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Published: November 30th 2015
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We actually visited Straddie Island pretty soon after we arrived in Australia back in June. But what started as a nice day in Brisbane rapidly got worse as we got closer to the island and it rained pretty much the whole day. So on the boat back we vowed to return and when we found out that Manta Rays where found there from November onwards we had our date!
We left straight after work on Friday evening so as to maximise our time on the island and we woke up Saturday morning to a clear blue sky. After much research I'd managed to find a guy who rented out cars right next to the YHA and so we piled into a 15 year old Vauxhall Astra with 172,000km on the clock and set off to explore the island. Our first stop was Amity Point which is a small fishing town on the north east point of the island. We wandered the seafront watching the fisherman cast their lines as pelicans stood in wait for any scraps. After stopping in a cafe for a cup of tea we headed to the north of the town and onto the purest sandy beach
you'll ever wish to see. We kicked off our shoes to feel the soft sand between our toes(which squeaked as we walked) and paddle in the warm ocean. The best thing about it all was that this beach was pretty much deserted. We left Amity Point behind and headed into the islands interior. Straddie Island is the world's second biggest sand island (after Fraser Island) and is covered with Eucalypt and Pine Forest and dotted with a few freshwater lakes. We stopped for a walk at Blue Lake, a 3.5 mile return journey through the forests which takes you to a viewpoint overlooking the lake. It was a pretty warm day and all I wanted was to jump in and go for a swim. Luckily that's exactly what you can do at Brown Lake. As the name suggests the water of the lake is brown from all the decomposing material it contains, so not very attractive to look at. But in 30 degree heat it was pretty refreshing to get in! After a quick dip we had lunch in the company of a 5ft Lace Monitor Lizard that was shuffling around in the undergrowth. After an ice-cream stop at Dunwich
our final stop for the day was Point Lookout. Here is the fabulous North Gorge walk and we followed the trail over and around the headland. It's wonderfully scenic with the waves pounding against the cliffs and a long sandy beach stretching as far as the eye can see into the distance. Here we came across out first wild Kangaroos's, they are pretty accustomed to humans though as they happily munched on the grass a few metres from the path. After a long day spent by the sea, I topped the day with Fish and Chips washed down with an ice cold beer!
The next morning we woke ready for out encounter with Manta Rays. The YHA we stopped at doubled up as the islands dive and snorkel centre so we didn't have to go far! After a quick briefing session we climbed into the zodiacs, still on land. The dive centre is no where near a marina or boat ramp so these zodiacs are on a trailer attached to a tractor. And so the tractor drove us down to the beach and deposited the zodiacs in the water. Not quite as easy as that... as the waves threatened
to push us back on the beach before we could get in deep enough water to deploy the engines but our captain did really well to get us out pretty quickly. He took us out to 'Manta Bommie', an area just off Straddie Island where the rays frequent every summer to get cleaned by the resident fish. As soon as we got in the water I could see a ray and a turtle (!!) in the distance but they swam off pretty quickly. But undeterred our snorkel guide kept us swimming along and within a couple of minutes we had a Manta Ray directly underneath us. They are so graceful and move through the water with seemingly little effort for something so big (this one must have been 6ft wide). We swam for a while following this fella before our guide shouted out to follow him to another Manta Ray, and then another, and then another. Soon enough I had 3 rays in direct snorkel view, it was amazing. And then I heard our guide shot 'TURTLE!', and I looked around frantically to try and locate it. But I needn't bother as it swam directly beneath me, so close I
was tempted to reach out and touch it! We followed a few more Manta Rays before it was time to get back on the boat. Everyone was full of beaming smiles as our guide explained the various behaviours we had been watching, such as the two Mantas following each other where actually performing a mating dance! There was time for another quick snorkel before the boat headed back and was hauled back on land by the tractor! Our time on Straddie had come to an end, we had to get back home for work the next day.
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