Moreton Island National Park is a national park which covers 98% of Moreton Island

Moreton Island

Moreton Island is a large sand island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay, on the coast of south-east Queensland, Australia. Moreton Island lies 58 kilometres northeast of the Queensland capital, Brisbane. The island is 95% National Park and a popular destination for four wheel driving, camping,...

 in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, 58 km northeast of Brisbane. It has three main townships, Bulwer

Bulwer, Queensland

Bulwer is a small township at the north-western end of Moreton Island, on the eastern side of Moreton Bay opposite, and 40 km from, the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Bulwer had a population of 70....

, Cowan Cowan and Kooringal.

The island is home to Queensland's oldest operating lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

 located at Cape Moreton

Cape Moreton

Cape Moreton is a rocky headland located at the north eastern tip of Moreton Island in South East Queensland, Australia. The surrounding area is part of the Moreton Island National Park. 5 km north-west of Cape Moreton is Flinders Reef....

 on the northern tip of the island. The township of Cowan was home to the Australian soldiers during WWII and many relics remain on the island. Access to the park was restricted during s clean-up of oil from the 2009 southeast Queensland oil spill

2009 southeast Queensland oil spill

The 2009 southeast Queensland oil spill occurred on 11 March 2009 off the coast of southeast Queensland, Australia, in which 230 tonnes of fuel oil, 30 tonnes of other fuel and 31 shipping containers of ammonium nitrate spilled into the Coral Sea, north of Moreton Bay during Cyclone Hamish after...

.

Activities such as bushwalking, fishing and watersports are popular in the park. Humpback whale

Humpback Whale

The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from and weigh approximately . The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the...

 can be seen in surrounding waters between late winter and spring.

Fauna

The park contains mostly heath and open forests of scribbly gum

Scribbly gum

Scribbly gum is an Australian eucalypt that is named after the 'scribbles' on its bark. These zigzag tracks are tunnels made by the larvae of the Scribbly Gum Moth and follow the insect's life cycle. Eggs are laid between layers of old and new bark...

 and pink bloodwood

Corymbia intermedia

Corymbia intermedia or the pink bloodwood is a bloodwood native to Queensland and New South Wales...

. Other areas contain mangrove

Mangrove

Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

s, sedge

Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...

 and melaleuca

Melaleuca

Melaleuca is a genus of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae known for its natural soothing and cleansing properties. There are well over 200 recognised species, most of which are endemic to Australia...

 swamps.

Camping

Camping is permitted in specified campsites as well as within zones along eastern and western beaches.

Access

Access to the island is via the MICAT vehicle ferry service from Lytton

Lytton, Queensland

Lytton is an outer suburb of Brisbane, Australia. It is 15 km north-east of the CBD.Although Lytton was once a town, it is now primarily commercial and industrial. It shares the same postcode as the Port of Brisbane....

, near the Port of Brisbane

Port of Brisbane

Port of Brisbane is the shipping port of Brisbane, on the east coast of Australia. It is located in the lower reaches of the Brisbane River on reclaimed land that was once called Fisherman Islands at the mouth of the river. It currently is the third busiest port in Australia and the nation's...

, the Tangalooma Flyer launched from Pinkenba

Pinkenba, Queensland

Pinkenba is the name of a suburb in eastern Brisbane on the northern side of the Brisbane River. Despite being less than 10 kilometres from the Brisbane central business district, it has a largely rural feel to it...

 or the Kooringal Trader from Amity Point

Amity Point, Queensland

Amity Point is a small close knit township located on the north western point of North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia in Redland City. At the 2006 census, Amity Point had a population of 408....

 on North Stradbroke Island

North Stradbroke Island

North Stradbroke Island is an Australian island in the state of Queensland, 30 km southeast of the capital Brisbane. Before 1896 the island was part of the Stradbroke Island. In that year a storm separated it from South Stradbroke Island, forming the Jumpinpin Channel. It is known...

. The Combie Trader barge service from Scarborough

Scarborough, Queensland

Scarborough is a residential suburb of the Moreton Bay Region at the northernmost of the Redcliffe peninsula, approximately north-northeast of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia...

 in Redcliffe City to Bulwer no longer operates.