Australia, Moreton Island 31/05/14

We headed straight to Moreton Island from North Stradbroke, motoring the whole way and cursing the lack of wind. I guess you can't really have the perfect weather of Queensland AND the crazy winds of Wellington. I am beginning to hate motoring even more though. We've been using our new outboard constantly as well, due to big shallow areas everywhere that uncover at low tide - at high tide, there's a really long way to go. So the solution is always an engine.

We got into the anchorage at night, which is always stressful. You're surrounded by anchor lights, not sure how big the boats are or where their anchor is sitting. We snuck into a good spot though, right on the edge of where the depth dropped right down. Translation - as close as possible to the shore.


We lazed around in the morning then moseyed on over to the shore. The sand dunes were high, and spread out as far as we could see. We awkwardly shuffled up a steep slope of fine sand, which reminded me very much of hiking through powder on the ski slopes. The climb wasn't quite as rewarding as a run down on fresh snow, but we were met with a brilliant view.


The dunes just went up and up, spreading out in front of us for miles. Sam wandered down to inspect some trees and soon became a little dot in the distance. They were even bigger than they looked. We climbed to the top of the closest hill, hoping for a better view. We could just spot the South Pacific Ocean in the distance, but we weren't at the top. So we kept climbing.




The view was astounding as we got higher. You could see all the contours in the water, with different shades of blue making brilliant patterns all across the bay. Then in the other direction were rolling hills, with only a few adventurous footprints to show that we weren't the only people on the planet.




We found a shady spot under a tree and the boys went ferral. Like little kids who had stumbled upon their own giant personal sand pit. At first Garth was just making little avalanches in the slope by disturbing the sand and watching it all flow down like water. Then Sam started drawing patterns in the sand. Cue jumping competitions down the hills, long jump experiments and making funny patterns with their feet.



Then Garth decided that he had to dig a hole. A really big hole. He made a big cave and was shocked when it didn't collapse. Then he became obsessed with making a tunnel to the other side, even though Sam explained that it was impossible due to science reasons. He didn't care. He eventually gave up and collapsed in his hole, satisfied, like a king on his throne overseeing his subjects.



Our sand exploration ended with us running down the giant hills to the bottom. Some kids appeared with boards and they came flying down after us. They got up so much speed! We really, really wanted to play too but didn't want to wreck our body boards.
I dumped both of the boys in the water to wash off the sand before they were allowed back on the boat. We ended up going snorkelling in the shallows that afternoon, seeing as Sam hadn't done it before. There were lots of starfish, but not much else!

When we got back on the dinghy this shag was waiting for us on the bow. He didn't fly off straight away and I managed to get a few pictures. I was just glad his rear end was over the water and not over our deck!




The sunset that afternoon was stunning. I showed Garth this picture and his response was "That's pretty! But it doesn't REALLY look like that, does it?" I made him look outside and he took that comment back pretty quickly!



Xxx Monique