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