Moreton Island Idyll

Nelson bagged us a steal of deal and we 'escaped the fake' for a precious few days of desert-island-idyll-ing on Moreton.

We glamped, at fab little place called Castaways, up towards the North end of the island. It was great. Nice beds, en suite, outdoor communal kitchen equipped with fridges, hob and huge great gas fuelled barbecues.

There is a catch though - you need a 4WD vehicle if you want to get around the independently. It's a sand island (the third largest in the world as it happens) with no roads, just beach and a network of sandy tracks.

You can 'walk-on walk-off' the ferry and book transfers and tours etc, but having your own vehicle gives you independence, and most importantly means you can seek out your own little slice of serenity.

Like this.

Or maybe this.

..and we came across this...some sort of whale skull, maybe a southern right whale. It had a distinctly oily whiff. 

So, there were definitely FOUR of us on this trip. Nelson, his gorgeous girl, me....

...and Nelson's trusty 4.2 Patrol.  I'm convinced Patrol enjoyed the trip as much, if not more, than we did. 

And I now know just a little bit about the dark art of off-roading and the mysteries of the diff - to lock or not to lock, that is the question (apparently).

We also visited the Blue Lagoon, a 'tea-tree' infused lake, which despite being within spitting distance of the sea, is fresh water. So fresh it actually tasted sweet. Lovely to swim in. The sea is good, but fresh water lake swimming is delicious.

And we snorkelled Tangalooma wrecks. I wouldn't normally subject an unsuspecting public to photos of me in my swimmers, but this picture also includes the ferry 'docking' on the beach. No jetty, no quay, just beach. You simply drive off. Bonkers, and totally brilliant.

We managed to fit in two snorkelling sessions over our three days. 

Now, that water looks pretty friendly, perfectly nice for snorkelling you'd think. But I'm not ashamed to confess that the second time we went I had a mildly traumatic experience. Despite the seemingly calm sea - and we're talking barely a ripple to be seen - there was a very swift along-shore current sweeping between the wrecks and the beach. 

This is what the wrecks look like this from the air.  

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/07/the-tangalooma-wrecks-of-moreton-island.html

Beautiful. And deceptive. Admittedly I'm a bit of a cowardy custard these days - not nearly so young or fit as I once was, a rather sobering aspect of this otherwise wonderful trip - but the current was sweeping everyone very quickly from the right to the left, and even out into the open bay. 

Clearly, I made it back safe and sound, but only with a lot of calm and comforting encouragement from Nelson: to swim steadily, and sideways to the current. The gigantic fins helped. The sea is scary. I'm very very glad I did it, but not entirely sure it was all unadulterated fun...

The snorkelling was pretty fabulous though. Lots and lots of all sorts of colourful fish, and a spotty moray eel peeping out of his hidey-hole: quite a wee one, but still exciting. 

(Nelson did take some Go Pro footage. If I can figure out how to embed video then I will.)