A DAY TRIP TO BRIBIE ISLAND....

 Since we were heading to Brissie today to babysit our grandchildren so their parents could have a night out to celebrate their wedding anniversary, we thought we might as well make a day of it and go and explore Bribie Island... It is over 20 years since we have been there so it definitely was time to go visit the island again.  

There are several tourist attractions between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane that we often talk about visiting but never seem to have the time... It is always left for another visit...  Well today we decided to at list tick one off our list....

We got away mid morning and headed straight to Bribie..  The traffic was pretty busy, but we made it in good time...

We hadn't packed lunch, we thought we would just go to one of the many pubs on the island for lunch..

The drive was pleasant especially once we turned off the motor way and there was still a lot of tea tree swamp lands along side the road.  Once we crossed the bridge over to the island, we took a left turn to go and explore Banksia Beach.  This was a pretty sheltered area of the island with pretty still waters as this beach forms part of the Pumicestone Passage.

The Pumicestone Passage is a 35 kilometre channel of pristine water stretching from the tip of Bribie Island near Caloundra in the north, to Deception Bay in the south. The passage, which is part of the Moreton Bay Marine Park, is a narrow, shallow estuary, made up of a system of tidal channels and sand banks and is the perfect place to explore on a stand-up paddleboard, kayak, catamaran or jet ski. Dolphins frolic here,  and it is a place to see incredible sea life, or spot fascinating dugong and turtles in these placid waters. It’s also a great location for fishing enthusiasts with tailor, bream, jewfish and prawns to be found within the waterways. The passage is also home around 24 species of migratory shorebird and 11 species of resident native shorebird. Pumicestone is recognised as one of the most important bird and marine habitats on the East Coast of Australia.

Banksia Beach with the main bridge to the island in the background

Steve went for a good wander along this beach and was surprised to find that there were plenty of places to pump yabbies and figured it would be a good place to come back and go fishing along this passage way.

From here we headed out to Woorim Beach with is on the other side of the island and is a surf beach.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived at Woorim Beach was the beautifully painted water tower.  The Woorim Water Tower is one of two painted water towers on Bribie Island which were both painted by artists Scott Nagy and Mike Shankster in June 2018.  

Working in collaboration with the Bribie Island Community, the design called “Woorim Beach” reflects Bribie Island’s beach culture and the families that have chosen Bribie Island as their home.  The young children playfully running to the shore under the careful watch of a lifesaver capture what may be a typical afternoon at Woorim beach. 

The Grevillia and Honeyeater in the foreground reflect the flora and fauna of the local area.

 Scott and Mike teamed up to paint the water tower after successfully submitting Scott’s idea for the artwork to Street Art Murals Australia. I also believe that it was the first large scale mural, especially something this high that Scott had ever accomplished, fulfilling one of his life long ambitions.

 This artwork forms part of Unity water’s public art program to enhance the appliance of highly visible water towers and reservoirs.

 The other water tower is at Bongaree and the artists were drawing inspiration from Bribie Island's marine life and waterways.  The artwork on this tower depicts the thriving aquatic life that is unique to Bribie Island with native turtles painted.  They return to Bribie Island each year,  it also depicts the lush seagrass beds beyond its shore and the sunrays shining through pristine waters and this tower provides a glimpse into the paradise that hides just below the water's surface.  We didn't manage to get photos of this water tower, although we did see it.  It was way more difficult to get close to and was almost impossible to photograph, so those pictures will need to remain in our memory.

The artwork on this water tower aims to bring awareness to the region’s delicate ecosystem and the important balance of humans living in harmony with nature. 

From the water tower, we headed down onto the Woorim Surf Beach.  We parked in the large carpark near the Bribie Island Surf Lifesaving Club (opposite Lions Park). As you set out of the carpark you find a toilet block with accessible facilities including water fountains, and there is also plenty of shaded picnic tables and bench seats with beach views at the Bluey Piva Park.

It's a beautiful surf beach with life saver's on hand and the flags were out when we were there.  Even though it isn't school holidays there were still a few families there swimming.

Beach front at Woorim Beach.

 

One of the things we did notice at Woorim Beach that it was very wheelchair friendly as it offers accessible beach matting and wheelchairs so that you can get folk in wheelchairs down onto the beach so that they can get their feet sandy and enjoy the beautiful views out across the pristine waters of Moreton Bay.

The blue-coloured matting allows people who use wheelchairs, motor scooters, walking frames or prams to access the beach and water and it runs from Bluey Piva Park (next to the Surf Club) down onto a patrolled beach with red and yellow flags and a surf lifesaving tower.
 

From the beach we wandered back up into Bluey Piva Park and checked out the Anzac Memorial, where there was an art instillation with abstract poppies and the Remembrance Day Poem.

