We are Kiwis retired to Queensland where we have an idyllic cottage with a sea frontage on Lamb Island in Morton Bay, the island cluster on the Queensland coast between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
You may ask what you can do here? The short answer is "nothing". Its the sort of place to come and have the most relaxing holiday of your life, alone or with a couple of friends. Read, drink, eat, chat, swim, boat, watch TV, visit, travel, tour - everything is possible. But don't come if you don't want to relax and forget your other life.
We have renovated the cottage for our own use and spend most of our time there. Its a tiny, cute house with a main double bedroom and two beds for visitors on a mezzanine floor above the bedroom and bathroom along with a big vaulted lounge over two stories. There is a well finished kitchen and bathroom.
That's not all though. The property is small and covered in trees which attract a myriad of bird life and we are visited daily by Kookaburra's, lorikeets, cockatoos, curlews and pretty birds we have not identified yet which we feed from the deck. The nights are alive with the sounds of the tropics to the extent the birds may occasionally wake you. But the night sky is worth looking at as are the sunsets and moonscapes.
That's not all though. At the bottom of the garden is our beach .. its not a white sand island, but has small white pebbles and (in addition to stunning sea views) boasts a small foreshore forest of huge mature Australian mangroves - not the stunted NZ variety. You paddle the kayak through these and think you are in an enchanted forest. Beyond that is the sea - its tidal so when it goes out there are some long slow beaches which Kiwis might describe as mudflats ..but they are beautiful in themselves with ponds of many changing colours, sand banks in the water, hundreds of sea birds fishing and beyond that in channels of deep water leading to the other islands and on to other islands and the Coral Sea and eventually the Great Barrier Reef. At high tide the views are stunning and the swimming and boating a great warm water diversion.
This island is not white sand and coconut trees, but it is one of the most quiet, safe, relaxing places we have ever been. The bush, the birds, the sea, the sun and "island time" guarantee solitude and relaxation. Its proximity to the big city and white sand beaches make it a great base.
If you want the big city and white sands, you can get them in Brisbane to the North and Gold Coast to the south - realistically maybe an hour by ferry and motorway in either direction but the ferry trip is gorgeous and shot and the motorways efficient.
