Brisbane and North Stradford Island - "Straddie"

Trip Start Mar 23, 2009
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Trip End Jun 03, 2009


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Flag of Australia  , Queensland,
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

From Byron, we had booked our itinerary for the last week in Australia, and planned to be in Cairns. With a few days in between, we headed to Brisbane to check out Australia's 4th largest city and do a side-trip from Brisbane to North Stradford Island.
Apparently, Australians are inclined to shorten pretty much any word with more than 2 syllables and add an "ie". Sunglasses = Sunnies. Mosquitoes = mozzies. North Stradford Island, affectionately called Straddie, was a train and ferry ride from Brisbane, and popular for sand dunes, hiking and whale watching. We'd heard recommendations from locals and tourists alike to check out some of the sand islands of the East Coast, so we headed there for an overnight trip.
We arrived around noon, had a great lunch overlooking the beach and hiked the afternoon. Melissa was intent on spotting a kangaroo on her trip, and the place was supposed to teaming with them. Unfortunately they were all hiding when she set out to look! There were also supposed to be some early arrivals of whales as they migrate past the island, and whale watching season starting in June, but these were elusive, too. The scenery of the island is stunning, and we found a great restaurant and bar that night, so we had a great time in spite of missing the wildlife. We really enjoyed seeing another aspect of the area besides city and surfing, so the trip to Straddie was still a highlight of trip.
We headed back to Brisbane for one more night before our flight to Cairns. We had a great hotel next to the river and got to relax, eat and drink our way through the evening before checking out the next day to get to the Great Barrier Reef.
Till then!Stephanie
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