Sixty kilometres north-east of Brisbane lies the large sand island named Moreton Island. The island is an attractive and popular destination for many tourists. Activities available for visitors including off-road driving, fishing, dolphin spotting and whale watching (in season), and camping. Several operators provide a Moreton Island tour, often starting from Brisbane city centre.
Moreton Island is a large sand island. It is rather long and thin, stretching 38 km from north to south, but just 8km wide at its widest point. It covers an area of 170 square kilometers, and is 58 kilometres north-east of Brisbane, in the Australian state of Queensland.
The only rock outcrop on this island of sand is Cape Moreton at the north eastern tip of the island. The lighthouse there was built by convicts. Captain James Cook, the British explorer, sailed past here in 1770. Believing that the area was part of the Australia mainland he named the point Cape Morton (the spelling changed to Moreton later, apparently through a transcription error). In 1799 Matthew Flinders discovered that it was actually an island.
At 280m and 264m Mount Tempest and the nearby Storm Mountain are the largest coastal sandhills in the world. Only in Iran do coastal sandhills come close to these.
Aboriginal Australians are known to have occupied the island for at least 2000 years. The first European settlement was in 1848. There are only four small habitations on the island, all on the western side (ie nearest to the mainland). The largest is at Tangalooma. At one point this was a whaling station, and up to eleven humpback whales per day were processed here, during their annual migration. Whaling ended in 1962, and the site is now the Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort. There is now a Marine Education and Conservation Centre here, and the area is noted for its wreck diving and dolphin feeding.
Tangalooma is the main access point to the island. There are regular passenger and vehicle ferry services, from Lytton and from Pinkenba, which are both near Brisbane. There are in fact no metalled roads on the island: all motor transport is by off-road (four wheel drive) vehicles. Moreton Island tours operate in these vehicles from Tangalooma, and from Bulwer (north west corner of the island). Some four wheeled drive vehicles operate as taxis on the island, and it is possible for visitors to bring their own vehicle by ferry. These vehicles can only be driven in certain parts of the island. Camping is also permitted in parts of Moreton Island. Permits should be obtained on the mainland before arrival.
There are numerous companies offering Moreton Island tours including Hooked On Moreton, Goanna Adventure Tours and Australia Day Tours. Goanna have tours lasting between one and three day tours. They also operate tours of Fraser Island, another, somewhat larger sand island to the north of Moreton Island. Tours usually depart from Brisbane Transit Centre, but can be joined at Tangalooma if you are already on the island.
Travellers in the tour party will enjoy and experience a wide variety of sights and activities during their trip. It should be possible to spot a number of marine species, including turtles, dugong and wild dolphins. Humpbacked whales may be seen during their migration season. The tour is by four wheeled drive vehicle, and will pass through the eucalyptus forests, and desert areas of Moreton Island before reaching the Eastern Beach and the Pacific Ocean. Tour activities include sand boarding and tobogganing on the sand hills, and guided snorkelling in the Tangalooma Wrecks (supervision by professional guide).
Moreton Island is a large sand island. It is rather long and thin, stretching 38 km from north to south, but just 8km wide at its widest point. It covers an area of 170 square kilometers, and is 58 kilometres north-east of Brisbane, in the Australian state of Queensland.
The only rock outcrop on this island of sand is Cape Moreton at the north eastern tip of the island. The lighthouse there was built by convicts. Captain James Cook, the British explorer, sailed past here in 1770. Believing that the area was part of the Australia mainland he named the point Cape Morton (the spelling changed to Moreton later, apparently through a transcription error). In 1799 Matthew Flinders discovered that it was actually an island.
At 280m and 264m Mount Tempest and the nearby Storm Mountain are the largest coastal sandhills in the world. Only in Iran do coastal sandhills come close to these.
Aboriginal Australians are known to have occupied the island for at least 2000 years. The first European settlement was in 1848. There are only four small habitations on the island, all on the western side (ie nearest to the mainland). The largest is at Tangalooma. At one point this was a whaling station, and up to eleven humpback whales per day were processed here, during their annual migration. Whaling ended in 1962, and the site is now the Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort. There is now a Marine Education and Conservation Centre here, and the area is noted for its wreck diving and dolphin feeding.
Tangalooma is the main access point to the island. There are regular passenger and vehicle ferry services, from Lytton and from Pinkenba, which are both near Brisbane. There are in fact no metalled roads on the island: all motor transport is by off-road (four wheel drive) vehicles. Moreton Island tours operate in these vehicles from Tangalooma, and from Bulwer (north west corner of the island). Some four wheeled drive vehicles operate as taxis on the island, and it is possible for visitors to bring their own vehicle by ferry. These vehicles can only be driven in certain parts of the island. Camping is also permitted in parts of Moreton Island. Permits should be obtained on the mainland before arrival.
There are numerous companies offering Moreton Island tours including Hooked On Moreton, Goanna Adventure Tours and Australia Day Tours. Goanna have tours lasting between one and three day tours. They also operate tours of Fraser Island, another, somewhat larger sand island to the north of Moreton Island. Tours usually depart from Brisbane Transit Centre, but can be joined at Tangalooma if you are already on the island.
Travellers in the tour party will enjoy and experience a wide variety of sights and activities during their trip. It should be possible to spot a number of marine species, including turtles, dugong and wild dolphins. Humpbacked whales may be seen during their migration season. The tour is by four wheeled drive vehicle, and will pass through the eucalyptus forests, and desert areas of Moreton Island before reaching the Eastern Beach and the Pacific Ocean. Tour activities include sand boarding and tobogganing on the sand hills, and guided snorkelling in the Tangalooma Wrecks (supervision by professional guide).
About the Author:
Home to a number of Queenslands most creative authors the Gold Coast Accommodation is home to this enormously well known of regional writers. Charlie Lindsay is Queensland to the bone, from his outdated ute through to his trusty four-legged friend.
