Moreton Island Day Trip!

Well I guess I should begin by telling you all that Moreton Island is about 1hr and 30min ferry ride from Brisbane Port and is made completely from sand that is from New South Wales territory. It is the third largest sand island in Australia. It is also a National Park and only has one resort on the island.

And now for something completely different (the FUN part)...

First I had to wake up at 5:00 am to walk to a bus stop that was 2miles away! It was the only bus running near us that would be running that early in the morning. Once we got to the bus stop it took us to Roma St station where we met up with our guide for the day, Andrew, and the other 9 people doing the day trip. From the station we drove in a small 4WD truck to the ferry.

our transportation :)

So on the ferry we went past the big cargo ships and we also saw some jellyfish. Below are images of being on the ferry before we reached the island.

Big cargo area

Moreton Island in the distance :)

on the ferry; just after this I did my happy dance 

on the ferry for going snorkeling :) haha

Immediately after we drove off the ferry I went snorkeling! It was so much fun. We snorkeled around these old ship wrecks. Andrew our guide did tell us that the ships were brought to the island, they didn't wreck there. They did this to help with the corrosion of the island. Around the ships there were tiger fish and other large fish but my favorite was seeing 2 or 3 parrot fish! Their coloring was amazing! When swimming back into shore there were starfish all along the shallow water and we got to pick them up and touch them (just don't bring them out of the water). It was an amazing start to the day :)

just got done snorkeling

Such clear water

Once we were done with the snorkeling we were off to a place called 'The Desert' which is a huge white sand dune in the middle of the island. We went sand boarding on it! sand boarding is just using a old book shelf board rubbing wax on the shiney side and laying on it going head first. You do have to lift up the front or you get a mouth and body full of sand. However, no matter how you went down you got sand everywhere; when I say everywhere I mean it!! It still was really fun :)

We climbed up the left dune 

The board

From the sand boarding we went to the east side of the island which had some of the most beautiful water I have ever seen. The waves breaking were perfect and the water was so inviting. We couldn't swim there because it is infested with sharks so instead we drove along the beach to get to our lunch spot called North Point.

In North Point while Andrew was getting the lunches ready we got to go swim in the ocean and while Kyra and I were climbing on rocks a fisherman near us said he saw a dolphin and told us to come where he was and wait. well we saw a DOLPHIN! It was amazing to see a wild dolphin :) I didn't get a picture but it was a bottle-nose dolphin. We ate our lunch on the rocks and watched the water break on the rocks. 

Reminded me of the little mermaid

After lunch we went to the lighthouse on North Point was pretty but what we saw looking over the cliffs edge was even more beautiful. From there it looked out to the vast ocean and there was a group of whales spouting water and then closer to the rocks there were wild sea turtles! While standing there it was just so calming feeling looking out to nothing but water. 

looking down the east side beach from the lighthouse

For the last stop on the tour we drove to a fresh water lake called Blue Lagoon. It wasn't really a lagoon but the incredible thing about it was that it had tea tree oil in it because the tea tree's lined the banks of the lake and the oil in their roots went into the water! Since the tea tree oil was in the water the water's color was a orange brown color but it was so refreshing. It made your skin feel amazing after having salt water on it. The water was chilly but it felt good anyway. 

lookin' good after a day in the sun hahaha

Blue Lagoon

Well Blue Lagoon was our last stop and then it was the ferry back to Brisbane and the bus ride back home. Getting home was so nice because I definitely wanted to take a shower and get all the sand off my body haha. Slept really well that night from running around all day in the sun. However, it was a great day and was such a fun adventure! :)

Till next time- Courtney