North Stradbroke Island was supposed to be beautiful, and when the sun came out it was. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen enough. As soon as you got yourselves out for a bike ride or something, it started raining. The copywriter for their website did a great job.

“North Stradbroke Island’s impressive headland walk North Gorge Walk is an absolute must do!  … views which are simply breathtaking. The clear waters make it easy to spot marine life including turtles, dolphins and manta rays, a treat in itself. It is also the best vantage point on the island to see the migrating humpback whales pass between the months of June and November.” 

Here’s what the water looked like when we were there…

Ha! It was a lovely brisk walk though…

I know I’m beginning to sound a bit like a scratched record by now, but hey – if there’s rain there’s rain.

It was an interesting wee place though. Erin’s sister was with us for the first few days and we visited Brown Lake. Brown because the surrounding vegetation is mostly tea trees, which over the millennia have leached into the water. We had a wee swim and it was a bit fresh, but nice.

Skye and I visited a drop toilet when we were there too, I think it was her first, and her words were hilarious.

“At’s the most DISGUSTING!”

I hope it was only the tea that was leaching into the lake…

There was an interesting wee museum, that didn’t take cards and we didn’t have any money. There was an interesting little art gallery of local crafts, that was closed every time we drove by. We tried to go on what I think would have been an interesting bush walk, but nobody called us back.

Oh yes of course, how could I forget, there was also The Most Amazing Shop Ever! There were little signs all over the Island for this place, and with the inclement weather we were bound to end up in there eventually.

I love that wee gnome 

It was, as expected, the most random collection of shite you’ve ever seen in your life. What cracked me up was their approach to sales. Check this out…

They ask you to pay even if you don’t buy anything!

I had to buy something for the kids of course, so I managed to avoid the ploy.

I spent a bit of time in the camping shop talking to a nice fella who, as it turns out, had a Scottish father. It was as if he was an old friend from home, he was hilarious! Apparently there’s something wrong with me that I haven’t watched Game of Thrones, and Generation X are the best thing since slice bread. This I know, at least.

There were two fantastic things that happened at Straddie though.

One. Katie caught her first fish, just off the pier beside our campsite. If there had been nice weather this really would have been an idyllic place to spend a week or so. Anyway, it only took her about two casts, and she was in – a fish!

The pier where Katie caught her first fish

It was quite a special moment. I hope she remembers it when she gets older, I can remember catching my first fish, and it was so exciting. I hope that stays with her. Rain or no rain, this trip is racking up an amazing amount of experiences for Katie – I’m so glad we’ve done it. It really has made a big difference in her outlook and attitude.

The kids club thing in the Gold Coast for example, she never would have wanted to do that previously – but now with her confidence increasing, she’s all over it.

Two.  Katie fell out of a tree and had to go to the wee hospital they have on the Island. And thankfully she was OK! We had been worried for a while. It was a real hard knock that made her nauseous and throw up for a day or so, hence the hospital visit.

That was kind of it for North Stradbroke. The day we left it was beautiful, of course. The sun sparkled off the shoreline and the water at low tide. The sky was a magnificent blue and the little buildings dotted around that seemed run down before, now looked quaint.

Onto the ferry and back to the mainland for us though, next stop – the Glasshouse Mountains. Woo hoo!