Whales breaching 100m from shore. Powder white sand fringing crystal clear island water. Kangaroos hopping languidly past your tent. Six year old banshees from the neighbouring campsite competing with Curlews to provide your sunrise wake up call. Cylinder Beach on Stradbroke Island is, perhaps, a glorious juxtaposition.
In many ways, this is paradise on earth. Cylinder Beach is postcard beautiful – and on a good day would be hard to beat anywhere in the world. With no high rise, and just a forested dune and rocky headlands as a backdrop it is very easy to relax.
The campgrounds are just an amble to the beach – with the best sites affording filtered ocean view through the banksias and pandanus. And, while you do have to go to some effort and expense to get here – it is in effect less than 2 hours total travel time from Brisbane (4 hours from Toowoomba), and not really what you would call “off the beaten track”.
As camping goes, this is in fact very, very comfortable. There is a great “coffee hut” right next to the campground, excellent amenities (including hot showers and a laundry), and it’s just a stroll to the shops including a bakery, a Foodworks and some of the best gelato you’ll find this side of Sicily.
Did I mention you are also within stumbling distance to one of the best pubs on the East Coast - The Stradbroke Island Beach Hotel? This alone probably makes Cylinder Beach one of the prime “go to” camping destinations during the September School Holidays NRL and AFL footy finals period.... and when you throw in a Rugby World Cup, it is an absolute no brainer!
Needless to say, this joint is popular.
Within easy access to Brisbane, and with good tar roads connecting much of Straddie – Cylinder Beach is a favourite destination for some of Vegas’s more affluent young families. And that’s fine – just be careful not to back your Hilux into one of the Volvos, Audis or Range Rovers scattered around the campground carpark. From bitter experience, this can be rather embarrassing – and expensive!
Straddie can also be a bit of a “pre-schoolies” hot-spot – and while Cylinder is supposedly off limits to the celebrating young ‘uns – if you are holidaying here in September, it’s probably advisable to take down your hammocks before bedtime, or you just might find a few unexpected canoodlers enjoying your hospitality….if you get my drift.
Why Cylinder Beach?
We've been camping at the Cylinder Beach campground in the September school holidays now for six years straight - which tells you something. It's pretty damn good. Despite the fact that during "prime time" you are pretty well packed in to your allocated 6m x 6m campsite....with plenty of near neighbours.....if you are a little bit savvy and book one of the beachside sites you can make your set up - and outlook - pretty private. You'll need to bring your muscles though....this is not "car camping" and these "best sites" are the furthest away from the carpark, which means lugging your gear. Also - a word of caution....if you do opt to camp closer to the carpark, be prepared for a fair amount of light from the amenities block at night....and be sympathetic to the late night piddlers who will be negotiating through your maze of guy-ropes on the way to the loos.
There is little doubt that Cylinder is the pick of the Straddie's beaches - with its direct north orientation providing protection from the prevailing winds. If you did want to go for a bit more isolation, then you could opt for 4WD beach camping at Main Beach or Flinders Beach - and there are several other organised campgrounds including Adder Rock, Amity Point and Home Beach.
For us though, on Straddie it has always been Cylinder Beach.
What Is there to do?
To be honest, it would be pretty easy just to sit and read, and stroll down to the beach for the occasional swim. We normally throw a line in, normally with little success - and there are some superb walks.
From Cylinder Beach at low tide, there is a great walk around Deadman's Beach and Frenchmans beach to reach Point Lookout - named in 1770 by Captain James Cook! The walk takes in sand dunes, rugged headlands, caves and a thumping stair climb from Frenchmans beach.
Alternatively, you can take the walk around the top of the headland via the Whale Walk - we always spot plenty. And once at Point Lookout, the North Gorge Walk to Main Beach is a cracker.
And after expending all of that energy, sunset drinkies on the beach are pretty hard to beat.
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