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Sixty kilometres north-east of Brisbane lies the large sand island named Moreton Island. The island is an attractive and popular destination for many tourists. Activities available for visitors including off-road driving, fishing, dolphin spotting and whale watching (in season), and camping. Several operators provide a Moreton Island tour, often starting from Brisbane city centre.

Moreton Island (170 sq. Km.) is long and thin. It is 38 kilometres long, lying in a north-south axis, but just 8 kilometres wide at the widest point. It lies off the coast of Queensland, 58 kilometres to the north east of the capital, Brisbane.

The only rock outcrop on this island of sand is Cape Moreton at the north eastern tip of the island. The lighthouse there was built by convicts. Captain James Cook, the British explorer, sailed past here in 1770. Believing that the area was part of the Australia mainland he named the point Cape Morton (the spelling changed to Moreton later, apparently through a transcription error). In 1799 Matthew Flinders discovered that it was actually an island.

Moreton island has the largest coastal sandhills in the world: Mount Tempest (280m) and Storm Mountain (264m). Only Iran has sandhills comparable in size to these.

The island is known to have been home to aboriginal Australians since at least 2000 years ago. The first settlement by Europeans was in 1848. All four of the (small) settlements on Moreton island are on the sheltered Western side, nearest to the Queensland mainland. The largest of these is Tangalooma. At one point this was a whaling base, and up to eleven humpback whales were processed here every day. The whales were killed during their annual migration along the coast. This ended in 1962, and the site is now a wild dolphin reserve. The old whaling station is now a Marine Education and Conservation Centre, and the area is noted for dolphin feeding and wreck diving.

Tangalooma is the main access point to the island. There are regular passenger and vehicle ferry services, from Lytton and from Pinkenba, which are both near Brisbane. There are in fact no metalled roads on the island: all motor transport is by off-road (four wheel drive) vehicles. Moreton Island tours operate in these vehicles from Tangalooma, and from Bulwer (north west corner of the island). Some four wheeled drive vehicles operate as taxis on the island, and it is possible for visitors to bring their own vehicle by ferry. These vehicles can only be driven in certain parts of the island. Camping is also permitted in parts of Moreton Island. Permits should be obtained on the mainland before arrival.

There are numerous companies offering Moreton Island tours including Hooked On Moreton, Goanna Adventure Tours and Australia Day Tours. Goanna have tours lasting between one and three day tours. They also operate tours of Fraser Island, another, somewhat larger sand island to the north of Moreton Island. Tours usually depart from Brisbane Transit Centre, but can be joined at Tangalooma if you are already on the island.

There a wide variety of sights and experiences even on a short, one-day Moreton Island Tour. Tourists may spot a humpbacked whale (in season only), but will also spot many other large marine animals: dolphins, turtles and dugong. A professionally qualified guide will lead the group snorkelling at Tangalooma Wrecks, and group members might try sand boarding or tobogganing on the massive sand hills. Transport is by off-road, four wheel drive vehicles, and the route passes through eucalyptus forests and desert areas, before reaching the Pacific at the Eastern Beach.

Charlie Lindsay is passionate about writing, he writes ebooks, blog posts, newspaper articles and journal content articles.A typical Queenslander, Charlie Lindsay currently lives in the AustralianGold Coast where he reviews the areas hotels, motor inns as well as other vacation accommodations.