Coconut palms of Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia.

[Walter John]

Hello dear listeners, well I've been away and now I'm back for a short time so I thought I'd post some photos. I stayed on Straddie for a week with some family and friends recently, I swam every day, drank every night (bar one) in moderation of course (bar one night on the margaritas), played guitar, wrote songs, had a bloody great time. I discovered that Straddie has plenty palm trees around, in particular, Cocos nucifera and some were full with fruit. This island has it's own climate, separate from the mainland, so it is not surprising to see fruiting coconut palms. I didn't take my good camera, just used my Samsung phone cam. Here's a slice of some photos.

[Walter John]

More....

[Walter John]

Finally...check out the fruit on some of these.

[Walter John]

Oh, and here's the miserable view I had all week from the balcony of our rented house. That's Frenchman's Beach by the way, often chock full of Noahs.

[Daryl]

Nice one Wal...so I take it you didn't go for a dip at the beach???

Daryl

[paulgila]

for those of us who dont speak "english" a "Noah" is...???

[Mandrew968]

for those of us who dont speak "english" a "Noah" is...???

A mythical creature who used to run a really big boat?

[Kim]

Noah's ark, rhymes with ...

Nice vacay pics, WJ, glad you had a good time.

[paulgila]

shark.

[Walter John]

Nice one Wal...so I take it you didn't go for a dip at the beach???

Daryl

Not at Frenchman's Daz but I swam every day, usually twice down at Cylinder Beach and when Main was open, down there. We had Sth easters blowing strong so that closes Main beach and Sth Gorge.

shark.

That's it Paul sorry for the colloquialisms, Noah's Ark = Shark. Then you just say "Noah's" to shortcut again, it goes on a lot like that here, no wonder nobody knows what we're talking about.

Here's a younger Cocos in shade at Amity Point.

This is Main Beach and that's the Point Lookout life saving club on the right. You can only get there via ferry, thank goodness, imagine the influx if a bridge was built to connect Straddie to the mainland. Did I mention this is one of my fav places on the planet ?

[Tyrone]

Thanks for the pics Wal. I love Straddie. We went there on our first trip to QLD back in 2000. This was the trip that made me want to plant a rainforest at our place. I reckon the climate on Straddie would be perfect for lots of tropical stuff. I remember a small tidal creek that was on the road when you turn left to point Amity? from the main settlement where you get off the ferry. This tidal creek was beautiful, where colourful stingrays came right up into the forest, and pacific blue eyes met the salt water of the ocean. I modelled my own little creek later I built in my palm garden on this creek but it was nothing like the real thing. You can't beat nature and at the end of the day I didn't have a tidal mangrove swamp in my garden to play with.

Stradbroke Island is great.

[Ken Johnson]

I was reading that it is the second largest sand island in the world. What does that mean? lots of rock?

Thanks for the pics. Twas a special treat.

[Daryl]

I was down the beach at the weekend too Wal...not an island, but Fingal Head...although Cook Island is a couple of hundred metres away.

I have never been to North Straddie, even though it is not that far away...gotta do a Ratpack trip over there I think!

Ok, not a palm, but a Pandanus tectorius in habitat

The beach

Surfing near Cook Island..

Daryl

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Nice place Wal

Must get back up there one day