Moreton Island

This past weekend we took a weekend trip and went camping at Moreton Island. It's where the oil spills happened and it was the first time the beach was opened up to tourists again. We were all worried the oil spills would have majorly affected our trip so we weren't sure what to expect, but fortunately it didnt completely affect it. We couldn't go to Blue Lagoon because that area was still being cleaned up, but other than that, most of our trip went according to plan.

We left school around 6am on Saturday, drove into Brisbane, and took the ferry to the island. Once we got there, we settled at the camp, and drove around different places on the island. We started our day at one of the beaches, where we swam and hung out for a few hours. We went up to the Five Hills Lookout as well as the Cape Moreton Lighthouse (the 2nd oldest lighthouse in Australia!). The island was so pretty and I love being able to see all the different sights. From the lighthouse we could see an area affected by the oil spills. Its so unfortunate that it happened, and although alot of it is cleaned up, there is still alot to be done to get Moreton back to where it was at.

We spent the rest of the day at the beach and at night we enjoyed a campfire. They don't eat s'mores here, but being an American campfire necessity, we decided to improvise and make our own. Although they weren't the same as the real thing, we let our new Australian and Japanese friends try them and they loved them!

On Sunday, we got up early and after breakfast we headed out to The Desert where we went sandboarding. Sandboarding is kind of like sledding, but you're laying on a thin flat board and you go down a steep sand hill. It was really cool! After lunch, we made our way to the beach where we spent the afternoon going kayaking and snorkelling. After that, we made our way back to the camp to get our stuff together and went back to the beach to wait for the ferry. It was a fun weekend and I'm glad the oil spills didn't really affect it. I wish I could help clean up the oil spills, it just makes me so sad. Especially when we got there and they were helping to save a turtle. Poor turtle.

This upcoming weekend we are headed to Byron Bay for a girls out weekend. I'm not exactly sure what we have planned, but it should be a good time! It'll be my first weekend trip that isn't on a real tour. Which I guess at Byron you probably wouldn't need a tour. I'm still trying to plan a trip to Melbourne! I really want to go next month. It will probably be the last of my trips, which is really sad and crazy to think about. I wish I didn't have to leave Australia...