Moreton Island
A Sand Island In Moreton Bay A Ferry Ride From Brisbane, Almost Entirely National Park, With Shipwrecks To Snorkel At Tangalooma, Wild Dolphins Hand Fed From The Beach Most Evenings And The Tallest Coastal Sandhill In The World At Mount Tempest · Tangalooma, Queensland
Moreton Island is a sand island in Moreton Bay, reached by ferry about seventy-five minutes from Brisbane, and beyond its three small settlements it sits almost entirely inside a national park. There are no sealed roads past Kooringal, Bulwer and Tangalooma, so a vehicle brought across on the barge needs to be a genuine four-wheel drive, and visitors without one lean on Tangalooma Island Resort's own passenger catamaran and tour buses instead. The signature draw at Tangalooma is a pod of wild bottlenose dolphins that has swum into the shallows most evenings for decades to take fish from waders standing in the water, a long-running program rather than a staged show. A short swim offshore, fifteen small ships scuttled between 1963 and 1984 to form a breakwater now sit shallow enough to snorkel straight off the beach. Inland, the climb up Mount Tempest, reputedly the tallest coastal sand dune on earth, is rewarded with a view across the whole bay, and sandboarding down the smaller dunes nearby fills an afternoon easily.
In Moreton Bay, a ferry ride from Brisbane, Tangalooma, Queensland, Australia
Moreton Island itself has no gates or opening hours - the national park is open to explore at any time once you are on the island. The vehicle barge and the Tangalooma Island Resort's passenger catamaran both run a limited number of scheduled crossings a day from Brisbane, fewer in the off season and on public holidays, and both can be delayed or cancelled in rough weather since this is an open-water crossing across Moreton Bay - confirm the current timetable before travelling. Dolphin feeding at Tangalooma runs once each evening, weather and dolphin attendance permitting, with numbers capped and a briefing beforehand. Beach driving sections close to vehicles around high tide on the east coast surf beach, and some inland tracks close after heavy rain; check current track status at the island's ranger station or ferry operator before setting out.