Coochiemudlo Island is a small island in southern Moreton Bay and is quite close to Brisbane. In the local Yuggera language it means red rock – owing to the iron rich rock exposed on the southern side of the Island. It is mainly a holiday island for Brisbanites, and was visited by Matthew Flinders in 1799.
Approximate distance 8 kilometres
The day we decided to cycle there was quite hot and parking was hard to get near the ferry terminal so we parked in one of the side streets not too far away and assembled our bikes – and there was a lot to put together!
The ferry arrived after a while and it was a pleasant trip over which took about 15 minutes.
Our first objective was to get away from the crowds and start our little circumnavigation of the Island, and despite the heat it was very pleasant riding
I heard some cockatoos and were hoping they were Glossy blacks but they were Sulphur crested
Once we got away from the crowd we had lunch and a drink as soon as we could, and then kept on going through the wetlands forest
The wetlands forest is very pleasant to ride through and we stopped at one point to have a paddle and a break, although the water did look a bit murky so we didn’t hop in for a full swim!.
We then cycled around the western side of the island and then along the southern edge (‘coast’ seems to big a word for this little place!) and found a path down to the water, near the ochre as well, and had a very enjoyable swim
The kids painted themselves with the ochre and we snorkelled around but didn’t see much more apart from the sea grass and shells – no dugong 🙁
And a wonderful day was had by all 🙂
It was only a short trip – about 8km