Samarinda Jewel by the Sea.

Dave Thelander and his passengers on a bushwalk.

POSTED: 2 APRIL 2011

Destination: North Stradbroke Island

Mike Smith enjoys some quintessentially Queensland island life

IT'S a lonely but refreshingly pleasurable walk along Flinders Beach.

Apart from another couple of walkers and a sprinkling of fishing enthusiasts, we’d think we had exclusive rights to the soft white sands of this unspoiled island beach.

Only the tyre marks patterned by a couple of four-wheel-drive vehicles offer any evidence of humans having been here before us.

Admittedly, it was your normal quiet Monday afternoon, and the looming dark clouds threatened to dump a healthy serving of tropical rain.

But there was something special, something quintessentially Queensland, about this stretch of sand that made us feel at ease, especially after dining on a luncheon of barbecued rump steak and salad, also on the beach.

Welcome to North Stradbroke, Australia’s second largest sand island after Fraser, and fondly referred to by Queenslanders as Straddie, where the speed is very much at snail’s pace, yet the bustling streets of Brisbane’s CBD are only 40 kilometres away as the crow flies.

Flinders Beach stretches along the northern face of this holiday isle, connecting the town of Amity with Point Lookout and its popular beaches of Home, Cylinder and, not quite appealing named, Deadmans.

“You know, 97 per cent of those living in Brisbane have never to Straddie,” reflects barefooted Dave Thelander who, as a child, moved with the family in 1966 to call this Moreton Bay island home.

“And look, you can see the city from here,” he adds, pointing to the city high rise from one of the island’s highest dunes. “I’m bewildered that they have not made the effort to holiday here.”

Today, the seasoned local, as some refer to Dave, takes sightseers on soft adventures in his off-road vehicle. The sign brandished on the side reads 4WD Eco Tours, although his company’s name is Stradbroke Kingfisher Tours.

“Our company name was a little misleading as many thought we catered purely for fishing enthusiasts,” he explains.

Dave’s passion for the island and the pristine beauty of its waterways, native birds, plants and reptiles, and the range of homemade cakes sold at the Island Fruit Barn, have resulted in much adulation – four times’ winner of Queensland tourism awards and, ultimately, a listing in the prestigious Hall of Fame.

Between June and November each year, Dave’s pet love is taking his guests to the Main Beach facing the Pacific, or to Point Lookout to spot the migratory whales. He also speaks of Straddie’s lakes, and of swimming with the manta rays and feeding the dolphins off the jetty at Amity on the island’s far-north western point.

North Stradbroke is a nature lover’s delight, and Dave embraces everything that is natural to the island.

To reach the island’s main town of Dunwich, which sits on the north-west coast, from suburban Cleveland takes 45 minutes on the Stradbroke Ferries’ seven-day-a-week vehicle-carrying vessel.

Unlike Fraser and neighbouring Moreton Island, the main roads are sealed, although there is a stretch of Main Beach that doubles as a highway, albeit with 60km/h speed limit.

When you consider the island’s permanent population is about 3000, it wouldn’t take long to get to know almost everyone. Locals say people have inhabited Straddie — its aboriginal name is Minjerribah (place of mosquitoes) — for at least 20,000 years, but it wasn’t until navigator Matthew Flinders landed there in 1803 that Europeans and the indigenous Nunukul people came into contact.

The island was given its English name in 1827, after the Earl of Stradbroke, the father of Captain John Rous, commander of HMA Rainbow, the first ship of war to enter Moreton Bay.

Straddie was convict settlement before opening to free settlers. It was also quarantine station (at Dunwich) and benevolent asylum for Queensland’s old and infirm. The faded black-and-white photographs of those early days of hardship line the walls of the North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum ($3.50 entry for adults).

Today, it’s the holidayseeker that makes the journey to the island to fish, pedal a bike ($30 rental for a day), walk the trails — the North Gorge is a prime attraction — spot dugong, whales and dolphins, and generally relax and enjoy dining on the seafood at one of the lakeside and beachfront picnic spots.

Moreton Bay bugs, crabs and prawns are among the tasty choices of shellfish, bought from such outlets as Mal Starkey’s Seafood House at Point Lookout.

“Straddie is raw, spirited and refreshing,” barefoot Dave says of his home, “an untouched island paradise.”

With very few Brisbane folk making the trip, it is sure to retain that untouched feeling for many years to come.

DISCLOSURE: Mike Smith was a guest of Tourism Australia, Tourism Queensland and Brisbane Marketing.

Flinders Beach.

GETTING THERE

Stradbroke Ferries has regular vehicle ferry services, seven days a week, from suburban Cleveland to Dunwich. Bookings are essential. Sunday Sunrise Special, $50 return for standard vehicles (leave Cleveland at 6am), returning same day (booked at least one week in advance). Normal fares are $135 a car return, $11 return for adult passengers without a vehicle. Details, phone (07) 3488 5300 or visit www.stradbrokeferries.com.au.

ACCOMMODATION

Dolphin has a wide range of holiday accommodation at Point Lookout and Amity Point, from two-bedroom apartments to six-bedroom houses. Phone (07) 3409 8455 or visit www.straddie.info.

Samarinda Jewel by the Sea has one-to-three-bedroom apartments at Point Lookout. Low-season prices start at $346 for two nights in one-bedroom garden unit, and at $443 for one with ocean view. Phone (07) 3409 8785 or visit www.samarinda.com.au.

HOLIDAY PACKAGES

Samarinda Jewel by the Sea offers two nights from $136 per person, including return vehicle ferry transfer with Stradbroke Ferries; Whalewatch Ocean Beach Resort from $147 per person; Anchorage Beachfront Resort, from $183 per person. All these are based on four people sharing and are valid at various times until 18 November 2011) Phone 1300 303766 or (07) 3821 0266, or visit www.stradbrokeholidays.com.au.

TOURS

Straddie Kingfisher Tours’ City to Straddie Day Tour, $175 per adult, $125 a child, including transfers and barge fares. Tour price also includes morning tea, barbecue lunch on the beach and afternoon bush tucker at IndigiScapes. Phone (07) 3409 9502 or 0409 123586, or visit www.straddiekingfishertours.com.au.

INFORMATION

Stradbroke Island Holidays, phone (07) 3821 0266 or 1300 303766, or visit www.stradbrokeholidays.com.au. Also Queensland Holidays, visit www.queenslandholidays.com.au.

Island Fruit Barn.

Wild weather off Point Lookout.

4WD on Main Beach.

Barefoot Dave Thelander and his 4WD.

Fishermen at North Gorge.