Exploring Cobby Cobby Island, southern Moreton Bay

Transcription

1 Upstreampaddle Summer Mention paddling to Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay, and many people think that such a trip involves a sea passage across ten kilometers of open water, exposed to the wind and tide. Down near the southern tip of North Stradbroke, it is less than five kilometres in a straight line, from mainland to the island. From Cabbage Tree Point there is a maze of mangrove lined channels that makes for a seven kilometre paddle to Slipping Sands on North Stradbroke. The furtherest that the paddler will be from the bank is 200 metres; there are no wide open spaces to cross. Because the mangroves are sparse on the channel banks, there is no sense of being isolated and locked into a tiny creek. Stradbroke, Russell, Short and Cobby Cobby Islands remain in sight as you follow the twists and turns of the passages. At more than half tide it is possible to do a return circuit around Cobby Cobby, calling in at Slipping Sands on Stradbroke Island, on the way. Cobby Cobby has a wide perimeter of treeless mudflats on the western side. The high and dry island in the centre is about a kilometer long, north south, and 300 to 400 metres wide. It is covered with trees, and has an understory of grass, lantana, and thorny vine that is open enough to easily walk through. Occasional small clumps of sandstone dot the forest floor. The best place to land is from the northern channel that runs between Cobby Cobby and Russell Islands. Here the mud is firm, and the distance from landing to the island is short. A grey and yellow lettered National Park sign proclaims the area as National Park, Moreton Bay Southern Section. A large raft of purple sampire grass covers the mudflats to the west, and Casuarina trees grow above the high tide line. When I walked up under the trees an Agile Wallaby slowly moved away. Halfway up the south western side of Cobby Cobby, in the southern channel, an oyster covered rocky reef is uncovered at low tide, and a small hummock of land runs down to meet it. On that small rise used to be a crabbers hut. (see photograph above)

2 Upstreampaddle Summer purple samphire on the north west side of Cobby Cobby. The sugar mill steam plume is barely visible to the right of the dead tree bracken, and vine understory on Cobby Cobby.

3 Upstreampaddle Summer casuarinas on the litttoral zone old fence and cleared mangroves burnt out crabbers hut bottle midden behind the hut site Cobby Cobby from SE tip of Russell Island Cabbage Tree Point launch - low tide

4 Upstreampaddle Summer Over a decade ago, locals say, Council or the Queensland Government burnt out the hut on Cobby Cobby Island. The hut looks untouched since the embers cooled. These huts were home to people for well over 100 years. The bottle midden behind the ruins is twenty metres long and four metres wide. Notice the kerosene fridge parts and the iron bed frames. Driving to Cabbage Tree Point Jacobs Well Road turns off from the South East freeway (going south) just before Yatala. It is 12 kilometres down to turn into Shortcut Road, then 3.2 kilometres more to join the Jacobs Well to Cabbage Tree Point Road. It is only 800 metres to the left to Cabbage Tree Point. Slipping sands, Stradbroke Island Launching A wide concrete ramp is at the end of the road in. At high tide you can launch off a clean sandy beach on either side of the ramp. Move your vehicle back to the car park when you have rigged up. During the week you should find space under a shady tree to park. Paddling The southern channel is really only an option at half tide or more. The tide can race at 5 kph through here, so working with the tide is a good idea. You will find out that different channels fill from different directions. An example of this is that the southern channel past Cobby Cobby ebbs towards Stradbroke, not towards Cabbage Tree. Walking around on Cobby Cobby The undergrowth beneath the trees is fairly open, but there is a thorny vine that is unforgiving. Wear long pants and shoes. Eight hundred metres down from the north is the high point of the island. The ridge gently rises in the middle of the island to maybe 15 metres above the mudflats. Out to the west from that high point the mangroves are cleared. Whether that was from the 1997 hail storm that National Parks say killed 13 hectares of mangroves, or from human action, I do not know. The remains of a wooden post fence run along the western edge. The walker here will definitely have a sense of being on land that is rarely visited.

5 Upstreampaddle Summer