Blue Water Adventure

Moreton Island is a natural playground that’s perfect for action and distraction, writes Bernard O’Shea.

When Mother Nature decided that the people of Sydney would get beaches while Brisbanites would have to make do with messy mangrove swamps, she wasn’t being entirely mean. As a consolation, she gifted Moreton Island to the latter – all they had to do was cross 40km of ocean to get to it.

That’s easily done nowadays, and Brisbane seems to be having the last laugh, for the island has become a big drawcard for Australian and overseas visitors, and P&O Cruises has even started doing four-night escapes from Sydney to Moreton Island and back so that Sydneysiders can have what Brisbanites are having. How the picnic tables have turned!

Moreton’s appeal is obvious the moment you step off the ferry onto the wharf at Tangalooma Island Resort, which is handily situated in the middle of the 44km-long island. The sea’s so blue, the sand dazzlingly white, the water so clean, your immediate urge is to kick off your shoes and wade in.