No trip to the Brisbane area is complete without a visit to one of the nearby coastal sand islands, namely North Stradbroke, Moreton or the more famour Fraser.
We were originally planning to spend a night on Stradbroke (or Straddie as it is commonly known), however it was nearly impossible to get accommodation for just one night. So a daytrip to Moreton Island was booked instead, and in retrospect I'm glad it worked out that way (do you ever find these travel obstacles end up turning out for the best?).
The most bizarre concept to get your head around is the fact that there are no paved roads. When they say it is a sand island, they literally mean it. A 4x4 is mandatory to get about most of the island, also prior experience of driving on sand is advisable as some of the inner tracks are deep sand and challenging.
It's difficult to pinpoint any one aspect of the day that was a highlight since it was all so special. Maybe the swim in the Blue Lagoon just edges through as winner since it was so unusual to swim in a warm freshwater lake. The sandboarding was fun but there's only so much hot sand you can take being cemented on to your freshly sunscreen'd face before it becomes annoying. The beaches are immaculate and we could have easily seen ourselves camping there overnight. Thoroughly recommended if you're in the area!
By Darrell Grundy - visited on 16 January 2009