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Moreton Island report

Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 15:01

Bware (Tweed Valley)

Article Overview - Moreton Island
Another fantastic day or weekend trek from Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. Only a short trip by ferry and you're surrounded by beautiful beaches, wonderful scenery and great beach driving. A true city escape. View Full Article...
We returned on the 7th of November having spent 10 nights at this wonderful place; no wonder the locals want to keep it a secret! Many of the threads I read for research about Moreton contained replies and follow-ups about the plagues of sandflies and monster tiger sharks and that it would be a horrible place to visit LOL

The price to go there is a little prohibitive; the ferry cost, camping fees and vehicle permit fees for 4 adults, 2 kids (one under 5 was free) and 2 vehicles amounted to $766.70. Spreading that cost over 10 days isnt too bad but I was amazed at the amount of people that came and went for only a few days while we were there. The ferry was $190 return, vehicle permit was $37.10 and camping was $3.50 per person, so a weekend for two would be $241.10. If you tow a trailer I think it was an extra $160.

It has been mentioned before that there is no fuel available anymore, but as an update, the Micat newsletter mentioned discussions with the council to be able to supply small containers of fuel for emergency situations. There is no plan to re-open the service station. This is a bit of a bummer as there is also a rule that you are not permitted to carry more than 50 litres of fuel in approved containers in any developed campsite (does that mean you can carry more than 50 litres in unapproved containers? LOL). The definition of a developed campsite is unclear; even the beach camping has bollards around the perimeter, if these are considered developed then basically it means all campsites. This is part of the vehicle permit. So if you plan to stay there for 10 nights or more you need to be frugal with your driving. Before going to Moreton I filled the sub tank and main tank of the 80 series in Murwillumbah. I didnt keep a record of kms travelled etc, but Brisbane isnt that far and while on the island we camped at Ben-Ewa and did three touring trips; across Middle Road up to Blue Lagoon and Honey-eater Lake across Blue Lagoon-Bulwer Rd and back down the Western beach. 2nd was across Middle Road down the Eastern beach and across to Kooringal and return. The 3rd trip was up to Cape Moreton via Bulwer and North Point. There were ice runs every second day up to Bulwer which isnt far. By the time we drove back onto the ferry I had run the sub tank down to the empty line but before the fuel light came on and the main tank was down to just above the line. If I had filled up at the servo before leaving Brisbane it would have made a difference but even so, if you wanted to stay there for a fortnight or more your driving would be limited.

High tide on day one was when we got off the ferry just before 10am and by the last day it was late in the afternoon getting back on the ferry so most of our driving was done in soft sand. No boggings though; on the trip over I let the tyres down to 18 psi and have always found using low range in the diesel in 2nd and 3rd the least troublesome unless of course it is easy going then high range works fine. I eventually let the tyres down to 15 and thought it didn’t seem to make much difference until I realised after a few km’s I still had the handbrake on LOL . Saw some boggings but pretty sure they were all due to high tyre pressures. One bloke got bogged coming down from the inland track onto the beach; how you get bogged going down hill is beyond me. Worse still there was a vehicle in front of it and one behind it with snatch straps attached; I left that one alone….

Having been to Fraser Island a few times I would say that Moreton is better. But that is my opinion; less tourist buses, less hired troopies blocking the tracks, the campgrounds were pretty tame on the weekend and there is a limit to numbers camped at any one time. We were camped not far from the ferry landing point and every day we would see the off-load of vehicles and no one would enter our campground and it seemed they disappeared and we virtually didn’t see anyone else other than a few others camped at the same campground unless we went to the general store or on the weekend.

Moreton has a bit of everything for everyone; there is a resort to stay at or visit, loads of wildlife, beautiful scenery, snorkelling, fishing, calm waters for families, history etc. A magic place that I would definitely return to.

Here is a glimpse of what you are missing....







Did I mention the plagues of sandflies and the monster tiger sharks? LOL

regards

Brian








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"The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking" - J.K.Galbraith


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AnswerID: 335919   Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 15:39

chisel replied:

A special place for sure. Just a couple of minor things - camping is $4.85 per person per night (did you manage a discount somehow??).
Taking a trailer on the micat is another $190.
The campsites on the eastern beach don't have bollards. I don't think any of the beach camping would be designated as developed.

