Moreton Island Day Trip from Brisbane

Moreton Island is a beautiful sand island sitting off the coast of Brisbane. Surrounded by crisp blue sea water, draped in fine white sand and known for its incredible natural beauty and wildlife, Tangalooma Resort on Moreton Island needs to be your next holiday destination. Being the third largest sand island in the world and located only 75 minutes off the coast of Brisbane via ferry, Moreton Island is one of the most easily accessible tranquil holiday destinations in Australia.

This Moreton Island travel guide will help you uncover some the most unforgettable things to do during this day trip from Brisbane. From whale watching to dizzying activities like parasailing and desert safari tours, Tangalooma Resort has activities for everyone.

Best Time to Visit Moreton Island

We visited Moreton Island during the last week of November, on a Monday to be exact. And this was the absolute best time to visit Moreton Island as it was between school holidays and prior to the Christmas holidays so there were very few people on the island (comparing to if we visited on a weekend). We had no issues finding free lounge chairs to use by the pool and queues for food were relatively short.

The weather was incredibly hot and humid, which made for an interesting time lounging by the pool as we were constantly jumping in and out of the water to stay cool, but it was the perfect weather for ocean based activities.

• Spring (Sep–Nov) Mild temperatures, clear skies, and warm water are ideal for activities like swimming and snorkeling. It’s also a good time for whale watching and seeing nesting turtles in late spring.
• Autumn (March–May): Excellent weather with clear blue skies, mild temperatures, and warm water perfect for swimming and snorkeling. This is a great time for fewer crowds and good fishing conditions.
• Winter (June–Aug) Cooler temperatures make it ideal for exploring the island, and it’s prime time for whale watching from June to November.
• Summer (Dec–Feb) The hottest time of year with high humidity. It’s best if your main focus is on activities like swimming, snorkeling, and sunbathing in the warm water. Avoid this period if you don’t like crowds, as it coincides with Australian school holidays. 

Moreton Island Accommodation

Tangalooma Resort is home to majority of the accommodation on Moreton Island. Hotel rooms, family suites and holiday home rentals can all be found on the Tangalooma resort website.

Tangalooma resort is the perfect place for families to stay or for couples who have mixed ideas about what a holiday involves. You can either relax by either of the two fresh water pools or soak up the salt air on the white sand beach, or you can dive head first into any of the incredible activities on offer at Tangalooma Resort.

Moreton Island Ferry

The Moreton Island ferry departs from Holt Street wharf in Pinkenba, Brisbane with the earliest departure at 7:30am, travel time is approximately 75 minutes each way. I highly recommend getting the earliest ferry as it gives you all day to enjoy the island.

The last ferry departs from Tangalooma Island Resort at 7pm which is once the dolphin feeding has ended. We caught the very first ferry to the resort and the very last one back which gave us the perfect length of time to truly enjoy Tangalooma island resort. leaves from *wharf* every day at *times*. The ferry features a small bar where you can purchase light refreshments.

Moreton Island Shipwrecks Snorkelling

Our first activity once we got to Tangalooma resort was to get kitted up for snorkeling, which the Moreton Island Shipwrecks snorkeling was the definitely the highlight of our week in Brisbane. This snorkeling adventure is set against a dramatic backdrop of 15 different shipwrecks that were deliberately sunk just off the shore of Moreton Island between 1963 and 1984 to create a safe anchorage for recreational boats and an artificial reef.

The Moreton Island shipwrecks have since become home to a multitude of different species of fish, and turtles can often be found diving between the wrecks for food. We actively snorkeled for about 30 minutes, which was plenty of time in the water as I tired myself out diving to see more of the wrecks.

At several points during the swim I inadvertently joined several schools of fish and was absolutely surrounded by friendly bug eyed fish swimming within inches of my hands and face. I’m extremely guttered I didn’t have an underwater camera with me so you’ll just have to take my word for it being as awesome as I describe.

We were provided with full body wet suits, snorkel, masks and flippers, and the choice of a life jacket if you aren’t the most confident swimmer. You are separated into groups and a guide takes you along each wreck, talking about how each one got there and any other interesting information about the sea life you may come across.

The guide has a bright orange life ring with him the whole time, the boat is never too far away and there is a guide cruising around on a jet ski so all the right safety precautions are put into place to make sure everyone has a safe and enjoyable swim.

We booked our Moreton Bay outdoor activities through the Tangalooma Island Resort website which made the process super easy; our ticket included a return ferry trip, our snorkeling and dolphin feeding activities and all day access to the day lounge which gave us access to hot showers, free towels for use at the resort and free tea and coffee.

Tangalooma Dolphin Feeding

One of the experiences on Moreton Island is the Tangalooma Dolphin feeding, this is where you get the chance to hand feed a wild dolphin next to the Tangalooma pier before the last ferry leaves every evening. The Tangalooma Dolphin feeding experience is totally dependant on whether conditions and Dolphin availability, as they are wild there is no guarantee that the Dolphins will actually show up, however they have been doing this Tangalooma experience every evening so it has a pretty good success rate.

However, if you want my honest opinion on Tangalooma Dolphin feeding; I would suggest you save your money and just pay for the viewing experience from the pier.

Sure, it’s cool to say that I ‘fed a Dolphin’, but there was about 60 other people lined up on the beach to feed the two Dolphins that arrived for feeding time. This meant we were quickly ushered into the water, and once the dolphin took the fish from our hand we were then very quickly ushered out for the next people to have their turn.

Understandably we aren’t allowed to swim with or try and touch the Dolphins, but we weren’t allowed the stand in the water and watch the Dolphins swim around, which we had a terrible view of from the beach anyway because of the lighting as the feeding is done at night. Everyone had to stand back on the beach and wait their turn.

It was much more magical watching the Dolphins ducking and diving in the water from above on the pier. Other people were able to grab great videos from the viewing platform whereas we had a very distorted view from the beach because of the waves and the amount of people standing in front of us having their feed.

Disclaimer: I understand these are wild animals and the less human contact they have the better they are for it. Also, humans are terrible and you can’t trust everyone to be respectful when up close with a Dolphin, so of course it is understandable that you can’t have many people in the water crowding them. But at the end of the day the photos and videos that we saw on the website prior to purchasing a ticket showed a much more slower and calmer experience to the one we had.

We were very surprised to see 60+ people lining up at the pier as I thought an experience like this would have limited tickets – due to safety concerns for the animal and purchaser experience etc.

So if you’re looking for an intimate Dolphin experience then this is not the one, however if you want to say that you have fed a wild Dolphin then it’s the perfect experience!

Moreton Island Wildlife

Moreton Island is home to a wide variety of wildlife; from dolphins, turtles and gorgeous fish that aren’t afraid of human company. To birds and reptiles like pelicans, kookaburras and various lizards.

Every day you can head along to the free activities they have on the island, two of which include pelican feeding at the pier and kookaburra feeding further along the beach. This is where you have the opportunity to learn more above these incredible birds and the conservation efforts that are going into keeping them safe from man made destruction.

Other Things to do on Moreton Island

Moreton Island is full of wonderful experiences but of course I haven’t indulged in them all. The following list of things to do on Moreton Island are worth adding to you Brisbane travel guide. The following experiences can easily be booked through the Tangalooma Resort website.

• Whale watching
• Four wheel drive tours
• Sunset cruise
• Scenic helicopter flight
• Stand up paddle boarding and glass bottom kayak