“Whales, Dolphins and Surf Lifesaving”

Who would have thought that within an hour of Brisbane there would be a Pacific paradise with sandy white beaches, resorts, pristine ocean and wildlife on land and sea all at your fingertips.

That’s how it turned out for the trip members on this year’s Moreton Island Trip. A few of the gang arrived a day early to soak up the sun at the resort while others camped, glamped and roughed it on the beach. Idyllic weather conditions meant there was to be no driving issues as the beach was firm and friendly.  Well, that is, until Col pulled the old “Ashton one two” on Don, by driving hard up the cutting off the beach , only to slow to a crawl and plant the Triton firmly in the grip of the soft sand. Karma stepped in with Frog fines going to Col for the classic stitch up, but the Tritons reputation took the hit on the chin anyway.

For me, it was my first time to Moreton. I shall, in future, make any excuse to ensure I go on every and any trip back there, as it is truly a genuine overseas getaway from Brisbane.

Once the team had all assembled in the camping area, Col led us onto a day of casual driving and island sightseeing.  First to the northern tip and the lighthouse, then down into Honeymoon Bay for a swim and a bit of sunbaking. At this point the action got serious when one of our younger swimmers got into a bit of strife.  Joy and Col were “eyes on” and Jeremy Jones in one of the most spectacular David Hasselhoff Baywatch scenes sprinted and swam to the rescue.

Well done that man.

Whilst at the Lighthouse we were treated with a spectacular display from some passing whales and an enormous pod of dolphins surfing the waves in front of us. It was not the only time we saw dolphins as they were also present swimming within 20 meters of our beach campsite.

There was no shortage of keen fishermen during our stay. Fortunately for the fish, we only succeeded in feeding them our full supply of bait and no recordable catches were made.

Moreton Island does not have any sealed roads and we continued our soft sand drive down the East coast. 

Then it was time for a swim at the fresh water lake. Which was about as warm as an Eskimo spa, with a broken heater.

Daily happy hour was vigorously enforced and we really sat back and enjoyed the view of passing ships and even a fireworks display from the mainland.

Very impressive indeed.

Col showed another string in his bow of expertise by successfully removing a rather large carpet snake from the campsite.  We saw no such reptiles at the Glamping site. The facilities at Moreton are outstanding. Food from the Café at Castaways was outstanding and the whole team had a group dinner there on the first night. We, of course ended up having all our meals there and the girls that run the place were really outstanding.

The last day of the trip was a day to relax and Jake and myself headed off for a drive to the very southern tip of the island for cold beer and fresh oysters at the Gutter Bar. With the oyster farm only 500 meters away this was the ideal place for lunch before driving back up the entire length of the islands East coast.

One last swim at the ship wrecks before we were back on the ferry and back to Brisbane.

A very action packed weekend and at a destination with a wide variety of activities and services.

This trip is a must for those that haven’t been and an ideal getaway for those that want to do an overseas trip in our own backyard.