Moreton Island

Monica, Debbie, and Rose were on their way up to Brisbane to spend a few days up here. There are three major islands that are right of the coast of Brisbane. They are Fraiser Island, Moreton Island, and Stradbroke Island. I decided to book a day tour to Moreton Island.
Monica, Debbie, and Rose showed up and I showed them around the house. Then we decided to go find them a hotel. We looked around and I thought that the Story bridge hotel would be a good one because it's right on the river and it was a cute little place. Well come to find out, it is not really a hotel, just a pub. However, the guy at the pub recommended a place around the corner. The place was absolutely beautiful and Debbie and Rose got a great price on the place. It overlooked the whole city, bridge, botanical gardens, and everything. It was up on the 11th floor and it was just amazing.
monica stayed at my house with me and Debbie and Rose met us at 6:30 in the morning at my house. From my house we walked to the train and made our way to the transit center where we were going to get picked up by our tour guide.
We found Gate 15 and sat down to wait for the tour guide. he was a few minutes late but he finally found us. There was the 4 of us, one couple from New Zealand, one girl from Sweden, and one girl from Germany. Our guide picked us all up in a 4 wd car and we all piled into the back like it was a police van. the seats faced each other on the sides of the suv so you can pile in as many people as you can. There were 8 of us in the back.
We now had to go find 2 others that were joining us and they were being picked up at their hostel.
Our driver was a 21 year old kid and he usually did trips to a different island that left at a different port. So naturally we got totally lost. WE drove around the city for about 45 minutes bouncing around and running into each other in the back of this 4wd car. It was a pretty interesting ride.
We finally found the couple we were supposed to pick up. WE were on our way! Until we got lost again... We drove around for about 20 minutes trying to find the port. The boss that worked for the company we did the trip with went down to the port to convince the ferry to wait for us. So everybody on the ferry had to wait for our one car to make it. We drove in and drove right on the ferry and it took off right away. The guys working the ferry weren't too excited to be waiting for us.
So we unloaded out of the car and headed up to the ferry. It was going to be about an hour and a half ferry ride. The ferry was very comfortable. There was a snack bar in the center of it with very comfortable seating all the way around. There was outdoor seating as well. We went outside to the see the view. The surrounding areas were pretty ugly. It was bare with some oil rig looking contraptions and other construction equipment. So we watched the water and we looked down and there were thousands of huge blue dots in the water. They were jellyfish. They were everywhere just floating along with the current. Giant neon blue bodies bobbing through the water. It was amazing. it reminded me of the jellyfish in Finding Nemo.
We got to the island and by now we were running late because we held up the ferry. So we got going right away and dove along the beach to the main highway of the island. The main highway of the island is a sand road that is used so much that erosion has caused a pathway between the trees and shrubbery. The only way to drive on that island is with a 4wd vehicle. Most of these roads are one way paths and cars are driving from both directions. We almost hit head on with two or three cars. It's pretty scary. Even if your driver stops, it doesn't guarantee the other driver will. We managed to make it through and our first stop was up to the sand dunes for some sand tobagganing. We grabbed some sled looking things and made our way up to the top of the dune. The tourguide made us wear these awful hats while we went down the hill in case we fell off and hit our head. To be honest the helmet would have done nothing because it was this small soft thing, and it was really soft sand we were falling on. But it was a funny picture anyway.
It was really fun sledding down the sand dune, and you move pretty fast. After we finished we had to walk the board back up so someone else could go. What hike that was! If I walked up that hill 2 times everyday I would easily lose 20lbs. It was so hard. I felt like I just finised a marathon by the time I got up to the top. I had to rest 2 or 3 times. It was really hot walking up and the dune was pretty much straight up. IT was tough. Monica and Debbie also went down, Rose decided she didn't want to do it and she just took pictures.
Once we were finished we loaded up the car and headed out again. It was a fun drive. It was a very bumpy road so it was a pretty exciting drive. The drive was long and we were headed up to the light house which was the highest point on the island. It was the main land of the island and the only part of the island that wasn't sand. We finally got there and the views were beautiful. There were miles of beach below that you could see. Up over the cliff you were supposed to be able to see dolphins, turtles, or maybe even whales, but we did not see any of that. I think the day was too overcast to be able to see them. monica swears she saw something in the water but I'm not really sure. We only stayed a few minutes there and then we headed down to the beach for some lunch.
It was a beautiful beach and we just drove right onto the beach. There were a lot of people around eating lunch and enjoying the beach. The tour provided lunch so we ate chicken sandwhiches. Turkey is rarely ever used. After that we walked over to some rocks and I gave Monica my camera for her to take pictures of me. I walked over and stood on the rocks, and Monica yelled look out and a small wave of water came over half the rock so I quickly made my way over to the far side of the rocks and was posing for another picture and a huge wave came over the top of the rocks, so I ran for dear life so I didn't get soaked by the wave. Monica got a picture of me fleeing the rocks which was not quite the picture I was hoping for. oh well...
We left quickly so we could make our way over to the blue lagoon. The blue lagoon is a freshwater lake in the center of the island. There were tea oils or something like that in the water which makes it good for your skin. We were all sweaty from sitting like sardines in the back of the 4wd. So we couldn't wait to jump in. The water was so refreshing and the surroundings of the lake were beautiful. Apparently, there were no animals or anything in the water but I still didn't feel that safe in it. The ground was mushy and there were plants on the ground so it was not a nice feeling between the toes!
We swam for about a half an hour and then it was time to get back to the ferry. We left a few minutes early because we wanted to be sure we werent the people the ferry had to wait for on the way back.
We sat in line to board the ferry for about 10 minutes and I'm not even sure how but we were the second to last car on the ferry so it was a very tight squeeze. The ferry ride on the way back was very relaxing and much needed because we were pretty exhausted after running around all day.
We got back and the tourguide managed to find everything on the first try on the way back. We made our way to Debbie's hotel and ordered take out and sat and watched the few. We hung out for a while and ended up turning in pretty early because we were all exhausted. It was a great trip.