Redlands is a coastal area in greater Brisbane southeast of the city centre. More formally known as Redland City it is beautifully positioned on the shores of Morton Bay with extensive bushlands and well-developed infrastructure. You might be surprised at the many fun things to do in Redlands.
Walking and cycle paths
The Redlands has an excellent network of walking and recreational cycle paths many of them along the coastline, linking up bushland areas and on the islands in Morton Bay.
You can cycle on any footpath in Queensland unless there is a sign that says not to and those are rare. The bike gives way to pedestrians, should pass on the right where possible and sound its bell to alert others you are approaching.
North Stradbroke Island
North Stradbroke Island or Straddie to the locals is a large sand island around 30 minutes by ferry from Redlands. It has many great beaches, two large lakes surrounded in bush, an absolutely gorgeous gorge walk at the northern end of the island where we have watched sea turtles and dolphins on every visit and whales offshore during the winter migration.
We’ve been out here many times now and love it, you really will find it hard to believe that you are so close to the city with scenery, wildlife and relaxation like this. Don’t miss our list of things you must see and do on Straddie and you might also like this fun North Stradbroke day trip that we did by scooter.
Wellington Point
Wellington Point is a beach area and reserve at the northern end of the Redland coast. It’s a popular spot for families in the summer especially at high tide when the flat bay is great for cooling off. It’s also a popular launch spot for kayakers and windsurfing.
There’s a wharf for fishing and extensive green space with mature trees offering shade, there are toilet facilities, picnic tables, BBQ’s, a children’s’ playground and a cafe/takeaway along with a good amount of parking.
It’s a good spot for a picnic dinner in the heat of summer as it often catches a tiny bit of cooling breeze that others don’t.
Sirromet
Queensland isn’t known for its wine regions as some other parts of Australia are but Sirromet is very popular. Their large grass slopes and sound stage host many international acts, their cellar door offers a fun tasting experience, they have a casual alfresco area where you can sit out on the deck for a few wines and a share platter or lunch.
Lurleen’s Restaurant is a great choice for a special meal or you can join a wine tour here to take a look behind the scenes. A recent addition is high-end glamping tents if you are looking for somewhere a little different to stay in Brisbane.
Indigiscapes
Indigiscapes is a Council managed bushland reserve, walking trails, botanic garden featuring indigineous plants, kids playground, cafe and information centre. The walks are quite short but you have a fair chance of spotting a koala here, we have spotted them many times over the years.
While there is a cafe on-site you are equally welcome to bring your own food and make use of the picnic tables and BBQ facilities.
Read more and get our tips on planning your own visit here in our dedicated article on Indigiscapes.
King Island
King Island off Wellington Point is a tidal island, that means it’s connected by a sand bar that is exposed on the mid to low tide allowing you to walk out to the island around a kilometre offshore.
The island is under an acre in size and has reduced significantly over the past century as well moving further north. It sounds strange to hear an island is moving but the experts say it’s quite normal for sand islands to erode away on the side of the prevailing wind and accumulate sand on the opposing side.
It’s not every day you can say you walked to an island so this one might make an interesting addition to the weekend activities.
Crystal Waters park and lagoons
We have a full article on Crystal Waters on the site but it’s a lesser-known spot that is great for a quiet walk, there are picnic facilities and a well-equiped children’s play area, two large lagoons and plenty of birds and lizards to spot around the waters edge and surrounding trees.
The lagoons used to provide irrigation for the strawberry farms that grew around here but with the urban development it provides water management to protect surrounding areas from flood, habitat for wildlife and a great recreational space hidden away down the side streets.
Point Halloran
Located just above Victoria Point on the southern end of the Redland coast this area has good walking and cycle paths, waterfront parks and bushland walks. There’s a small beach area in Les Moore Park with picnic tables, a childrens park, toilets and some good shade trees if you want to bring your own seats or blankets to spread out.
