A campervan guide to your Stradbroke Island camping trip
Guide
By Lucille Burkitt
Minjerribah, Stradbroke, Straddie. Whichever you best know it as, this renowned sandy getaway has made a name for itself as being an unmissable stop off the coast of Queensland’s mainland. Being only one and a half hours from the Brisbane CBD, a Stradbroke Island camping trip is popular spot for those wanting to take a quick and restorative dip off one of the state’s most characteristic stretches of land.
There’s room for everyone on Straddie. There’s a passionate following of travellers and locals that give the sand island its flavour, but it’s always open to a new and adoring fan base. The most beautiful thing about choosing a Stradbroke Island camping trip is the gentle murmur of those around you enjoying the exact same place and experiencing it in so many different ways. Find yours.
Getting to Stradbroke Island
Photo by @ stradbrokeferries
One of the best ways to visit North Stradbroke Island is in a van. Drive wherever you please. Set up for the night in mere minutes. Perch on ocean roads to watch the sunrise from bed with the boot open. It’s the perfect mode of transport for adventurer seekers and those on a budget.
The ferry to your Stradbroke Island camping trip is only a 45-minute drive from Brisbane to Cleveland, and another 45-minute ferry ride to the island. Unlike Stradbroke’s famous K'gari sibling, you don’t need a 4WD to venture around. There are plenty of options for a grass roots stay on the island with sites for campervans available to accommodate your Straddie trip.
Book a spot for your campervan on Stradbroke Ferries from the end of Middle Street in Cleveland. The ferries operate seven days a week every hour from 6am and will get you to Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island. Park and head to the top deck of the ferry, from there you can start spotting the sea life – a little preview screening of your days to come.
Choose your own Stradbroke Island camping adventure
Photo by @stradbrokeferries
Just as the local turtles do, you carry your home with you. You can do so until you pull up for the evening at a beachfront campsite.
Unique in name and unique in nature, Minjerribah offers six beachside campsites for you to choose from on your Stradbroke Island camping trip. Minjerribah, meaning “island in the sun” in the local Aboriginal Nunukul language, is a shady grove that’s home to a village of tent and van sites for you to pull into for the night, without the need for a 4WD.
Soak up this traditional paradise, home to the Quandamooka peoples for over 25,000 years, at one of over 500 natural beachfront campsites. The van campsites all have facilities that bring home’s comforts on the road with you – power, BBQs and immaculate toilet and shower facilities.
While a short reprieve from life’s pressures is on the cards, WIFI is also available at Minjerribah’s van sites, so you can still upload a pic or two to commit the trip to your feed and remember for years to come. Minjerribah is family friendly and offers a range of accessible options if you give them a ring before your stay.
Explore the dunes, explore the food, explore the culture
Photo by @ stradbrokeferries
A Stradbroke Island camping trip offers you a short time to do everything or do nothing. Both equally as enjoyable as one another – you decide how much of either.
Find stillness exploring kilometres of beaches bordered by expanses of native forests and local wildlife. Encounter Australian icons on land and in water, renowned for intimate run-ins with dolphins, turtles, manta-rays, kangaroos and koalas, and if you’re lucky, a glimpse at the annual humpback whale migration.
Leave your van onsite for the day and venture out to any one of the heritage walks, art galleries, shops or eateries for the day. Avid surfers can head to Main Beach or Frenchman’s for the best swell, or if fishing lights your soul on fire, Flinders Beach is the place to drop a line.
Minjerribah hires out snorkel gear and stand up paddle boards so you won’t be short on water activities during your trip. If you’re content just soaking in the sea breeze and atmosphere, take along some binoculars for a chance to spot humpbacks between July and November.
Follow your appetite around Stradbroke Island, there’s plenty to taste test.
Line your stomach for the day ahead at Chillers Café, a French patisserie beneath Allure Resort, baking up baguettes, pastries and cakes daily – best coupled with a coffee. Walk up to the western headland to the Prawn Shack for a seafood lunch overlooking Frenchman’s Beach. There’s no rush of nostalgia like unwrapping a bundled butcher’s paper full of fresh prawns, bug, and oysters. Grab some supplies from Bob’s Shop (Foodworks Point Lookout) and finish the day back at your Stradbroke Island camping site for a barbeque fry up amidst like-minded travellers.
This, all before retiring to your van for the evening. An incredible place you’ll be itching to share with others. Stradbroke Island camping takes claim on your heart for good.
