onlyfoolsandmobiles

Part Two

North Stradbroke Island

Our relatives took us for a day out to North Stradbroke Island, which is also in Moreton Bay. It is a much larger island but during off peak season times it has a lower population than Russell Island. This however balloons during the holiday season. Dunwich is the main town on the island, with Point Lookout and Amity Point making up the three main areas.

View from the Ferry across to North Stradbroke

First port of call was Amity Point, which is the smallest of the three main towns on the island and a popular fishing spot.

Amity Point

As we drove up to Point Lookout there were a couple of road signs you don’t see very often, well outside of Australia anyway.

Kangaroo ( and I assume her Joey)

Koala!! (not going to comment on what it's doing)

On the way to Point lookout there is a nice enclosed area called Cylinder Beach.

Cylinder Beach

Cylinder Beach

Point Lookout is the second largest settlement on the island and the main tourist attraction. Not only is the beach very popular with surfers but from on top of the cliffs you can go whale watching (unfortunately we were there at the wrong time of year for this). The whales swim very close so you can get an excellent view.

Point Lookout

Main Beach

Point Lookout

I should add that Point Lookout has a rather nice ice cream store, where you can get a selection of six ice creams for $12. Not only that, but there was an awesome view across the road.

View down from Point Lookout (opposite the ice cream store)

I have some more photos on my Flickr account.

Melbourne

Whilst down under we took the opportunity to go and see some friends down in Melbourne, about a 2 hour flight from Brisbane. They drove us to Healesville in the Yarra Valley where we went to Healesville Sanctuary. Koalas really do exist!!

Sleepy Koala

One of the first creatures you meet on your walk round the sanctuary is the Emu, no Rod Hulls in sight though (you will probably have to be British to understand that).

Emu

There is plenty to do around the sanctuary, mainly geared towards children. However it was great to finally see some of the wildlife Australia has to offer. A lot of the animals are nocturnal so photos are possible, which is a shame as I would have loved to get one of a Platypus.

Anyway here are a few I did manage to get.

A very relaxed Kangaroo

Tasmanian Devil (Stuffed as the real one is nocturnal)

Ibis

Dingo at feeding time

Pelican

Wallaby

The Staff also put on a bird show around 1.00pm most days. If anyone goes I recommend a DSLR with a good zoom lens for photos. I did manage a few shots of the birds. However the show is very interesting and quite amusing. Definitely recommend it to anyone that goes.

One of the keepers with a Buzzard

Buzzard

After a few hours wandering around the Sanctuary we decided to go for lunch. On the way back to Melbourne we stopped off at one of the many wineries in the Yarra Valley. Chandon was the place chosen, mainly because I had heard of and experienced their wines previously.

For those of you that are interested, Chandon was established by French Champagne house Moet & Chandon in 1986. Here is their website. I won’t bore you with what I think about their wines. I could drone on for weeks on the subject of wine having spent the best part of twenty years in the catering industry. Instead I will show you a few shots of the beautiful landscape and the main building where you can taste and buy the wines.

Chandon Vineyards - Yarra Valley

Chandon Winery - Yarra Valley

Chandon Vineyards - Yarra Valley

We spent that night in Melbourne itself so that we could have the morning to wander around the city, do some shopping and then fly back to Brisbane. Melbourne was in the early days of the Australian federation the seat of government prior to Canberra’s existence.

The Parliament building

Melbourne city centre as seen from the South Bank

The full set of photos can be seen on my Flickr account for both this post and Part One of my down under trip.

Photos Part One

Photos Part Two

A Finnish Phone Down Under Part One

Thanks for reading. Have a great day!