North Stradbroke

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North Stradbroke Island is a large sandbar island on Moreton Bay just to the south of Brisbane in Queensland Australia. It's about 25 miles long (long and narrow) but we didn't get to see much of it.

The three major islands from the north to the south are Bribie, Moreton and North Stradboke. All are mostly wild protected lands with very little habitation. Straddie (as the locals call it) is the largest. I read that it's the second largest sand island in the world (Fraser Island to the north being the biggest).

The shore of Moreton Bay is shallow, muddy and filled with mangrove swamps. Very unpleasant really. We wanted to swim in and explore some sand beaches. There are fine beaches on the ocean side of the island.

Kate and I spent a sunny summer day swimming on the island -- in the ocean and at the end of the day in a lake. We took our car across the bay from Cleveland to the small port town of Dunwich on the ferry. From there we drove across the island and had a lunch at the rocky outcrop of Port Lookout on the far north east corner. Along the way we swam in the clear warm ocean waters at Cylinder Beach. At the end of the day we swam in Brown Lake -- aptly named as it's a deep tea color. Surrounding the lake are paper bark eucalyptus.

There isn't much habitation on the island. Dunwich and Port Lookout are the largest towns but they aren't very big at all. There are some cottage homes and permanent residences. And quite a few day trippers like us. When we were planning this trip to Brisbane we thought about renting a place on the island and commuting to the city and Griffith University by boat. Luckily we were persuaded to find a place in the city!