We went on another camping trip with our friends, Madeleine and Joschka (Volker was ill at home). Madeleine suggested Moreton Island since it is close to Brisbane (the ferry is 1/2 hour from our house and the ferry ride is 1 1/4 hours). Moreton Island is a national park so we figured the camping would be pretty good. After further inquiry, we also discovered that some campsites were within meters of the boat landing. Sounded like a good trip with toddlers in tow.
Tim agreed to come along despite his dislike of sand. As it turned out, the trip was awful for Tim but I was thankful for his presence: unlike Joschka, Max would have been difficult for me to handle on my own at the times when I had to juggle gear and him. Unfortunately for Tim, the flies were pretty bad and, unfortunately for all of us, since driving is allowed on all beaches in Queensland, we had a major thoroughfare on the beach near our campsite around the times of the ferry landing. We all agreed that we would not camp at that spot again. (Oh and Tim had a sore back so he wasn't walking very well).
Despite the beach traffic, I had a good time. It was a hot couple of days so the beach was the perfect place to be. Max loved walking in the water and along the beach. I've heard the snorkeling is spectacular at the Tangalooma Wrecks (where we camped) but we didn't have proper gear to swim out to the reef.
There were a lot of group tours in "safari vehicles" (they reminded me of Tanzania). When these groups departed the ferry, they immediately parked on the beach in front of our campsite so the tourists could snorkel at the wrecks. In some ways, that would be the best way to see the island since one needs a 4-wheel-drive vehicle or a boat to reach most places. I heard that some of the inland lakes are gorgeous, but it is highly unlikely that we'd make it that far with toddlers.
I took this picture as we were leaving. I climbed that sand embankment so I could see what the center of the island looked like (forest). Kids rode their boogie boards, wooden boards, and even cardboard down the embankment although they didn't usually walk all of the way to the top. It's hard work walking uphill in sand!
This isn't a particularly good picture (my links above provide a few better ones) but it shows the area where we camped. The shipwrecks were towed to this place to creat the reef. I think there were three big ones in total. The actual campsites were located in the forest about 40 meters from the beach.
The Micat unloading cars at the Tangalooma Wrecks. There was very little beach at the time so the cars couldn't go more than 200 meters down the beach.
Max enjoying a beach walk.
He wanted to wear the headlamp.
Ahh...naptime. Actually, I had to take a walk with him in the backpack to lull him to sleep. Fortunately, we were able to transfer him to the tent. He slept for 3 hours!
Balancing: Joschka was particularly good at this. He fetched Max from down the beach to show him this feat. Pretty cute.
Those are the wrecks in the background.
One of the wrecks in the background. Max fell in a tire rut in the foreground :-( One of the many boats that docked for the day (some stayed overnight) in front of the wrecks. They had the best set up for snorkeling.
It's hard to see but Max and Joschka are holding hands. Joschka came to fetch Max then Max took the lead dragging Joschka to the shore. Joschka is not much for holding hands so this was definitely a kodak moment.
Max and I playing in the water.
Destroying sand castles
Burying Joschka (Tim is in the background)
I don't think any of these pictures captured the beautiful colors of the water. It was very clear and became blue-green in the shallower regions then bright blue in the deeper areas. The beach was a gorgeous white sand. Can you believe how close we live to a place like this? It felt like we should have been on vacation somewhere.
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