Top 5 things for families to do on Mulgumpin (Moreton Island)

Mulgumpin (Moreton Island) is the third largest sand island in the world. Situated just off the coast of southeast Queensland, it’s easily accessible by ferry from Brisbane and makes a great destination for a family camping trip.

Whether it’s your first time driving on sand or your 100th, it is always great fun and there are other holidaymakers around to help if you do get yourself bogged.

Mulgumpin’s 10 camping areas are scattered around the island and accessible only by four-wheel drive. They have varying facilities: Ben Ewa, Comboyuro, North Point and Blue Lagoon have toilets, bore water taps and showers. The other camps are more remote and you will need to be self-sufficient.

If it’s your first family camping trip, staying at one of the camp sites with more facilities may be a gentler way to ease everyone into it.

I’ve holidayed on Mulgumpin with my family lots of times; it’s our favourite! School holidays are the perfect time to enjoy going on a family vacation. As a mum of two, family car journalist and founder of BabyDrive.com.au, here are my family’s top five things to do on Mulgumpin (Moreton Island)…

As you approach Mulgumpin on the ferry you are struck by the 15 ships sticking out of the bright turquoise sea. They were sunk here by the Queensland Government between 1963 and 1984 to provide a safe anchorage spot for recreational boat owners on the eastern side of Moreton Bay.

Since then, all sorts of corals, fish, and sea creatures have made the wrecks home, making it the perfect spot for snorkelling.

Conveniently, a hire company is set up on the beach near the wrecks, so if you don’t have your own equipment or you want to try something new, like the transparent kayaks, it’s easy.

We like to take the kids over to the wrecks at low tide on our stand-up paddle boards as they can get quite tired just swimming out to them.

A great family day out is a drive down the eastern beach to the southern point of Mulgumpin, to the little township of Kooringal. Home to the Gutter Bar and the oyster farm.

Driving down to Kooringal is fun but you have to time it carefully with the tides. We drive the length of the beach down, enjoy a delicious lunch at the Gutter Bar, nip across to the oyster farm and drive the length of the beach back to camp before the tide comes in.

The Gutter Bar is a characterful place with delicious food and provisions in its little store if you have forgotten or run out of anything.

My kids look forward to playing on the crab and turtle among a selection of old buoys in the Gutter Bar’s garden, when they’re feeling deprived of playgrounds and entertainment!

It’s a short drive from here to Kooringal Oysters, where native oysters are farmed. The native oysters take three years to grow and are high maintenance compared to the non-natives farmed everywhere else in Australia, which only take three months to grow. To avoid getting seaweed and barnacles growing all over them, they take the native oysters out, clean their shells and return them to the water every few months. It’s a labour-intensive process, but I’d say it’s worth it because they taste delicious!

Sandboarding at The Desert is a must with kids! These huge sand dunes are only accessible by vehicle via Tangalooma Bypass (unless you are game for a steep and challenging bush walk with a sandboard under your arm). The inland track is soft, deep sand in places, and it is the part of the island where I’ve almost never failed to see people getting bogged. Make sure your tyres are let down sufficiently and all your recovery gear is onboard and ready to access.

The Desert sand dunes are great fun, the largest one being a hot walk to the top whatever the weather but worth it for the long, fast ride back down. The best thing to use for sandboarding is a piece of Masonite, which you can get from Bunnings before you go. Cut it into strips around 30cm x 150cm (Bunnings can do this for you) and rub candle wax all over the glossy side so it glides easily over the sand. Otherwise, a boogie board rubbed with wax on the back will work too.

It’s a great, fun activity racing down the sand dunes and seeing who can go the furthest!

The only accessible freshwater lake on Mulgumpin, Blue Lagoon makes for a very refreshing swim.

Although I’ve only seen the water look blue once in my many visits, the Blue Lagoon’s water is actually slightly brown due to the natural tea tree oils from the surrounding vegetation that mix with the pure underground water coming up through the sandy soil.

A swim here leaves you feeling so clean and refreshed that signs have had to be put up so people don’t bathe or wash clothes here!

Champagne Pools are a band of volcanic rock and sandstone that form a break wall from the crashing waves at North Point beach. The bubbly waves crash and cascade champagne-like down over the rocks and into the crystal-clear pool below where you can swim.

Whether you are camping at North Point, or you drive up there for the day, It’s a beautiful place for a family dip. Look carefully in the water of Champagne Pools as there are lots of little stripy fish and the rocky walls are teeming with sea life too.

It’s a quick walk over the headland to Honeymoon Bay, where you also have a view of the island’s historic lighthouse. Honeymoon Bay is great for kids to explore the interesting rock colours and formations.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au