Help a Yank! Sand Tobogganing Moreton Island

[TV Dad]

Greetings Australian cruisers! I'm an American, who will be visiting Australia in 2020 and I need some help. We'll be visiting Moreton Island on our cruise next March. We have heard sand tobogganing on the dunes is a great adventure. I have not found any companies on-line offering rides. Any suggestions?

[Docker123]

 

A number of companies are listed in this link.

 

https://www.visitbrisbane.com.au/information/articles/activities/sandboarding-on-moreton-island?sc_lang=en-au

 

We used to do this as kids, also on grass banks, in Perth. As my mother says, “there’s no snow in Perth you silly child”.

[Bubbeh]

11 hours ago, Docker123 said:

We used to do this as kids, also on grass banks, in Perth. As my mother says, “there’s no snow in Perth you silly child”.

When the kids were young we used to spray Pure & Simple (do they still even make that?) on the bottom of large pieces of cardboard and they'd toboggan down the grass slopes of the local park.  

[SinbadThePorter]

13 hours ago, TV Dad said:

Any suggestions?

 

You will be tendering to Tangalooma resort. Just to the left of the wharf where you arrive there will be tours advertised, including sandboarding.

[lyndarra]

You can start practicing now by eating sand.😀

[GUT2407]

Used to do it all the time, either down the grass into the lake or up Nelson Bay way, great fun, all you need is a bit of cardboards and a goof grass or sand slope, no way I’d pay for the pleasure.

[JohnGc]

When I was a kid I tried surfing down a concrete sea wall on a bit of cardboard, burnt me bum.☹️

[lyndarra]

34 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

Used to do it all the time, either down the grass into the lake or up Nelson Bay way, great fun, all you need is a bit of cardboards and a goof grass or sand slope, no way I’d pay for the pleasure.

I used to make my own sand "ski". A length of floor board varnished and waxed. Made a small seat at the back and a piece of inner tube at the front for a foot hold like on a water ski. My mates and I would then hitch hike, walk or bike it over to the Belmont dunes. It was good exercise climbing back up the dunes after each run.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

When we were on the farm we used to collect the bowls of the Nikau Palm fronds and use then them to sit in and  then slide down the steepest hill or bank we could find.

 

 

[valantine80]

When we visited Tangalooma on a cruise a couple of years ago some of the island tours were not available to cruise ship passengers. You had to have booked on board to be able to do the tours.

Walking up those sand hills is hard work.

[MicCanberra]

Yes, book onboard, there are limited things to book once ashore and the ship gets the exclusive use.

[floatingpepperpot]

I have visited Tangalooma on Moreton island every year for the past 30 years. The sand tobogganing  is great fun ( I’m a bit passed it now). You need to book either on the cruise ship or at the resort. If you wait to book at the resort it will be booked out so I strongly recommend you book the ship tour. If you miss out on the tour you can actually walk to The Desert and see the sand dunes. You won’t be able to Tabogan as you won’t have a board but the views you see of the island on the way are fantastic. You can get a map at reception we usually walk up on the route behind the resort and come back along the beach. It takes 30 to 45 minutes one way quite a hard walk lots of steps up and down hill and on sand but I’m old and unfit and still manage it! When the kids were young we discovered the walk and started taking our homemade sand boards made out of Masonite much cheaper than doing the tour! 

Edited October 11, 2019 by floatingpepperpot