Recently, myself and 3 other mates went over to North Straddy, just off the Cleveland coast in Brisbane (for those who aren’t from around here). Apart from the early morning wake up, the journey on the barge was nice and smooth and to be quiet honest, the weather couldn’t of been more perfect. I was spending my time travelling in Barry’s VW Amorak while Brad and Adam were in Adam’s Ford Ranger. After arriving on Stradbroke, we checked in with the rangers to get our driving tags up to date. After this, we went for a quick drive up to Point Lookout so I could take a look at the sights and grab a few snaps at the “private beach” there.
We then traveled down to the beach cutting entry. We had a while to wait for the beach open driving times, which are pretty strict and heavy on the pocket if you’re caught out. There was a nice lagoon nearby I grabbed a few more photos and a few profile ones of the guys without their knowledge. Well…Brad picked it up pretty quick and of course had to strike a pose. Who am I to say no to a mate? Well the tires were let down to around 20psi, then on the beach we went. It was about a good 20 minute drive to our camping location.
After setting up camp, we settled down to a quick lunch. The snags were without a doubt a huge letdown. We spent the rest of the afternoon setting up a few comforts (beach chairs are a must) including our Jack Daniels camp flag. This was to serve two purposes, 1. So we can easily spot the camp entrance from the beach and 2. Remind us to drink responsibly. We forgot about number 2. That night, I grabbed a few artsy style photos of the sunset, fire and moon over the ocean. And yes it got cold. Very cold.
Next morning around 8am I grabbed a few HDR images of the landscape of what we all got to look out at every morning. After waiting again for the times we could drive on the beach, we journeyed to the shower block – maybe a good 45 minute drive. After that, we decided that fishing would be the event of the day, so headed back to grab the rods and bait – Adam got a bit stuck. Wasn’t his fault though, someone coming the other way made Adam slow down and the truck got bogged in. Anyway, after that we grabbed the gear and headed down for a bit of a fish. Barry scored a flathead pretty much straight away while the rest of us caught nothing.
Next morning I woke up at some ungodly hour to grab a few pictures of the sunrise. EPIC! After waiting for the allowed driving times on the beach, we all decided that after showers, it was a bit of 4×4 time. Adam took us to a place called Brown Lake. Yes, it’s brown. Trundling along the track after about 20 minutes we ran into a dead end and had to go back. We found another track which ran us through a bit of paint scratching scrubs before ending back on the main road. We then headed back to the beach entry as there was a muddy track heading off around the lagoon I photographed earlier. After quite a bit of running the cars through muddy pits (mainly to get them clean) we headed back to the beach and did a bit of Pipi gathering for bait. I grabbed a few photos of the cars at this point. After that, we headed back – the guys went for a fish, I went and setup the camp fire for the final night (read into this…I used ALL the wood we had left). That night after dinner, a few drinks and marshmallows on sticks over the fire, we packed up a bit of the camp. I got another great shot of the moon over the ocean.
On the final morning we had to wake up early to pack the camp, and get to the tarmac before 6.45am. We made it – just. We headed to a place called Amity Point. Yes Jaws fans please swim here! I grabbed a few photos of wildlife including a bird that got a fresh catch of octopus!
