As is our want we took ourselves to the water's edge today and embarked on a passenger ferry to Lamb and McLeay Islands on the southern reaches of Moreton Bay.
Our intention was to look for a place to live so we were house hunting with a list of boxes we wanted to tick -- or not tick..
It was an unusually chilly day for Moreton Bay so the islands were not at their sunny side best. Nonetheless the geography was impressive and we looked at about a dozen homes on McLeay (about 6 kilometres long) and Lamb Island -- its much smaller neighbour to the east.
If everything goes well we'll be living there in a great place upon a hill north east of the main jetty on Lamb Island -- but in easy walking distance to the ferry.
There's not much in the way of commercial activity on Lamb -- just one shop -- and about 400 people, give or take the season.A 5 minute ferry ride will get you to MacLeay Island which has many of the standard suburban attributes such as beer, espresso, post office and groceries. A similar suburbaneity exists on the larger Russell Island.
But I'm sold -- so much that I'm buying*. The public transport is an easy call. Buses to Brisbane or the train meet every ferry arrival. Island hopping is easy by the same means and that's without actually using some sort of water craft you may captain.Residents have cars on these islands and that's a pity as with a little bit of imagination these could be car free places. But since it costs so much to ferry vehicles to and from the island, motor vehicles aren't a massive factor in island life--although car parking on the mainland at Redland Bay is.
But imagine: car free if you want to be! You live out of granny style shoppping trolleys.They are an islands icon: cheap carry all solution for stocking the larder.
And two wheels -- bicycles, electric bikes, and maybe motorbikes or step throughs.
And water craft -- kayak, tinnie, sailing boat...
But imagine: car free if you want to be! You live out of granny style shoppping trolleys.They are an islands icon: cheap carry all solution for stocking the larder.
And two wheels -- bicycles, electric bikes, and maybe motorbikes or step throughs.
And water craft -- kayak, tinnie, sailing boat...
If we don't get the house we have in mind -- give us time and we'll certainly get another.
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Most of the homes we were interested in had accompanying separate guest quarters. The best one, a self contained granny flat. So if you are nice to me,and there is no one's granny booked in -- think of the sleep overs! Imagine this: you get on a bus or train in Brisbane CBD and an hour later you are boarding the ferry for Lamb Island for a few days seaside respite.
Lucky you.
( I wonder if there's a market for under-the-counter B&Bing...?)
The soil on these islands is a rich sandy red loam --thus the local Redland Bay . This topsoil used to be the source of much of Brisbane vegetables and many fruits and Lamb Island used to be among other enterprises, mango farms. The places we are interested in have a lot of this loamey covering..So rather than muck about in a packet sized vegey patch, I can look at some serious garden growing.
* We're shopping to buy at just under $300,000
