Finally the time to get excited about Moreton Island arrived, car packed and early start managed, we set off on our 950km journey to the coast. Aside from a couple of toilet break stops and grabbing some food we did the whole journey in one to get it out of the way, although we did have a slightly longer stop in Toowoomba to do some well deserved shopping! Finally we made it to Brisbane where we stayed with friends for a night, indulging in an amazing Indian takeaway, the first good one I’ve had since I arrived, Australia, Indian food is not your strong point.
The next day we met Amy and Joe at Amy’s parents place, before heading to Indooroophilly Shopping Centre, to spend a ridiculous amount of money in a very short space of time, I felt like I hadn’t seen decent shops in years! We had a great meal in the evening at Belo…. Tavern, the Chicken and Pesto Linguine is amazing, we probably didn’t need the entrée tower that we ordered as well, eyes bigger than our bellies…
Another early start the next morning and we arrived at Port Brisbane, ready to catch the Micat barge over to Moreton, with a ridiculous amount of stuff with us plus a puppy, it wasn’t the smoothest of operations. We were picked up at The Wrecks on Moreton by Amy’s dad Gary, and then carted all our belongings to their beautiful holiday home, overlooking the beach on the western side of the island.
There were a fair few of us staying over the New Year, in tents, camper trailers, bunk beds and even the kitchen, here’s a quick break down of the whole gang; Mum (Maz), Dad (Gaz), Amy and her sister Mel, Joe and Anthony (Mel’s friend), Robin and John (family friends), plus their kids Mick, Tom, Jess and Tom’s girlfriend Nikkita, myself and Sam, and finally Kay and Richard, more family friends. Needless to say cooking for that many people each day was a pretty big operation!
The first day was spent going for a drive round the island to see the sights and relaxing on the beach, plus a fair amount of drinking and catching up with each other too. Everyone was really friendly which was lovely, we even had a bit of an afternoon nap which I haven’t done in forever, what a way to spend your holiday! The evening was spent doing a bit more drinking and playing cricket on the beach, hello stereo typical aussie summer!
The next morning Gary took us on a trip along the beach up to the lighthouse, before we headed to Champagne Pools and Honeymoon Bay, everything is so pretty on Moreton Island! Another huge BBQ and a few drinks later and we were playing a ridiculous game of consequences which was so much fun.
The big New Years Eve arrived and although the weather wasn’t great we took a big walk down to the Wrecks to go snorkelling, so many incredible fish in the ocean there, and the wrecks themselves are amazing. We tried to take a walk down to Tangalooma resort but they’d started a new scheme where you had to apply for a day pass the day before to enable you to get in! Totally ridiculous and everyone was pretty cranky about it understandably, even more cranky by the time we’d walked all the way back to the house at Cowen Cowen! At least we got some exercise that day!
After a quick afternoon nap everyone got dressed up before watching the sunset on the beach. I think most of our time was spent taking ridiculous amounts of photos! We brought the new year in with a fire on the beach, lots of alcohol, BBQ food and dancing to Chicken Fried, such a great night and an amazing way to start 2016!
New Years Day was our last day on the island unfortunately but we spent it tanning on the beach, swimming in the ocean and kayaking, plus of course watching one last sunset. So lucky to have had the opportunity to go on such a great trip with an amazing group of people… Thank you Moreton Island and the Gibson and Crear families for an incredible New Year.
