Enjoy 4WD Moreton Island Tour: Wild-Life And Adventure In Queensland
Moreton Island is a large sand island, which lies off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland. Visitor activities possible on Moreton Island include dolphin spotting and whale watching (in season), angling, camping, and exploring on foot, or by off-road vehicle. A number of different tour operators offer a Moreton Island tour, usually departing from Brisbane.
Moreton Island (170 sq. Km.) is long and thin. It is 38 kilometres long, lying in a north-south axis, but just 8 kilometres wide at the widest point. It lies off the coast of Queensland, 58 kilometres to the north east of the capital, Brisbane.
Cape Moreton, in the northeastern corner, is the only outcropping of rock on the entire island. Here there is a convict build lighthouse. Captain Cook named this point Cape Morton when he mapped the area in 1770. The spelling changed to Moreton at a later date, apparently due to a copying error. Captain Cook thought that Cape Morton was part of the Australian mainland, but in 1799 Matthew Flinders discovered that it was in fact on an island, which he then named Moreton Island.
At 280m and 264m Mount Tempest and the nearby Storm Mountain are the largest coastal sandhills in the world. Only in Iran do coastal sandhills come close to these.
Moreton Island is known (through the excavation of shell middens) to have had a human population of aboriginal Australians, for at least 2000 years. European settlement commenced in 1848, and is restricted to four small settlements along the more sheltered, western side of the island. Tangalooma is the largest of these habitations. There used to be a whaling station here. The area lies on a migration route for humpbacked whales, and every day up to eleven whales could be killed and processed. Whaling continued until 1962. Now the site is the Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Reserve, and it hosts a Marine Education and Conservation Centre. There are some wrecked ships just offshore here, which are home to some interesting marine life. Diving and snorkelling are therefore popular tourist activities at Tangalooma.
Tangalooma is the main access point to the island. There are regular passenger and vehicle ferry services, from Lytton and from Pinkenba, which are both near Brisbane. There are in fact no metalled roads on the island: all motor transport is by off-road (four wheel drive) vehicles. Moreton Island tours operate in these vehicles from Tangalooma, and from Bulwer (north west corner of the island). Some four wheeled drive vehicles operate as taxis on the island, and it is possible for visitors to bring their own vehicle by ferry. These vehicles can only be driven in certain parts of the island. Camping is also permitted in parts of Moreton Island. Permits should be obtained on the mainland before arrival.
There are numerous companies offering Moreton Island tours including Hooked On Moreton, Goanna Adventure Tours and Australia Day Tours. Goanna have tours lasting between one and three day tours. They also operate tours of Fraser Island, another, somewhat larger sand island to the north of Moreton Island. Tours usually depart from Brisbane Transit Centre, but can be joined at Tangalooma if you are already on the island.
On the Moreton Island tour travellers will see marine life including wild dolphins, dugong, turtles and (possibly) whale, before experiencing a four wheel drive trip through the eucalypt forest, then through the desert to the eastern (Pacific) beach. Activities which are possible during the tour include guided snorkelling in the Tangalooma Wrecks (supervised by professionally qualified guide), sand boarding and tobogganing.
Charlie Lindsay is passionate about writing, he creates books, blog posts, newspaper articles and journal articles.A true blue Queenslander, Charlie Lindsay presently lives in the QueenslandGold Coast where he assesses the districts hotels, resorts along with alternative accommodations.
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