After having travelled down the coast from Cairns to Sydney back in 1997 and done the major tourist things then (namely - Fraser Island and the Whitsundays), I'm trying to get off the tourist track a little bit, although that has been a bit hard considering the entire east coast of Australia is very beautiful, and therefore, very touristy. My original thought for my time in Brisbane was to go to Moreton Island, which has been described as a mini - Fraser Island. After investigating a little further, I found out Moreton Island has NO paved roads, and if you don't have a 4 wheel drive vehicle the only place you can stay is a little resort on the southwest side of the island where they will shuttle you to and from the different sights. I was looking for something a little more independant, so I chose to go to North Stradbroke, which is just south of Moreton - still touristy, but mostly local Australian Tourists, rather than "Super tourists" as Corinna called them.

The ferry dropped off at Dunwich, on the western side of the island. I was told by the information booth that Point Lookout was the best place to go and that I could ride my bike the 25 km there along a paved, relatively flat, road. About half way there, I decided that on the way back, I was DEFINATELY taking the bus. I would not call that ride "relatively flat."

I found a hostel, dropped my stuff off (took a little nap - I was pretty tired after the "flat" ride) and headed up toward the Point. There was a walk along the coast that overlooked a gorge and I spent the afternoon watching dolphins swimming and looking for whales. I didn't see any whales, even though other people reported seeing several. There were lots of beaches along the coast, I watched the sunset from a beach called Deadmans Beach, which was about 5 minutes from the hostel where I was staying. Very nice sunset over the water...

The next morning I relaxed on the beach for a few hours before catching the ferry back to the mainland. When I got back, I organized to rent a car for a few days so I could do the scuba dive at Julian Rocks at Byron Bay and I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening hanging out with Darcy, Corinna, and their two kids, Jasper and Matilda (or Baby Tilda - as Jasper calls her).