Family Time

For many, nothing conjures up happy childhood memories quite like days spent swimming, exploring and playing at a favourite beach or park, and later tucking into a burnt sausage wrapped in a slice of white bread doused in tomato sauce cooked at the public barbeque. Somehow… they always seemed to taste better cooked this way.

Days spent playing on swings, slides and clambering up enormous Moreton Bay Fig trees, throwing a frisbee around to everyone including the dog, would tire us out before being trundled off to the family car, and reluctantly returning home.

You can relive these experiences with your family in the Moreton Bay and Islands region. It’s almost as if this region was tailor made for family fun. Throughout the coastal villages and on the islands there are plenty of shelters, barbecues, playgrounds (natural and purpose built, including the watery variety) dedicated picnic areas, toilet facilities and, most importantly, open space.

If your family owns a boat (lucky you), there are also several boat ramps both on the mainland and throughout the islands. Boats are also available for hire. There are a number of such operators on Bribie Island, for example, from where your family can have fun exploring the Pumice Stone Passage.

Long stretches of paths for cycling can also be found in all areas of the region. Several patrolled beaches are located on the mainland and on the islands.

Local family favourites

• Wynnum Wading Pool and adjoining playground is a much-loved destination for a family day out. The pool fills with seawater at high tide and is an ideal spot for kids to have some water fun, without having to venture out into the open water. At low tide, your kids will love chasing the legions of soldier crabs scuttling across the foreshore. Then finish off the day with ice-cream and fish and chips on the jetty.
  
  
• Most of the coastal villages have public swimming pool complexes and facilities for kids to enjoy during those hotter months, with many offering learn to swim classes too. Find these at Clontarf, Sandgate, Manly, Cleveland, Victoria Point, Deception Bay, Bribie Island. 
  
  
•  Spend a day on the bay on an organised cruise. Not just good, clean fun, these cruises are also highly educational – your children will learn about the wonderful marine environment of the bay, and also how to care for it, so their children can enjoy it in future years. Some operators are now specifically catering to children with marine education cruises.
  
  
•  You and your children will never forget the magical experience of feeding a dolphin. Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort on Moreton Island is one of the very few places in the world where wild dolphins can be hand fed. This resort is very family friendly with excellent swimming, banana rides, sand-tobogganing and much, much more for people of all ages to enjoy. 
  
  
• Why not head to Clontarf in Redcliffe, where the children can watch the flock of local pelicans being fed each morning at around 10am. On Sundays (1st & 3rd of each month) stay a little later and watch the skies above the beach fill with amazing kites in all shapes and sizes. 
  
  
•  The Wynnum Mangrove Broadwalk has a storybook trail for children to follow which teaches the importance of the mangrove environment and their purpose in the area. Keep walking along to the Wynnum North bird hide to view native birds feeding and resting in the wetlands to complete this nature excursion. 
  
  
•  For skateboarders, rollerbladers, and BMX-crazed kids, take them to one of the skate parks or BMX tracks in the region, and let them practice their latest tricks and moves. Top spots are at Cleveland, Deception Bay and Bribie Island. 
  
  
•  Take your family on an ‘overseas’ trip, and visit beautiful Coochiemudlo Island , just a short ferry ride from Victoria Point . This is a perfect family day out. Spot dophins on the ferry ride over, and spend the day swimming and picnicking on one of the sheltered beaches. There are plenty of shallow rockpools too, for the kids to explore. Mums and dads can simply soak up the relaxing atmosphere. 
  
  
• North Stradbroke Island offers you and your children a real “island adventure” experience. The island’s coastal areas are some of the best places to spot marine wildlife, while the hinterland offers four-wheel driving tracks through sub-tropical rainforest to tranquil lakes where your kids can safely splash around to their heart’s content. Brown Lake is such a spot, and is also accessible by conventional vehicle. Picnic areas are set amongst glorious nature and provide a point from which your children can safely explore and even pretend they’re shipwrecked on a desert island.