A Blissful Week on North Stradbroke Island

About 30 kilometres out to sea, past the mangroves and brown, bastardised beaches of Brisbane, there’s an island with some real beaches, good beaches. This island – which is the second largest sand island in the world – is called North Stradbroke Island, or “Straddie” by the locals. Luckily for Brisbanites, there’s regular ferries from Cleveland that get you to this sandy paradise in around 30 minutes.

After parking our car onto the ferry, we soaked up the last rays of light from the top deck. Life was good as I slurped on a cold beer to celebrate the start of our journey. Of course I had expectations about my destination. I would soon find out that North Stradbroke Island is much bigger than I’d thought, the beaches are nicer and it’s a top spot to do very little and not feel even a tad guilty about it.

Not so long ago, however, Stradbroke Island was even bigger. You see we were currently headed towards the larger and more diverse of the island’s two pieces. Back in 1896, a rather severe storm severed Stradbroke Island in two, creating the Jumpinpin Channel and both North and South Stradbroke Island.

Still a good-sized chunk of sand, North Stradbroke Island is 38 kilometres long, 11 kilometres wide and has three townships – Dunwich, Amity Point and Point Lookout. After alighting from our boat at Dunwich and watching the sun disappear behind Ron Stark Oval, we drove to our apartment at Point Lookout, where some serious lazing was about to commence.

I wasn’t too fussed about rushing around and seeing the sights, as we were with friends and between us we had three kids. Furthermore, our apartment was top-notch. Beers were drunk, the pool was heartily embraced and every morning and afternoon was spent on our lofty balcony, appreciating what were surely some of the finest views in North Straddie. It took me three days to step outside our apartment – it was so nice – but when I did, I managed to have a decent look at what the island had to offer.

Things to See and Do – North Stradbroke Island

Point Lookout

Point Lookout is the island’s major tourist destination and its population swells like a hydrogen balloon in the summer. Here you’ll find kangaroos standing around town looking cool (and slightly menacing). I’ve seen a few roos in my time, but nowhere have I seen them embracing urban life like they do in North Straddie – grandstanding out the front of houses or in the local park. Here’s your chance to get that kangaroo snap you’ve always wanted.

There’s also a nice walk here called the North Gorge Walk, which hugs the coastline and loops back toward the shops. It’s a mere 1.5 kilometres long, can be done in around 45 leisurely minutes and affords nice views over the handsome coastline. Hot tip – upon return, the girls and food at the Oceanic Gelati and Coffee Bar are just lovely. Tillers Cafe Pantry is worth a stop if you can get a seat. Avoid Fishes at the Point as the food is overpriced and tastes like it was cooked on the mainland and ferried over.

The North Gorge Walk skirts some picturesque beaches such as South Gorge. There’s also a plaque on the trail which tells you the number 49 Radar Station once operated here from 1943 to 1946 as part of Australia’s defence during WWII.

Cylinder Beach

Further towards Amity Point is Cylinder Beach, where I spent a couple of magnificent beach lazing days. Even my spoilt beach self – which grew up in Sydney, lived near Western Australia’s bewitching coastline and spent the last six years lounging in Byron Bay – was impressed by what was on offer. Everyone on a beach holiday wants a day of smooth, translucent water and luminous blue sky, perhaps with a pod of dolphins thrown in. Well I got all of that plus a superb headland walk and a quick snorkel at Cylinder Beach.

Cane Toad Racing

First-rate slothing aside, one of my most memorable experiences on North Stradbroke Island was watching frog racing. Now I’m not much of a gambler, but as we were on the island during the country’s most illustrious horse race – The Melbourne Cup – a friend and I decided to head down to the Stradbroke Island Beach Hotel for a flutter. After losing $20 in a jovial environment, I turned my head to see the island’s cane toad racing on the patio.

If it was to be a proper day of debauchery and moral degradation, I was in. Keen to see some more animals whipped into submission, I watched people bet on frogs in the vain hope theirs would hop across the outer circle first. There was a fair bit of money exchanged, the kids were entertained and the locals were in their element. You’ll get a better idea by watching the pre-race video below, where folk bet over $100 on these maligned crusaders.

Honourable Mentions

Other reputedly interesting places we didn’t have time for include the Blue Lake (not far from the Brown Lake) and a curious little place called 18 Mile Swamp. I say curious as it’s the largest of its kind in the world and there’s a few people that fervently believe the swamp holds a Portuguese shipwreck dating to the 17th-century, which of course would turn Australian history on its head.

Aboriginal oral history mentions early sightings of a wreck in the vicinity and at least one old artefact has been found there – a coin allegedly dating to 1597. While I like exploring the unknown, I decided not to go traipsing around a snake infested swamp searching for old treasure. Unfortunately the swamp is threatened by sand mining, which is one of the island’s main industries.

Have you been to North Stradbroke Island? Did you visit the Blue Lake or anything else I’ve missed?