Straddle Island

See this amazingly beautiful place right there? This is on Stradbroke Island or called "Straddle" by the locals. It's a little island off the mainland, close to where we live.

Our little car on loan to us courtesy of the soccer club.

We woke up Friday morning and decided to pack up our cute tiny car,

and drive to the ferry docks to catch a ferry to the island.

We ate bacon and egg burgers at a little cafe before our ferry left. The burgers were ok, I still haven't had my fix for American burgers since we have lived abroad. That Bundaberg soda was amazing though.Those drinks are famous here. We got the Blood Orange one and it was so refreshing and delicious. I didn't get a picture of our ferry, but Daniel and I were so excited to take this huge ferry we saw parked at the docks, because it looked all fancy and stuff. So we are following our captain down the docks to what we thought was going to be the fancy ferry,

but instead of getting on the fancy one, he turns, and hidden behind the bushes there is this tiny, old ferry that looks like it will sink any minute. We had a good laugh. I wish I would have got a picture.

The ride across the bay only took about 25 minutes. Good thing, any longer than that and our ferry might have sunk and we would have been shark food. The first thing we saw as we docked at Straddie, were Pelicans!! You don't know how excited I was to see them. I just kept thinking of Finding Nemo! That was only the start of the wildlife we would see on this island. We took a bus to a place called Point Lookout, which was the very top point of the island.

We went on the famous "gorge walk" which took us all over the island with the most amazing views.

There were hardly any people.

We probably saw a total of 8 people this day. 

So we felt like we had the island to ourselves.

Don't worry mom, we were smart and safe.

Right out there in the water there were SO many WHALES just JUMPING out of the water! I have never experienced something like that in my life. It was an experience we will never forget.

These beautiful whales just jumping out of the water and making the biggest splashes you have ever seen. I put down my camera, I didn't even want to try to get a picture. We sat there on those rocks and watched them jump for over an hour. I have never seen Daniel so giddy.

It was right down here where I saw a sea turtle just riding a wave and chilling. That was a little dream come true for me! We also saw a big school of tiny little fish swimming along.

I could have sat there for days watching whales and big waves.

We continued on our gorge walk through the "bush" as an Aussie would say.

The water in this little gorge was the clearest I have ever seen. I would have jumped in if it wasn't for the sharp jagged rocks below. Oh and straddle is known for it's large population of sharks. So that would have been fun, haha!

We made it to the other side of the gorge.

These little guys are everywhere. And there are also not so little guys everywhere, haha. We saw a massive lizard that we thought was a snake at first. It was hidden in some leaves so I couldn't get a good picture of it.

WILD KANGAROOS!! They are so dang cute, I can't get over them. They were everywhere on the island.

I love a good Aussie surf shop.

We took another pretty walk to an empty beach.

We took the hint and didn't swim. haha. There was one crazy surfer braving the heavy surf. I kept watching him to make sure he didn't drown, haha. I guess my swim instructor side came out a bit!

Gotta rep England!

You can kind of see all the little holes in this picture. When the water would come in like this, little tiny holes would bubble up all over the wet sand. This means there are clams down there! We tried to dig down to find one but we never could find any.

Where Daniel is standing, down below there was the cutest little fur seal just laying out on the rocks. My camera died, and our iPhone is so old the zoom is bad, so I didn't get a picture of him. He was the sweetest thing!

Straddie was BY FAR our most favorite place we have been to here in Australia.

Seeing all the wildlife was the highlight. So much beauty, packed onto such a tiny little island.

Byron Bay, NSW

After our Surfer’s Paradise getaway from last post, we drove an hour south to Byron Bay, which was our first time in a state other than Queensland.  New South Wales was awesome! Only 6 more  hours south and we could have made it to Sydney! But that’s for another weekend J This place was the cutest little hippie town. And I mean real hippie. Like long hair, living in a tie die van, and surfing all day kind of hippie. It was nice to get a change of scene from our usual Surfer’s Paradise high rise buildings behind the water. This place was quieter and peaceful, although tiny waves so no surfing for us L

We took a hike/walk up to a beautiful lighthouse with the most amazing views.

Just look at that water! I could stare at it all day. The pictures don't quite do it justice. The color is unreal!

I spy a heart!

We saw so many dolphins swimming around in the clear water. This was definitely one of the highlights!

We also saw two surfers being rescued. They had been swept out, and the waves were large and dangerous, so that was scary. They were trapped on some big jagged rocks close to the cliffs, with big waves. They were rescued just fine.

Apparently the most easterly part of Australia is also the windiest!

 After our hiking adventures, we met up with our friends for burritos and lemonade in a little Mexican bar by the beach, then drove home while watching the beautiful sunset. Next on my list is to see a sunrise at Byron Bay, apparently since it’s the most easterly part of Australia, the sunrises are pretty spectacular. Til' next time.