| Little Nemo |
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| There were some pretty big fish in the main tank... |
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| Simone checking out the sharks... |
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| The boys asking questions |
We pretty much spent over an hour in here looking at all the fish. There is also a touch tank, so the boys were keen to check that out also....
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| Simone, Drew and Ashton... |
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| Checking out the touch tank... |
Whilst we were here, they started to call everyone for the turtle feeding. This was by far the highlight for me. It was amazing... and so interactive for everyone there.
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| One of the three large turtles in the tank.. |
Of the three turtles there, one was about 64 years of age, and the other two were in their late 30's. turtles live to be over 100 years old.
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| The boys patting the turtles.... |
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| They were very friendly |
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| Being given some lettuce leaves to feed the turtles... |
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| Feeding the turtles... |
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| Simone feeding the turtle... |
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| My turn to feed the turtle... |
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| Feeding the turtle some lettuce.. |
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| They take it right from out of your hand... |
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| Giving the turtle a rub.... |
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| Turtle feeding time at Reef World at Hervey Bay.... |
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| Nice butt shot..... |
There were a few big sharks and some large Gropers in the tank as well, and the Gropers were not shy as Simone found out. They were really quite friendly and were very happy for you to give them a good rub. They were actually like puppy dogs and would roll over so that you could continue rubbing them.... It was kind of fun...
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| The big friendly Groper |
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| Sim and the boys giving it a pat |
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| Totally enjoying the attention... |
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| Getting a very good rub.... |
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| Very spoilt with everyone giving him a pat... |
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| Close up |
We still had about another twenty minutes before the restaurant opened for lunch. We had pre booked a table as it is pretty popular and books out quickly. After getting our meal we could understand why. We decided to go back to the big tank and have another look at some of the very colourful fish that they had in there. The boys just loved it....
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| Big stingray |
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| Another big starfish... |
The boys were hungry so as soon as the restaurant opened we were in there. We had a table out over the water which was really lovely. The views over towards Fraser Island were nice and we could see the boats coming and going from the Harbour...
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| Cheers for a great day spent together.... |
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| Simone's lunch |
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| My lunch... |
The prices in the restaurant were very reasonable. The meals ranged in price from around $14 to $24 each. Simone and I both picked the calamari. It was beautiful. It was recommended to us by the waitress as being very popular. The calamari was wafer thin and so tender. It was served with chips and salad, and dressing and lemon juice. It was a very relaxed atmosphere on the veradah and we actually sat there for a good hour and a half just catching up. Once the boys finished eating, they were happy to go back and look at the fish and turtles.
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| Simone photographing her lunch... |
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| Time to tuck in... |
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| The boys enjoyed their nuggets... |
Whilst we were enjoying a chat after lunch we got a phone call from the boys to say they were on their way back into the boat harbour. We told them we were sitting having lunch on the verandah at the restaurant, so they did a drive by. Of course Sim and I got up to wave to them so they could see us, well it turned out in the end that they whole restaurant started waving to them. It was quite hilarious actually.
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| The boys coming back in from fishing... |
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| Steve waving... |
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| Waving to everyone... |
We still had an hour to wait until it was shark feeding time, and as the boys had spent a lot of time already looking at all the fish, we decided to take them across to a park which was just across the road to give them a bit of a run around before heading back to see the shark and fish feeding at 2.30pm....
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| Time to leave and take the boys across the road to the Park... |
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| The restaurant we had lunch at... |
It turned out to be a nice park area with some lovely look outs, so we had a wander around there checking out the scenery...
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| Great place to spend a day when at Hervey Bay... |
The park had a lovely play area for the kids...
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| Playground. |
Simone and I walked up the hill to have a look at the view from the Lookout.
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| Looking up towards the lookout... |
Time to wander back to Reef World to see the feeding of the Sharks and fish. First of all the adults got to feed the sharks and fish in the big tanks inside, As you had to climb a ladder to do this, the children weren't allowed to feed the fish and sharks in this tank.
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| Simone climbing the ladder to feed the sharks in the internal tank... |
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| Feeding the sharks... |
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| My turn to feed them |
Then it was outside so that the children could feed them. It wasn't so good for photos out here in the afternoon, and the wind had come up and was making the water ripple. Also the sun had mostly gone so the outside tank was in the shade and you couldn't see the fish and sharks the same...
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| The boys feeding the sharks... |
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| One of the big sharks... |
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| Swimming around... |
We left Reef World at about 3pm to head home and catch up with the boys. We were keen to hear how their day had gone and see if they had caught any fish.
They had had a wonderful day, the weather was perfect and and they were pretty happy with their catch. We came home to find Steve filleting fish, and also to find Lloyd's brother and sister in law there visiting. They had come down from Bundy for the day to see everyone. It was so nice to catch up with them also, as we hadn't seen them in years.
The boys managed to take a few shots of their perfect day also. So thankful that I can include them also.
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Couldn't ask for a nicer place to spend the day. Crystal clear water...
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Lloyd's Boat
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| Panoramic view of what their day looked like.... just gorgeous.. |
No wonder they came home so happy. Who wouldn't after spending a perfect day fishing in these surroundings...
Two very happy chappies.....
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| Lloyd doing what he loves best... |
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| Steve doing what he loves best.... |
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| Very Happy Chappy |
It is great when everyone has a great day and they all feel relaxed. We couldn't have chosen a better way to end our holidays. A few days resting by the coast... Both Steve and Lloyd managed to catch their bag limits of whiting, so they were stoked....
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| The only down side though is all the fish you have to gut and fillet when you get home... |
We couldn't have asked for a nicer more relaxed day. We were both pretty tired by the end of the day though. We had a lovely afternoon with Lloyd, Simone, Cathy and Rod, and then Trevor ( my brother-in-law's brother) and his wife Rosie popped in as well. We haven't seen Trevor and Rosie for well over ten years. We had the best afternoon. We had all grown up together and attended youth group together, so we had an amazing time reliving some of the memories of our youth. The happy factor. We all went home feeling tired but very happy. Great day.
Highlights: probably too many to count today..
1. Thankful for memories and good times.
2. That the boys had an awesome day and so did we.
3. God's provision for us, all good things...
4. Friendship.
5. Feeding the turtles.
6. Laughter
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