Tidal flats run between Epipah Creek and the Point Halloran conservation area and you can walk the bushland tracks and out on to the salt flats during low tide. A green belt comprised of a series of parks, walking paths and the cycleway run south from here through Cameron Court Park, Victoria Park bushland refuge, Fodder park and Cascade Gardens as far as Colburn Ave and the Sharks Sporting Club.
Local markets
There is a range of local markets on the Redland Coast to suit your interests. Pictured below are the Twilight markets, these are held monthly at Raby Bay just across from the Cleveland train station. They run from 4 pm until 8 pm with around 65 stalls spaced around the edge of the harbour with crafts, food trucks, fashion and home-cooked goodies.
Another popular option is the Cleveland markets in Bloomfield Street, these are held every Sunday from 7 am until 1 pm. They started out 30 years ago as Brisbane’s original farmer’s markets and now host around 80 stallholders selling fresh produce, crafts, gifts and food.
Coochiemudlo Island
This little island has a small population living on the island and is only a short hop across from Victoria Point. The ferry takes 15 minutes and costs $5 for the short trip across but it does make a fun day out.
Once on the island, there are a few walks you can do including the Island Walk which is 5 km pretty much around the outside, the Mangrove walk at 3 km and the Reserve Walk at 2.6 km. There is a range of pretty beaches to visit, you can hire kayaks and SUPs on Main Beach to explore from the water, you can hire a tinnie, go fishing or play a 9-hole round of golf.
Venman Bushlands
We’ve been going to Venman Bushland for years after discovering it by chance in passing. It’s part of a substantial tract of interlinked wildlife corridor thanks for the foresight of Jack Venman who came up with the plan to restore it and then gifted it to the State to preserve for the future.
The piece of land is particularly viable for wildlife due to a dam on the site that we’ve seen get pretty low in the droughts but never completely run out of water. At the start of the tracks near the car parking is a really nice picnic and BBQ area.
There are two walks here, the longer Venman Track is a 7.6 km walk, it’s well-graded but quite open making it hot in summer so take your water bottle and there’s a good amount of up and downhill involved. The shorter second walk is the Tingalpa Creek Circuit and is only 2.5 km still with a bit of a gradient.
The bushlands are a great place for wildlife, watch out for lace monitors, wallabies, koalas, sugar gliders, frogs, other small lizards and geckos and a good variety of birds.
Daisy Hill Koala Parklands
While the Daisy Hill Koala Parklands entrance is technically in Logan, not Redlands, it’s part of the same tract of bushland and wildlife corridor as Venman Bushlands is so I’ve included it here.
The 570 hectares of open eucalypt forest is home to red-necked wallabies, koalas and many types of birds and reptiles. The wallabies aren’t hard to spot from the walking trails or even peering out at you from the bush surrounding the picnic tables. There was a cute set of ear’s peeping out of the pouch of this mum.
Koalas typically have the choice of many tall trees throughout the bushlands here and their preference is to spend the day sleeping high up, they are much harder to spot but keep looking, they are there. For a guaranteed koala sighting stop in at the Koala Centre which is open from 10 am until 3 pm (or 4 pm on the weekends).
There are 3 walks here depending on how much time you have and how far you want to go, starting with the 800 m tree discovery trail you’ll find picnic tables along the way, information boards about the habitat. There are a few steps and a bit of a slope but it’s easy walking.
The Spotted Gum trail is 4 km reasonably flat walk, the track is wide enough for a 4-wheel drive to get through for maintainence so it’s easy walking and a good one for bird watchers. The Buhot Creek Circuit is 9 km and passes waterholes in the old quarry that are surrounded by bush now, there are a few hills to navigate and the route isn’t as well marked in some parts.
Map of Redlands Coast attractions
Planning your visit to Redlands or looking for something to do in the area this weekend? We’ve mapped the main attractions on the map below so you can plan our your route.
If you found this useful please consider saving it to Pinterest. It makes it easy to find again, it helps us, and it helps other travellers to find the information they need.
The post 12 fun things to do in Redlands this weekend appeared first on 2 Aussie Travellers.
from 2 Aussie Travellers
No comments:
Post a Comment