This weekend we headed to the world’s 3rd largest sand island: Moreton Island. It was a perfect, much needed mini vacation!
Saturday
Up and at ’em bright and early at 5am to catch a bus at 6am to Brisbane with our tour group! Erin, Alex, his girlfriend McKenzy, his mom Jackie, and I all arrived in Brisbane to catch our ferry. Our 2 day tour booked through Sunset Safaris gave us a few instructions and had us load up onto the ferry for a 1.5 hour ride over to Moreton Island. I, of course, had to start my morning off with a meat pie and coffee (although Australian coffee still isn’t as good as American coffee).
Then Erin & I went to the upper deck of the ferry and let the sun shine down on us as we crossed the ocean. We arrived on Moreton and the view was quite beautiful!
Our tour guides showed us off the boats and to the busses. We loaded up and were ready for the scenic day of our trip! We drove through Middle Road (the road that goes through the middle of the island… creative, huh?) and had a nice, long “rollercoaster” ride! Driving through the bouncy sand roads is always a blast.
We arrived at a mini campsite and changed into our swimsuits for the day. Shortly after this, lunch was ready – we had a delicious salad, chicken, and muffins. Our stomaches were satisfied, which is the sign that we were now ready for adventure! On our way to the first stop we came across a Carpet Python laying in the sun and just having lunch too… as you can see in the picture below there is a bulge in it’s stomach, this is a Bandicoot (similar to our rat). Swallowed whole. This little snake did that. Yikes. Anyways… our first stop was at Blue Lagoon which was one of my favorite spots on the trip! It is a large, completely natural freshwater lake infused with tea tree oils. Along with this, the sand is the same kind that they use to clean jewelry and used in body exfoliants. So we obviously had to rub the sand over our skin to see if it would work, and it sure did! Our skin is still incredibly smooth from it.
After spending about a half hour here, we loaded back onto the bus and went to our next stop. We drove up to one of the tallest points on the island which was the lighthouse. Walking barefoot like a true local, we climbed up to check out the view which did not disappoint! Pictures don’t even do it justice. The ocean was a beautiful bright blue and faded into different shades of blue. I could’ve stared at the waves forever up there. It was also beautiful because we saw a rain cloud pouring over part of the island from our viewpoint. Unfortunately, we did not see any whales (as they are in migration season and pass right next to Moreton Island), but at least the view was beautiful!
After this, we carried onto our next stop which was Honeymoon Bay and the Champagne Pools. Our tour guide taught us all about plants along the way and we even tasted a few of the local berries. Honeymoon Bay was quite gorgeous!
We hiked on to the Champagne Pools which gets its name due to the ocean foaming and bubbling as it comes over the rocks and flows down into the pools. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to swim in them today as the waves were too dangerous. The could easy sweep you off your feet and crash you against the rocks, thus I was perfectly fine just enjoying the view.
After this we headed back to the main beach area and spent some time just hanging out and enjoying the sun for about an hour. Then we drove to our campsite for the evening which was a great, little place that was makeshift but homey all at the same time. We got to know more of the crew & interns, and talked until it was time to watch sunset. We grabbed some cruisers, music, and sat next to the crashing ocean waves and watched the sun sink over the beautiful horizon.
We then went back to the campsite and enjoyed some delicious steaks and grilled veggies for dinner, with brownies and whipped cream for dessert! Then we had a wonderful campfire – sitting around for a couple hours trying to play the didgeridoo (instrument) and talking. Around 9pm we decided to go stargazing by the ocean and it was stunning. We laid our backs on the cold sand, watched shooting stars, and enjoyed the beautiful view. The ocean was nice and warm so we couldn’t pass up a swim. It was amazing because there were phytoplankton/bioluminescence in the water that lit up whenever we moved our arms and legs (think of fireflies but in the water). It was like we were a giant glow stick in the water! After our fun swimming in the ocean, we went back and gathered around the campfire again until we couldn’t keep our eyes awake for any longer.
Sunday
Our morning began with breakfast at 8am and then driving back to the beach to meet up with more people coming over on the ferry for the day. Once we had everyone, it was time to being the action packed day! Our first stop was sand boarding. Now, I must admit I was a little nervous to slide down a large sand hill (mainly worried about wiping out). We waxed our (essentially) pieces of cardboard, the guides gave us a big push, and soon enough I was sliding head first down a sand dune…. it was SO fun! Basically the same as sledding in the winter. We went 3 times, only because the walk back up the sand dune was killer.
After this adventure, we headed back to the beach camp and had a quick lunch of wraps. Unfortunately, due to the winds we were not able to go kayaking which was a bit of a bummer as I was looking forward to trying out transparent kayaks. But I agreed that I’d rather not capsize! Instead, we got extra snorkeling time. The unique part about snorkeling at Moreton Island is that there are about 15 man-made shipwreck areas which made for a new snorkeling experience! We pulled on our wetsuits, put on our snorkel masks, and were towed by a jet ski out to the dive area. I was so surprised when I put my head underwater because there were hundreds of little fish swimming all around us! Soon after we got out there, a Wobbegong shark swam right underneath us. (see picture below) I honestly thought it was a large fish until our guide told us to look at the shark! Another snorkeling highlight was when Erin & I dove underneath a ship and came up in the middle of the boat – it was so cool! After about an hour we had to head in, but it was a great experience!
We had a bit of time to spare before the ferry came in to take us back, so our guide asked if a few of us wanted to go climb a sand dune nearby – of course we did! If you want your calves to burn, climbing up a dune on all 4 limbs is the workout for you. Whew, was it hard. But the view at the top was absolutely worth it! We sat on tree branches and stared out at the ocean for about an hour. It was the perfect way to end a perfect weekend on Moreton Island!
Another Point of View 