QLD Sand Islands, Moreton, Fraser MORETON Island file=SandIslands.htm
We have made numerous trips to the various QLD sand islands, Stradbroke, Moreton and
Fraser Island. Usually these have been short trips, of one to three days duration, so they hardly
rate a mention in the webfiles. Nevertheless, we thought it useful to make a short report of our
next trip to any of these, Moreton Island in this case.
Access To take a 4WD to Moreton, you have to take the Combie Trader from Scarborough.
The ferry trip takes about 2 hours to Bulwer and costs about $200 for a 4WD plus
2 people. This includes all park fees and ferry charges. Because of the recent low
rainfall (drought) the sand was very dry and soft, so tyre pressures had to be reduced
to 20 psi to get thru the soft inland tracks and beach entries and exits. We drove off
the ferry then along the west coast to Cowan Cowan, then to Tangalooma resort.
combie
tracks
Combie Trader car/people ferry, 2hr trip. The inland tracks were very soft this year
hotel
Hotelview
Tangalooma resort hotel, excellent value. View from hotel window, looking west.
Accommodation We normally prefer to camp out on these islands, but a recent bout of flu
persuaded us to stay at the recently upgraded Tangalooma resort, which was excellent.
Parking areas were about 600m from the hotel but everything else was convenient and
of very high standard. The wild dolphin display was well done but hard to photograph at
night. The postcards were the only way to record these beautiful and smart animals.
Island tracks There are two one way tracks in the middle of the island, giving east west
access. The beaches give access to the Lighthouse, Kooringal and Bulwer.
The Lighthouse area is quite spectacular with steep climbs/descents up sandhills, which
have rubber strips provided to assist traction. The idea of the one way tracks is excellent
which should be adopted by Fraser island, to avoid passing incidents and problems.
The beach drives are very safe and have no creek crossings or traps.
The coastal track from Bulwer to the Lighthouse twists and turns around headlands and
washed away sections. We got stuck here, sliding into a log off the edge of a track!
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lighthouse
beach
View from lighthouse, eastern beaches,
Lighthouse, restored->
axe
BlueLagoon
Never forget the axe/spade on the islands. Inland lake, good safe swimming.
steepHill
NthCoast
Track down from Lighthouse, quite steep! North coast, approaching lighthouse.
helicopter
<--View from helicopter flight.
CONCLUSION The QLD sand islands are so
convenient to us that we often pop over to one of
these for a couple of days, mostly when we have
visitors. Fraser island has more variety of tracks and
features but all are worth a visit. We had the usual
experience of having to assist inexperienced 4WD's
stuck in soft sand. Some didn't even have snatch
straps to help pull them out of trouble !!
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