North Stradbroke Island

A Mangrove island in Moreton Bay. North Stradbroke Island in the background.


Pandanus. Cliff face, North Stradbroke Island.


Male pandanus in flower. North Stradbroke Island.


Pandanus & Casuarina. North Stradbroke Island.

Used the satnav to get myself to the North Stradbroke Island ferry terminal, yesterday.

My first taste of ocean water since coming up to Queensland. Swam regardless of the beach being closed, but with great care. I don't believe that there was no safe place to swim on Main Beach. In the end we swam in where it was probably far more dangerous. In a little narrow gorge with a very strong sideways and outwards pull. So I simply lay down in water about a foot deep and let the lovely incoming waves break over me.

Mainly took photos of the beach casuarinas and the pandanus. And saw for the first time that pandanus are dioecious. I find it really hard to find good botanical reference material on the web. So I haven't managed to track down the pandanus species despite it being found on every Queensland beach..

The mangrove island photograph was taken from the ferry jetty at Cleveland, with North Stradbroke Island in the background. Part of what makes Moreton Bay a water-bird refuge. It is truly an amazing bay. (Huge, and that is what makes finding a decent beach close to Brisbane virtually impossible.)

More chirpy

Pandanus. Gorge Walk, North Stradbroke Island.


Casuarinas. Gorge Walk, North Stradbroke Island.


Pathway. Gorge Walk, North Stradbroke Island.


Pathway. Gorge Walk, North Stradbroke Island.

On Sunday, I took myself off to Cleveland to get to Stradbroke Island. The train journey was long & tedious (nearly an hour, with the train stopping all stations), and by the time I found myself at the busstop, I was starting to wonder why I had come. But there was a sign at the busstop which gave a telephone number and advertised a free bus service to the Stradbroke flyer.

Well, the next departure for Stradbroke Island was in roughly an hour, but the bus came by and picked me up and it was a pleasant wait at the down-at-heel ferry service. It had already that island air where people busy themselves with island things and tourists are necessary nuisances. No information needs to be given: the locals know and the tourists will find out as the island time and processes take them in hand. (I'll go again, but probably not by train.)