Moreton Island Brisbane

One of the glories of Brisbane is Moreton Bay with its quirky islands called by strange names like Goat Island, and Saint Helena’s Island (a terrible prison that would send a shiver up the stoutest spine) with their strange and often macabre histories. So luckily Moreton Island is not one of them.

Moreton Island, like Bribie Island just a little west of Moreton Island has a surf side and a calm side and is one of the most beloved tourist destinations for locals and international visitor’s to Brisbane. Moreton Island is 95% national park and development there is restricted to three small villages and Tangalooma Resort where from June through to November a visitor can watch the migration of humpback whales as they make their way to other, more appropriate places throughout the world’s oceans. Moreton Island also has herds of Dugongs (sea cows) that eat the sea grass on the bay floor and Moreton Island is the only place where a person is allowed to hand feed Bottlenose dolphins.

Moreton Island is a 75 minute trip from Brisbane and rests about 40 kilometres from the heart of the city. A Micat catamaran leaves the Holt Street Wharf at Pinkenba throughout the day to make the trip.

Moreton Island is the second largest sand island in the world and is home to the largest stable sand dune anywhere where a visitor can toboggan down the slopes of the thing at their own peril. Often described by tourists as a natural playground,

Moreton Island has several fresh water lagoons and is home to both native and feral wildlife that break the silence of the place at night with their otherworldly calls. Wildflowers carpet the island in their native beauty giving the island a relaxed and uplifting feel. While the old lighthouse built above Cape Moreton on the far northern end of Moreton Island still shines brightly after it was first ‘lit’ in 1857.
But, like all beautiful areas, Moreton Island has to be protected. So here are the two most important ones. You have to get a camping permit before you live Brisbane to stay there, and if you are taking a car (only a 4WD will do because the roads are sand) than you need a registration permit for that as well.