while not null: North Stradbroke Island

Sunday, September 29, 2013

North Stradbroke Island

North Stradbroke, known locally as Straddie is the biggest of the 3 major islands around Moreton Bay. The other two are: Moreton and Bribie.

To get there you can catch a ferry from Cleveland, a suburb of Brisbane, to Dunwich, a port in North Straddie. A return ticket for a passenger car costs $140 - that includes passengers. The trip lasts 45 minutes one way.

The Big Red Cat ferry approaching the Cleveland terminal. Stradbroke Ferries could tidy the place up.

Red Ensign flying - check out the flags from 1901-1909.

On the island you can get an unpowered camping site for 3 nights for about $200 for a family of 5. We stayed in Adder Rock in Point Lookout. In our area we found: a kitchen area with 4 electric grills, 2 sinks with hot water, 4 double 240V power points, toilets, showers, and two small playgrounds. There were outdoor showers near the beach. We had almost no mozzies during our stay.

I tried to make pancakes on the grill - not easy. I ended up covering the hole in the middle of the grill with dough, then pouring oil there, then the mix, then spreading the mix outside. Still without being able to control the temperature - the grill just turns on at full power for a few minutes at a time - it's hard to use. The pancakes did not look good, but the kids devoured them.

Fried tomatoes did not go well either. They turned out burned (the oil flows down to the drain hole in the centre) and not cooked thoroughly. We ate them anyway. That's camping life.