Stradbroke Island

In Australia, Christmas falls right smack in the midst of the summer holidays, which makes it one of the busiest vacation weeks of the year.  Like the Fourth of July at home, everyone in Australia packs up for holidays on Christmas.  For many Brisbanites, the Christmas holiday is synonymous with Stradbroke Island, or Straddie as it is known locally.  

Like Fraser Island, Stradbroke sits in the waters off the Queensland coast.  Although long ago the island was a glorified sand dune, it now teams with life.  Most of the island is national park, but unlike Fraser there are paved roads and a few settlements on the Northern End of the Island.  For the summer holidays, and especially for the seven days between Christmas and New Years, people from Brisbane flock onto the ferry and over to Straddie to surf, swim, and sunbake.  

The house that we stayed in had a beautiful view of that marine park off the shore of the island.  At low tide we could see the reefs and rocks that are home to fish, turtles, rays, and sharks.  The waters around Straddie are known to have quite a few sharks, but since the Aussies maintain their respect for the water - staying out at dusk and dawn, and not swimming when there are lots of fish around - there hasn't been a shark attack for many years.

Roads will get you around Straddie, but the best way to see the island is on foot.  Each morning, Mark's sister and I took a massive walk through the bush and along the coast of the island.  We would find great lookouts, and amazing views over the water.  Once, I nearly stepped on a three-foot-long snake skin (luckily, however, I kept up my record of not seeing any live snakes in Australia).  Another morning we spotted a pod of dolphins surfing the waves and playing in the water.  At one point I looked over my shoulder, and a dolphin had jumped clear out of the water ahead of a massive wave.  It was a Hollywood moment that was over in a split second, but amazing none-the-less.

When you remember that Stradbroke has formed entirely from sand, the cliffs, hills, and valleys on the island are even more breathtaking.  One stunning feature is the gorge, two inlets where the ocean has carved right through the rock.  Walking around the gorge, you are mesmerized by the turquoise water and white foam.

But if you're able to look closer for just a minute you see something even better - sea turtles coming to the surface for a breath before diving beneath the waves.  It's hard to believe that these creatures are endangered when you see so many of them!  The gorge provides a protected place for the turtles to hunt, without having to worry about becoming a shark's breakfast.  

Can you spot the turtle?  His head is just about center of the photo.

As you can imagine, I was sad to leave Australia after nearly eighteen months.  However, spending a week at Straddie was the perfect place to bid farewell to my surrogate home.