# Another Moreton Island big adventure (lots of photo's)



## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

With a big high pressure system moving in over S/E QLD and break in work, I quickly decided it was time to hit Moreton Island again. Was thinking about paddling all the way, but in the end a trip over on the barge seemed to be the sensible option. The barge hit the beach at 10.00 am and I paddled 7km north and landed at one of the many camping sites mid way between Bulwer and Curtin Reef. The weather was perfect for most of the time. There were a billion boats out on Sunday, but Monday and Saturday was OK. The fishing action was little on the ordinary side, which isnt unusually for me. Couldn't find any cod on the drop off's, only managed a couple of Squire, a sting ray (bugger took my only bait jig, jeese those jigs are strong, towed me for half an hour.) and a smallish Tiger shark (now wearing a brand new Rapala lip piercing). There were a few bait schools getting smashed, mainly on Monday, couldnt see what was hitting them (suspect it might of been sharks as, what ever it was was not coming out of the water). Did see a Tuna well over 1mtr long jump out of the water away from all the action. In the end the place is so beautiful I was happy just going for a paddle and soking up the scenery. Saw Dolphins attacking bait fish a couple of metres of the shore, big schools of Sting rays swimming under me in crystal clear water, and turtles everywhere coming right up close to have a sqizz at the ugly bugger in a kayak.























































I wonder where Curtin Reef is?









Turtle wouldnt stay still long enough.









Bait schools bouncing off the kayak.









Sunset over the Glass House Mountains

















The old forts at Cowan Cowan









The Wrecks at Tangalooma

























Sand Hills


























Curtin Reef Squire









Me


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## DougOut (Dec 31, 2006)

another great little adventure you had there Paul 8) 
thanks for sharing it with us


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Some nice scenery over there Paul and you certainly picked the right weather conditions...my wife went over to Bulwer when the Combie Trader was operating and where are the Cowan forts in relation to the old Trader landing site mate , north or south?

The face fuzz will be good protection on the water in summer, and look forward to seeing it covered with some beer froth at the September yak convention


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## Astro (Nov 27, 2006)

thats it...camping trip to whitsundays coming up for me...you are an inspiration with those pics paul


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Thanks guys, pity I couldnt stay another day, still perfect weather out there.
Richo Cowan is about 5kms south of Bulwer, right next to Curtin Reef. There is accommodation at Bulwer and Curtin, but they only get barge service on Tuesdays now.
Astro do it, Moreton Island is our little Whitsundays, you have the real deal.


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## oldandbent (Feb 11, 2008)

Top report and great pix. 8) 8) Made me envious. Glad you enjoyed


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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QlpoOTFBWSZTWQoWfYwAAA/fgAAQQCUAEAQBEAA/797gIABoRTeqPU9QYIPUG1MhFPajTKaDQDTIaYXgg+HhdZehTFHTcqGskshvnGRDFmZuM0YqWEI7oelWiz3EouzrWMEKlqWSXDshcB8aEdpq8lVpB6amMYEImQKcEvlBlBfi7kinChIBQs+xgA==


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

paul, great report,

a couple of questions are the wrecks at tangalooma a green zone (i presume you cant fish there now)

also did you head out to the main channel ie the big green beacons out from tangalooma,
sometimes some good stuff out there though the big container ships are a pest.

cheers pete


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

Great stuff Paul. How many k's did you cover all up?? Do you have a map of where you went (for those of us unfamiliar with the area?)


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## kritter67 (May 17, 2009)

Thanks Paul for the great story/photos and i am glad you had such a good time. The shots brought back some real good childhood memories of anchoring up behind the tangalooma wrecks in the school hols , snorkelling and also wrestleing huge golden trevors.A truely great spot and i will endeavor to take my kids up there some day so they can enjoy it aswell [ and so i can do some more wrestleing ] :lol: .Fish2u regards Kieran.


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Red wouldn't be a hard trip from Couchi to the southern end of Moreton, there is good shelter between Crab Island and Kooringal. Just pick your times around the weather.

Pete you can still fish the wrecks (no spear fishing), all the green zones are North, South and East. Mate there is a drop off (Coffee rock)that runs from Bulwer through to Curtin, (goes from 8mtrs to 25mtrs in places) thats from 15mtrs off the beach though to about 700mtrs. The pelagic fish round up the bait fish and smash them against the drop off, also lots of Cod, a few Parrot, the occasional Red Emperor, Sweet Lip, Snapper and Sharks....big sharks, hence I dont like going too far out. Its about 4km's to the shipping channel.

Davey I didnt do too many K's (about 50), the tide runs at about 2+knots and really takes it out of you, so I plan fishing and travelling around the tide.

For those that dont know Moreton Island is one of the Large sand Islands in front of Moreton Bay (I think its the second largest next to Fraser Island). The only way to get there is by boat/barge or plane, there are no sealed roads and there is a few very small town ships and a resort and the rest is a National Park. Its a great place so close to Brisbane that if you were keen you could paddle there, but isolated enough that if you go mid week you can totally get away from it all.


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## breamfish (May 19, 2009)

Great report mate sounds like an awesome trip great scenery over there


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## deano199 (Nov 2, 2008)

speaking of getting there by plane, a couple of weeks ago i did exactly that and damn it is a beutiful sight from the air....
theres soo many turtles sitting in the shallows it takes quite a few passes to count them all  
Ive got a few pics to show soo id like to apoligise in advance to AWTY for highjacking his thread.

