macy

Hello,

We are going over to North Stradbroke for the day as a foot passenger and wondered if anybody had any do/don'ts, we are thinking of getting an early ferry, hopefully pick up a bus near the ferry terminal and spend the day exploring the island. Is there a secure park where you can leave your car all day long ? Thanks Macy

LouiseR

Having just been to Straddie I wouldn't go without a car...

We took our 4x4 and it was great fun! There's not much there in the way of shops, the odd place to get a fridge magnet and a sandwich. Few pubs and things but if you want to explore you're either going to need a car or book a day tour with a company.

We did 5 days there and it was ace. Looking to go back for a weekend later in the year.

asprilla

Taking a car or a 4wd is definitely the preferred option for straddie. A 4wd is nice to have, if you want to go up and down the beach and do some surf fishing, camping or just some exploring. But with a car you can still drive over to the surf side and take a walk around main beach. Just don't drive your car onto the sand, unless you want to get stuck there.

With a car you can go to brown lake and blue lake. But these aren't really spectacular tourist destinations.

The main places, dunwich, amity point and point lookout are all accessible by bus. However that doesn't mean that your day trip to straddie on foot, will be easy. If you really don't want to take the car, I'd recommend that you phone up the ferry company, the bus company etc... and ask them for specifics about your day trip. Things to do and see.. and how to get there.

I've only been across to Straddie once by foot, but many times by 4wd and car. The one time I went by foot, was to fish off the rocks by the sandpumping station at dunwich. That spot is approx 50metres walk from the ferry.

There are lots of nice spots around straddie...cylinder beach, the straddie hotel, the gorge, the fish n chip shop etc etc... realistically you can't get between these very easily by foot, especially if you're carrying all sorts of gear.


Don't let all this put you off going. Straddie and moreton island aren't easy to get to....and that is a good thing.

LouiseR

I was emailed this this morning.Might be of interest to you...

http://www.scoopon.com.au/deals/2224...-tour-more-113

gmralston

We went in a normal car not a 4x4 so missed out on most of the island, had seen all we could by midday and were bored by 3pm. I was tempted to see how the old corolla would cope on the 4x4 only roads but didn't risk it. . The beaches are nice but the sea was too rough to swim in that day and there was bugger all else to do, we are not the sunbathing kind.

DeadVim

That looks alright that, I might take the kid over during the Easter school holiday.

Not been over yet.

JackTheLad

Straddie is like taking a 30 year step back in time in my opinion. Yes of course beautiful beaches, but sod all else. No mobile phone connection, no broadband, no decent restaurants. In fact to sum it up there is bugger all to do unless you enjoy surfing or being eating by sharks or driving over sand in a 4x4.

I'm about to send my in-laws there for a few days. But that is purely coincidental.

Seriously though, it's a fairly dead-end boring place. The lack of any technology like mobile phones or Foxtel or even decent reception on freeTV made it seem like the 1970's.

JTL

asprilla

That trip goes to South Stradbroke.. I've never been there either.

DeadVim

No technology, no phones ... You're not discouraging me ...

irishbloo

Sounds bliss.

LouiseR

It really was bliss I had no signal for 5 days and the reception on the tv was bad... But we played cards, drank wine, watched the sunset, had a laugh.

I wouldn't hesitate to spend a few more days there. Yes we enjoy 4x4'ing so it was a bonus that we could do that.

Cylinder beach is a real family friendly beach, our 1 year old and 2 year old toddled on the sand and splashed in the sea, wasn't too rough for them.

In fact I might start planning the next trip!!

asprilla

Lots of dud info in your post. Are you talking about south stradbroke ?!!

Broadband : Dunwich only has ADSL1. Amity Point and Point Lookout are both on ADSL2+, via fibre connection to mainland.

Mobile phones : telstra reception is fine, optus is average to poor, vodafone I'm not sure about, but probably poor too. In Point Lookout (and I think in Amity Point) you can get testra nextg, which means fast downloads to your mobile.

Foxtel : I think you get the picture by now. You can get this over there too.




Having said that ....With regard to restaurants, things to do etc... It certainly isn't comparable to London or Paris.

DeadVim

We've got a Subaru Outback, not a true 4wd in the Landcruiser sense of the word but it still has higher ground clearance and low-range, do you think this would help or is it really a hardcore 4x4 kind of place?

macy

Thanks for that, we might leave our visit until the Easter Hols, we were meant to be going on Sunday but the weather isn't too great at the moment for the weekend. We went to Coochie years ago and that really was a step back in time.... thanks for the advice it looks like a lovely place...

fish.01

Have you guys seen the dolphins that swim at amity point jetty every night? People grab a glass of wine and go and wait for them.