Only 40 kilometers from the shoreline of Brisbane is the island paradise of Mulgumpin (Moreton Island). The wedge-shaped narrow island is only 10 kilometres wide and 37 kilometres long. It has the Coral Sea to the east and Moreton Bay Marine Park to the west.
The island is one of many that are nestled off the coast of Brisbane, and arguably the most gorgeous of all. The pristine natural wonders are world-class like neighboring K’Gari to the north, and North Stradbroke to the south. The largely untouched island has freshwater lakes fused with tea-tree (Melaleuca) oils, native flora and fauna, and the famed Tangalooma Wrecks. It is the third largest sand island in the world, with the world’s tallest established sand dune Mount Tempest (285m). This is why the island was named by First Nation people ‘Mulgumpin’, meaning ‘place of sandhills’.
The Tanglooma Wrecks are one of the main highlights of the island. 15 ships were purposefully sunk in the 1960s-1970s, and over the decades has formed a unique marine ecosystem. The sunken ships are like a scene from Kevin Costner’s Waterworld movie, and the underwater marine life is as abundant as Finding Nemo. When you snorkel the wrecks you will see an array of fish and coral among the vintage ship formations.
The Moreton Bay Marine Park is protected, as it has resident dolphin, dugong, and turtle populations, and reef sites Flinders Reef and Tangalooma Wrecks. Moreton Island is famous for its friendly and interactive dolphins, attracting marine biologists from around the world.
The island has no sealed roads and rolling sandhills among eucalyptus-lined 4WD tracks to idyllic hidden camping spots and sheltered she-oak trees to protect more than 50,000 migratory birds.
