North Stradbroke Island - 'Straddie'

After purchasing a large amount of camping equipment with the idea to go camping we thought we best try it out. Although I used to go caravaning as I child I havent really been camping as such so was very excited about this expedition! Although when I mentioned to my friends that we were planning this little trip they found it amusing, thanks guys!

our humble abode

Straddie is an Island just off the coast of Brisbane it is not very big and there arent very many roads but lots of beaches! So we packed the car (well garry did while I worked) and got up early on Saturday morning to get the ferry that takes you over to Straddie. The ferry takes about 40 mins to get there and goes across moreton bay. The weather was not brilliant it was very overcast and there was a bit of a chill - the first time I have worn a jumper in the whole time we have been here. We arrived on the Island too early to pitch the tent so decided to make a trip to Point Look out at the the northeast tip. Straddie is very popular with the surfers because there are really big waves! The sea is lovely and blue with nice white sand (see the pictures) There is a walk at Point look out that takes you through the North Gorge which was just lovely, this time of year is whale migration season and the whales swim up past Point Look out but we didnt see any :(

North Gorge

Point Look out

After our walk around point look out we went to the campsite at Cylinder Beach - very popular swimming beach. It was a lovely campsite the facilities were immaculate and we were just off the edge of the beach. We had a walk along cylinder beach and found the most massive sand dune - which Garry thought might be a good idea to race up yeah right - we got about a third of the way running then died hehehe We climb the massive sand dune and sat at the top while we died but it was cool to look around at the views. We did some rockpool hunting and saw lots of funky fish.

As Garry was having fishing withdrawals we went to Amity which is a good fishing spot. First we fished off some rocks and yes I caught a fish woo hoo! We then went to fish off the jetty, as it started to get dark more and more people turned up to fish. All of a sudden a dolphin appeared and was swimming around the jetty it was stealing the bait from the fishing lines, it was so cool it hung around for ages and was swimming right up. Me and Garry loved it the Aussie werent so impressed that it was ruining their fishing hehehe. After we got back to the campsite garry decided that he wanted to do some night fishing off the beach so we set up on the beach which was really cool as there was no one there and the sky was clear so could see the stars there was a full moon it was awesome. Low and behold garry managed to catch a shark he was well pleased.

My Little Fishy - What a catch!

Garrys little Fishy!

On Sunday we went to Brown Lake - which is what it says, very strange the water is totally clear but with a brown colour. We went to go to the other lake also which is call blue lake but we could not get to it as they had closed the car park and walking tracks so decided to go fishing again - do you get the theme. Garry caught another two smaller sharks but not much elase was going on so we made our way back to the ferry terminal. We stoped at Point Look out again and watched the waves for a while they were so huge it was unbelievable the beach was closed due to the dangerous wave it was amzing to watch - still no whales. All in all we had a really good time and saw loads of wild life. Will be nice to go back in the summer

Frenchmens Beach

Cylinder Beach (where we camped)

Would you swim in these waves?