Adventure Awaits on Tangalooma Moreton Island – Plan Your Getaway

Tangalooma Resort gives you access to one of Australia’s best-kept secrets, Moreton Island. And the best bit? If you’re short on time you can get there and back in as little as four nights on a getaway cruise from Sydney. Offering relaxing days at sea plus a full day to explore Moreton Island, short getaway cruises offer the full cruise holiday experience in just a few days.

Moreton Island is the world’s third-largest sand island – in the local Aboriginal language, it’s fittingly known as Mulgumpin, meaning “place of sandhills”.

More than 95 per cent of the island is protected as Moreton National Park, all ringed by azure lagoons where dolphins and whales frequently play. This is your backyard when visiting Tangalooma Island Resort, Moreton Island, a place where wandering barefoot along the sand, getting salty and enjoying ocean views is not only accepted – but positively encouraged.

Where is Tangalooma Island Resort, Moreton Island?

Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, may not have beaches in the city, but it has Moreton Island, a dreamy droplet in the bay just 40 kilometres to the northeast.

How to get there

Given its proximity to Brisbane, getting to Moreton Island is a breeze.

By cruise

Carnival offers several cruise options that take you to Moreton Island, where you spend a full day playing in the water and on the sand or getting more adventurous in the national park.

If you’re short on time, or craving a quick escape for a few days, Carnival’s short getaway cruises from Sydney to Moreton Island will allow you to explore this patch of paradise in just four nights. Relax and enjoy fun days at sea on your way, and then spend a day exploring this beautiful island.

If time is on your side, Carnival’s 9- and 10-day Great Barrier Reef cruises from Sydney explore Queensland’s Coral Sea, pausing in Cairns and Airlie Beach before you head ashore to Moreton Island.

Day trip from Brisbane

Drive just 20 minutes from the centre of Brisbane and you’ll arrive at the city’s Holt Street Wharf in Pinkenba. From here, four ferries depart daily for Moreton Island (there are the same number of returns), with the journey taking just 75 minutes. You’ll alight and be able to walk straight into the resort. Moreton Island also has sand roads, which means that it is open to visitors with 4WDs. If you’re bringing over your car, the Micat barge departs from the Port of Brisbane and drops you off on the island, a five-minute drive from Tangalooma Resort. Note: as most of the island is a national park, you do require an access permit in advance to drive here.

Best things to do on Moreton Island

Snorkelling the Tangalooma Wrecks

While shipwrecks are normally an ominous sign of bad weather and poor conditions, the ones just offshore from Tangalooma Island Resort were scuttled there on purpose. They date back to the 1960s, and over the decades have become home to all manner of wondrous coral formations and schools of tropical reef fish. The best way to experience the wrecks is by joining a guided snorkel tour, where you’re whisked to the wrecks by boat before jumping into the water. If you’re a confident swimmer, you can also explore on your own – just wander up the beach from the resort, keeping a lookout for the iconic silhouette, then swim out with your mask and flippers at the ready.

Sand tobogganing on the deserted sand dunes

Feel the need for speed? You’ve come to the right place. Moreton Island’s dunes in the Tangalooma Desert are some of the most impressive on the planet. One, Mount Tempest, is thought to be the highest coastal dune in the world, rising 285 metres from the sea. Needless to say, the best way to explore is at full-throttle – jump on your toboggan and hurtle down at speeds of up to 40 kilometres an hour. Carnival can take you there on the Desert Safari guided Shore Excursion and then supply you with boards for your day of fun.

Whale watching

Between mid-June and mid-October, some 30,000 whales migrate along the east coast of Australia to give birth and feed calves in warm waters. If you’re visiting at this time of year, these gentle giants should be on your radar. You can spot them at certain points on land, including the Cape Moreton Cliffs. But you can also spend some time cruising the ocean on the lookout for pods swimming north (early in the season) or south, on their way home to Antarctica. There’s nothing quite as thrilling as seeing a humpback breach and blow up close.

Kayaking around the Island

If you don’t like the idea of getting your hair wet but still want to see Moreton’s incredible marine life, a glass-bottomed boat kayak adventure is the way to go. Glide around the Tangalooma wrecks and explore the island’s hidden covers at a leisurely pace on a guided tour. We recommend wearing a swimsuit because you will want to fall into the water at some point.

Quad biking adventure

Get a dose of adventure on an exhilarating ATV quad bike ride on the bush trails of Tangalooma Island Resort. You’ll see a unique side of the island as you navigate through a series of thrilling twists and turns with stunning ocean views as your backdrop. Led by professional guides, riders of all experience levels are welcome.

Visit Cape Moreton Lighthouse

Striped in red and white like a 23-metre Christmas candy cane, the Cape Moreton Lighthouse sits pretty at the northern tip of the island. It first began warning ships of land back in 1857 because of increasing traffic to the northern coast. Now it’s a great place to spot whales and dolphins and gain some perspective of this pocket of the island. You can get here on a Cape Moreton Northern Explorer Shore Excursion.

Planning your perfect Tangalooma getaway

Moreton Island is a very special pocket of Queensland, not only for the fact that it’s so accessible, but also for the diversity of water and land activities packed into such a small space. If you want to get the most out of your stay here, we recommend trying the 4-Day Tangalooma – Moreton Island from Sydney. Enjoy fun sea days on the cruise as you travel there and back and a full day to explore Moreton Island. Be sure to book Shore Excursions well in advance to make the most of your time on this beautiful island.