North Stradbroke Island

Posted at 7:14 PM, Sunday 9 March 2008

North Stradbroke Island, or "Straddie" as it’s known to locals, is one of the world’s largest sand islands and it’s right on Brisbane’s doorstep. From the eastern side of the island you can see and hear the pounding surf, while the western side enjoys the calm waters of Moreton Bay. Straddie is 30 kilometres southeast of Brisbane city and is accessible by vehicular ferry or catamaran. All townships on the island are linked by bitumen roads. A 4WD is required for driving on beaches and inland tracks.

During June to November one is able to see humpback whales out at sea. At any time of the year, dolphins are common and the sea is home to dugongs, sharks and turtles.

Point Lookout was named by Captain Cook in 1770. It was a warning to mariners. The island’s Aboriginal name is Minjerribah.

Until recently, North and South Stradbroke Islands were joined. But in 1895 a violent storm separated them and created the Jumpinpin passage.

Taken from the vehicular ferry, the sand dunes can be seen in the distance.Approaching the village of Dunwich where the ferries come and go from.Driving along the beach, we came across large groups of birds. I think these are Bar-tailed Godwits but as you can see they were not very co-operative and it was extremely windy making it difficult to hold my lens still.…… These I think could be Red-capped Plover. They were only very little and were running as fast as their little legs would carry them.…The view and beach below Point Lookout. Great place for spotting whales.Crested Terns struggling to keep their balance from the wind.……The beach on the east side of the island, which has bad erosion due to our shocking weather of late. As you can see it was a very mixed day for weather. We had showers, we had cloud and we had sunshine. And we had a lot of wind.…Pied Oystercatchers and aren't they shy little birds. It was like they were saying, run, run, run, you can't catch me.……Ricki in his Jeep and no, we didn't have the roof on, fortunately the showers were brief. While on the beach, we saw Brahminy Kites, Whistling Kites and Osprey but the wind was throwing the sand up and it was not a good place to bring my camera out. While waiting for the vehicular ferry to take us back to the mainland, I caught this tiny little bird, which I think is a Welcome Swallow.…While looking for more birdlife along the coastline, I looked up to see this awesome creature.That's right, an Osprey.……………………………………………While watching the Osprey, I saw it fly in the direction of what I thought was another Osprey. What surprised me was the two birds attacked each other, or so it seemed. I started to photograph the other bird which I thought was an Osprey but when I got home and took a close look, I realized I had photographed my first White-bellied Sea Eagle.…