North Stradbroke Island (Straddie)

Genevieve invited us to spend the day with Bronte and Zach at Stradbroke Island. It is a large sand island that is just a ferry ride from Brisbane. We caught an early ferry out and then a late ferry back and had the most wonderful day filled with amazing memories!

We started off at the Gorge Walk. It is a walk along the ocean with these amazing cliffs and a gorge that was carved out by the ocean. The water color was a turquoise. We spotted a sea turtle in the water and a couple kangaroos along the footpath.

Derek and Rylie walking the Gorge Walk with Bronte and Zack

This friendship was a blessing that I was not expecting. 

Its been so fun to watch the kiddos play together.

The kangaroo on the right is a Mama and she has a joey in her pouch! 

I got this picture just before she hopped off into the bush.

Exploring the rocks along the water

After exploring the rocks the kids climbed up and ran down a huge sand dune. We got some great videos of them running with all their might...Here is Derek after he took a couple tumbles (on purpose) as he was running down. They loved it and did it 3 times.

We played in the surf at Cylinder Beach. To get to the beach you had to wade across a huge lagoon filled with water. It was pretty neat. The waves were very big and we had to hold onto the kids. The water was crystal clear and with their goggles on the kids could see under the water. It was so much fun to play in the surf. Derek and Rylie are getting pretty good at knowing how to surf the waves.

After swimming in Cylinder Beach for quite some time we headed to lunch at the nearby pub. 

Not a bad view for lunch, hey?!

Near the beach entrance was a huge group of trees the kids called "the bird's nest." 

Climbing this tree was super fun.

After a fun day of swimming in the ocean, playing on the beach, running down the sand dunes, climbing the rocks by Deadman's beach we took the ferry home.