There's Scarby in the foreground and then Moreton (our destination) in the background...









This is the northern end of Moreton just before the headland...









Just one more, this is on the way home... Mainland on the left then the passage and then Bribie....









Gee its a beutiful place... not mention in a plane your there in about 5 minutes.


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## mcbigg (Jul 14, 2007)

As I sit here in my lounge room with the rain pouring down outside and the temperature on the weather station thingo showing a temp of 11 degrees outside, I read your report and look at your pictures with great envy!

Thanks for sharing and letting me live vicariously through your reports!


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## wongus (Feb 12, 2006)

Paul,

Thanks for the trip report.. great pics. Sounds like you had a ball.... Seeing the dolphins herding the bait would have been awesome.

I took the kids to Seaworld on the weekend and the trained antics, amazing as they were, would be nothing in comparison to seeing them feeding in the wild.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Who cares about fish when you have a trip like that. We have all heard it before but fish would just be a bonus. 

Kev


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## rob316 (Oct 2, 2007)

great stuff...pics tell a thousand words...you certainly can pick your weather...any thought of paddling home ?...or was it a done deal to barge it back...
what were the camping fees paul and were there ammenities where you set up ?..
i got talking to an older fellow at manly ramp the other week , his yak fully laden as he had just landed - asked where he had been , green , st helena ?...he said "no , just spent 2 days at amity - straddie - and just paddled back !! "...showed me his gps...26.3 klms...avg spd 7.3klm/hr...top sp 10.8 klm/hr...thats a fair trip and a great effort , he said the top speed was reached going with the current in the rous channel...tells me that you must work with current around the islands !! ;-)


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Paul , great adventure old mate and some really lovely photos , hmmmm tiger shark with new lip jewlery, hope it dosnt make him dislike us humans too much ,they have very bad manners those tiger sharks, gee that sit in looks great Paul and it looks like you have it tricked out nicely , does carrying the wheels on the back make it less stable ? and it looks like you have 2 sails, would be nice to see some sailing shots . I didnt realise you were a bearded man , a mate of mine that i used to race against in the K boats told me when i bought a sea kayak , i would grow a beard as he reckons all sea kayakers have beards , but no he was wrong no beard here, just wrinkles


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Certainly a nice place to be and its just on our door step.

Rob I could have paddled home, its just over 25km's, as the crow flies, but its a hell of a lot easier to catch the barge. Since Hawkins have a monopoly on the ferry's they can charge what they like, it cost me $100 return and $10 a night for secure parking, it only cost $70 last year.....still worth it I suppose. Camping fees are only $5 a night (you must pre book) and there is water/cold showers/drop toilets at Bulwer, Tangalooma and a few other of the bigger camp grounds. There is still a shop at Bulwer to. I could get phone reception on occasions. I stayed at one of the more secluded camp spots, so no amenities. Mate its easy to do a walk on walk off at Tangalooma as the camp grounds are only 50mtrs from where the barge drops you off. This is my 3rd walk on walk off with a kayak and I did one with my boys a few years ago (and there still talking about it)........Yes you have to time everything around the tide.....it is very strong in places.

Bazz the Mermaid is a great expedition kayak, has great stability, can cope with a big load and has good large dry hatches to pack all your camping gear. Its no speed star, not like the Mirages and Epics, but its good at what it does and will do me. Only one sail, that I only used once as most of the time there was little wind. The other side had my fishing rods, neatly tied to the side. The trolley was a bit of a disaster. The alloy one broke under the weight when I tried to take it up the ramp of the barge, so I quickly ditched it and grabbed my supper cheap trolley.....yes it was a little heavy and would of made the kayk a little more tippy. I need to either make or buy a decent trolley. Tiger Sharks are a little scary even at 5' long, I was a little concern how quickly he came to the surface.......thinking he was just eyeing me off and some of his bigger mates would have been around. Was happy just to cut the line. Hey made you cant be a crusty old man of the sea with out a beard. You would be a dead ringer for Ernest Hemingway if you grew one......and the chicks love it. ;-)


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

paul,

i am led to believe that the tigers return to tangalooma every year as it used to be a whaling station and they have an imprinted memory .
not sure if this is true but can confirm that bob dyer set a shark record near the place in the 60s. from memory a great white over a ton


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## eth93 (Dec 17, 2007)

grinner said:


> paul,
> 
> i am led to believe that the tigers return to tangalooma every year as it used to be a whaling station and they have an imprinted memory .
> not sure if this is true but can confirm that bob dyer set a shark record near the place in the 60s. from memory a great white over a ton


Nice beard pual I cant seem to grow mine, must come with age. :lol: 
Weather was perfect over the weekend. 

Grinner I had alittle search around and he also set a tiger shark record there also. Little bit of info.
http://www.shoalhaven.net.au/~shafc/Dan ... _wite.html


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

grinner said:


> paul,
> 
> i am led to believe that the tigers return to tangalooma every year as it used to be a whaling station and they have an imprinted memory .
> not sure if this is true but can confirm that bob dyer set a shark record near the place in the 60s. from memory a great white over a ton


Dont dangle your feet in the water Pete. ;-)

Here's a photo of Bob and Dolly coming back from Cape Moreton with a days fishing. :shock: :shock: :shock:


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Gee you have got it together Paul, nice trip


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## locky24 (May 24, 2008)

I saw you over there I was on the old man's Stinker .
The weather was spot on.
Locky.


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