We wandered over towards the playground and found another public sculpture piece titled "Spacial Tangibility" and was created by Luke Zwolsman in 2007.  His comments about his creation reads,

"By removing the material within the mass and capturing the unseen space which is created within, I am exploring the intangible things in life, the things which are unseen and often inexplicable but without which a human existence would not be possible."

From here we walked back to the car, so that we could drive further up the esplanade to explore more beaches.

Near the parking area (southern end from the surf club) we found a few dead trees decorated with numerous thongs. I wondered how random tourists are nailing thongs to the trees so high up, then I noticed there is a crate next to one of them where you can donate your unwanted thongs.  Someone has also placed a sign on one of the trees which reads.. "A PLACE FOR LOST SOLES - World's largest Thong Tree... 

They looked pretty cool so we stopped to take a few photos of them..

We headed north up along the esplanade.  There were some lovely homes along this stretch of the road.  We came to a dead end and a track that would take 4WD's onto the beach.  As we weren't in our 4WD it was not an option for us to explore.

Just before the turn off to the beach we came across the Rotary Park which seemed to have a lot of sandstone blocks in the park.  Steve decided to go and investigate and also go for a walk along the beach.  

It turns out that this was an historical heritage-listed site.  The Bribie Island Second World War Fortifications are heritage-listed fortifications at Worrim and were built from 1939 through to 1943.  They were eventually added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 20 July 1993.

They were part of the systems of defence of southeast Queensland during the  Second World War, and they were used to provide artillery training for Australian soldiers for overseas service. Other fortifications were also apparent throughout Moreton Bay during the war, at Caloundra and on Moreton Island at Cowan Cowan Point and Rous, which together with the existing installations at  Fort Lytton, provided a coordinated series of defensive batteries for the region.

Today they are in ruins but there is good signage which details their history.

Squeaky white sand under your feet....

Submarine Indicator Loop Control Room Building..

Part of the footings from the Lookout towers built in the sand dunes...

 You can learn more about the history of the buildings and the activity during World War II, by paying  a visit to the Seaside Museum on the other side of the island, at Bongaree.  Appartently there are lots of detailed stories of the early settlement of the island, and much more and we would have liked to visit it, especially seeing that it is free entry.  We will need to leave that for a visit for another day, as we just don't have the time today to do it justice.

Whilst Steve was wandering around on the beach I spoke to my good friend Kathy who was also at Bribie Island with her sister visiting her brother who is in a nursing home here.  She was with her sister and they had just pulled into a park at Bongaree to have a picnic lunch.  As it was going on for 2pm we decided to drive back to join them.  We had planned to check out Bongaree also, so this was a good chance to do so....

Kathy and Lyn were at the Pumicestone Lion's Park having their lunch... They had packed a picnic lunch so they had their food with them.  We had planned on finding a pub somewhere to have our lunch, although we have probably left our run a little late as most of the pubs stop serving lunch around 2pm.  Once we had located the girls we set off to find somewhere to buy our lunch.  

We ended up getting calamari and chips from one of the beach side fish and chip shops and then joined them back at the park to have our lunch....

Kathy and I at the Pumicestone Lion's Park

Our lunch - a serving for one and yet it was too much for us both..

Lovely playground at the park

Such a beautiful park overlooking the passage.  Lovely and green, cool breezes, plenty of shade....

Just the perfect place to stop and chill out with great company.

By the time we finished our lunch and cuppa it was close to 3pm, so we figured that it really was time for us to pack up and head into Brisbane.  As it was we probably should have left a little earlier so as to miss the Friday afternoon peak traffic.  

We had seen cheap fuel on our way into Bribie so thought we would stop there on our way through to Brissie and fuel up.  Unfortunately we weren't able to do that as for some reason there was a police detour just before the Servo.  

Fortunately for us the traffic although busy was moving pretty well.  That couldn't be said for the north bound traffic to the Coast.  The highway was packed with cars all traveling at snail pace, stopping and starting for kilometres.  We were so thankful we were heading into Brissie and not heading home.   

We arrived at Sarah's at good time, getting in around 4.15pm.  No one was home when we arrived, they were still up at the park.

The kids were great, happy to see us.  It was movie night for them so very easy to set up the picnic rug on the lounge floor and dinner for them was a platter of finger food which they quickly devoured.

They were ready for bed by 7-15pm and whilst I put them to bed, Steve cooked curried prawns for our dinner.  Yummo.

Ian and Kathy also dropped in for a visit and we had a lovely time with them playing a game of 5 Crowns.  So good to spend time with them again...

What a great day it has been.  It was fun to explore somewhere new.  We really haven't had time to do much of this at all this trip.  We've had too much work to do back at the house...

I think next time we come down, we will need to stay for three months or more...