North Stradbroke Island

Dolphins - North Stradbroke Island

We recently spent a week camping on North Stradbroke Island, at the Cylinder Beach camping site. It’s one of those places I never get sick of visiting. The surf wasn’t very big this time so I didn’t have much success catching waves, but it was great for kids. We camped with friends and our little ones became very good at diving under waves and catching them on their body boards.

“Straddie” as the locals call it is a great place to see wild dolphins, manta rays and sea turtles. At Point Lookout, the cliffs provide a great vantage point for looking down into the water. We’ve often seen dolphins surfing in the waves.

For me, a holiday means not having to cook. I figure camping is a cheap holiday so we can afford to splurge a bit by eating out. The Point Lookout Bowls Club is open 7 nights and they’ll often have a $10 roast night and other specials. On this trip we tried La Focaccia which was more expensive but we really enjoyed the quality of the food. It was notable for its excellent children’s menu. So many restaurants and cafes offer boring, unhealthy, deep-fried food for kids, but La Focaccia had a much better offering which included vegetables instead of the usual fries.

One night a big storm hit the mainland, and while Straddie escaped most of the storm’s fury, it took out the whole island’s electricity. Luckily we always carry an emergency pasta meal and a small stove which is mainly used for tea and coffee making. Our friends had a two burner stove, so we were able to feed everyone and enjoy the distant lightning while we ate.