Definitely going to be a few people running out of fuel over there without the servo!!

Yeah and terrible, terrible sandflies ... all the time :-))

Reply 1 of 4
FollowupID: 603585   Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 16:02

Bware (Tweed Valley) posted:

No discount; I don't know anyone in high places ;-)
I stand corrected; I don't know where I got $3.50 from. I was calculating backward from the total cost and probably didn't account for GST or something.

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"The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking" - J.K.Galbraith


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AnswerID: 335921   Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 15:52

Sea-Dog replied:

I absolutely love Moreton Island and have many fond memories of camping there from when I was a teenager and when the kids were younger.... these days however I simply cannot afford the totally unjustifyable cost just to get the car and camper over there.

The fuel would be an issue if you didn't bring any extra with you but I agree that it is a beautiful place and having a petrol station right in the middle of it just doesn't make that much sense.

I always preferred Moreton over Inskip, Teewah and Fraser for the simple reason you stated... not as many people which in turn means not as many knobs who seem intent on spoiling everyone elses camping trip.

Good to hear you had a top trip and nice to see a couple of photos to bring back some memories..

PS.. the last time I was there the sandflies nearly flew off with us .... seriously!
Reply 2 of 4
FollowupID: 603588   Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 16:10

Bware (Tweed Valley) posted:

The sandflies don't usually worry me but there was one day which was quite steamy and I was on the beach trying to take photos of dolphins that were only a few metres out. The sandflies were in my ears and nose and all the photos turned out blurry. The little buggers forced me to run for it LOL

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"The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking" - J.K.Galbraith


FollowUp 1 of 2
FollowupID: 603591   Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 16:13

Sea-Dog posted:

My kids have very fair hair and you could see all the blood squashed through it from them swatting at their heads all the time ha ha... and that isn't even mentioning the bloody big march flies having a crack at us too.
FollowUp 2 of 2
AnswerID: 335935   Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 17:10

Member - Shane D (QLD) replied:

Hi Bware,
I came back from Moreton on Sunday arvo , and YES I'm one of the IDIOTS who only stayed 3 days.
I've highlighted idiots because 3 days just wasn't enough, I had been there before and should've known better, but this time we wherestaying in the resort (wife organized this one) and the funds wouldn't stretch any further.
Here's a couple of my pics.
sunset from the villa
sunset from the villa


4.00 in the 4 arvo, waiting to board the Micat
4.00 in the 4 arvo, waiting to board the Micat

If you look in the sky, thats the storm clouds that wiped out parts of Brisbane on Sunday
A bit of rain, Micat steers straight into it
A bit of rain, Micat steers straight into it

This is what it looked like on the vehicle deck when we cruised in to the storm
Now thats rain!
Now thats rain!

This photo is time stamped 5:19PM, The captain of the Micat stopped because of poor visibility.
If you look VERY carefully, next to the head of the bloke in the photo, you will see a jetski !!!, Dude could not see land and had to follow the Micat, I don't blame him, as you can see you can't see ! ! ! !
Bribie Is
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Reply 3 of 4
FollowupID: 603617   Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 19:10

Bware (Tweed Valley) posted:

Great photos Shane, That bloke on the jetski must of had fun LOL

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"The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking" - J.K.Galbraith


FollowUp 1 of 1
AnswerID: 335938   Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 17:30

ExplorOz - David & Michelle replied:

Thanks Brian - great report - may I suggest that trip reports are best placed in Blogs? They will have a better longevity for future site users and you'll find them a little more flexible than the Forum. As a member having the blog space is part of the benefits and you'll be able to give the url to your blog to any other family/friends etc to read. it can still be interactive to take comments (members only). Your blog will automatically get a forum plug too (top of index page).
David & Michelle
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David (DM) & Michelle (MM)
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Reply 4 of 4
FollowupID: 603619   Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 19:13

Bware (Tweed Valley) posted:

Point taken. I was going to write something in more detail in a blog I just thought the current fuel situation was good info for the forum and then I got carried away!

cheers

Brian

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"The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking" - J.K.Galbraith


FollowUp 1 of 1
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