Stradbroke Island

So Chris was with us for a few days and taking advantage of the fact that the rain has now cleared up we kept ourselves busy.

On Friday before meeting up with Chris we went to see the Bourne Ultimatum which was quite good, if headache inducing with the shaky hand held camera style of the film.

We had a quiet time Friday night and on Saturday set off for Stradbroke Island. We only got lost once on the way and that was due to proper attention not being payed to road signs. Actually it's not all that far, but still we were resigned to missing the midday water taxi as we rolled up at 12:05, only to find another taxi company had a service operating at 12.30.

The water taxi was a closed-in catamaran type affair and went like the clappers. Eloise jumped around shouting "This is fun! This is fast!" and the floor bucked and wobbled beneath her.

Half an hour later we were in Dunwich on Stradbroke Island and immediately got on a bus to Point Lookout which was about another twenty minutes.

The weather was lovely and sunny, and out of the wind quite warm. In the wind (which was quite strong and blowing right off the Pacific Ocean) it was pretty cold!

We found a sheltered spot in a cove to eat our packed lunch then went for a little toddle up Main Beach which was aborted as it really was blowing a gale and we didn't much want to get sandblasted.

Our options were to take our chances at Cylinder Beach (where swimming was permitted so it couldn't be too windy could it) or get a coffee and gelato.

So after we'd finished our ice cream we climbed down a rather impressive wooden stair for a few hundred feet to Frenchman's Beach where we walked up a bit, but continued to be sand blasted. Eloise had a hoot climbing the dunes and Chris managed to lose his sandals after chasing her up to the top. He had to go back for them and luckily found them; he'd only bought them the day before.

We made it back onto the bus at 5 and caught the water taxi back at 5.30.

Apart from the wind part it was actually really nice. In sheltered spots it was very warm. The beaches were unspoilt and the sea turbulent and impressive. We'll go back one day when things aren't quite so blowy.