Lamb Island offers you the best of both
worlds – an idyllic
laidback island lifestyle, yet just over an hour from Brisbane CBD.
 Lamb Island is 40 kilometres from Brisbane CBD as the crow flies – just over an hour's travelling time.  Three of the Bay Islands, although with much of Macleay Island out of frame at left.  Arguably the last unspoilt coastal residential environment in South-East Queensland.  Lamb Island's 'main drag' – and by the look of things, in the middle of the peak hour rush.  Waterbuses run half-hourly during peak times, and more-or-less hourly otherwise.  Vehicular barges service the islands every couple of hours. The trip takes 45 minutes.  Moreton Bay's thousands of square kilometres of boating paradise are on Lamb Island's doorstep.  Local colour – Rainbow Lorikeets are just part of the abundant bird life on Lamb Island.  The local parkland precinct – free public tennis court, community hall, and bowls club beyond the trees.  Stone Curlews (or 'Bush Thick Knees') in the parkland along from the tennis court.  Sunrise on Moreton Bay – you've gotta get up really early to beat this.  An inter-island social cricket game on the playing field adjacent to the bowls club.  The end of yet another perfect day on Lamb Island. But there'll be another one tomorrow. All images and text © Copyright Figmince (fig@in.com.au) 2008, and may not be used without authorisation. |
Lamb
Island: A special place to live... Lamb Island is one of the Southern Moreton Bay Islands – a group of four islands (Russell, Macleay, Lamb and Karragarra) basking in the lee of North Stradbroke Island just over an hour's all-up travelling time from Brisbane CBD. And yes, just in case it needs to be said, the islands have mains power, land-line phone (including broadband) and town water connected, plus a weekly council garbage collection. Surrounded by the tranquil waters of Moreton Bay, these islands are arguably the last unspoilt coastal residential environment in South-East Queensland, and still something of a secret even to Brisbane people. And although the word is now starting to get out, so far this lack of awareness has kept island property prices relatively low. Lamb Island, at just two kilometres long by up to one kilometre wide, and with a population of only 300 or so residents, a small general store (trading seven days a week) and a licenced club, is generally regarded as the most lifestyle-friendly island of the four. On Lamb Island, you'll find a welcoming easy-going community, where people accept each other for what they are rather than what they're expected to pretend to be. Instead of 'mine-is-bigger-than-yours' McMansions jam-packed against each other and surrounded by high walls, or blocks of flats overshadowing your privacy, you'll enjoy low-key architecture set in leafy surroundings, with fresh air, open vistas, and a balmy climate that's usually a couple of degrees cooler than Brisbane in Summer, and as warm again in Winter. All four islands are serviced by fast modern catamaran-style 'waterbuses' which run more-or-less half-hourly during the day and hourly at night to and from Redland Bay from 4.45am till 10pm (11pm on Thursday, and midnight on Friday and Saturday nights). The trip between Lamb Island and Redland Bay takes just 20 minutes. Mainland bus services run in conjunction with the waterbus timetables. Vehicular barges also service the islands from Redland Bay every two hours or so. (The islands are also serviced by locally based paramedics, with an ambulance on each island, and a special ambulance boat for transfers to the mainland. Urgent cases are transported by helicopter which makes the trip to hospital faster than from most suburbs.) The Redland City Council maintains a general parking area as well as a secure card-entry parking compound adjacent to the mainland jetty, and many islanders leave 'mainland cars' there and utilise cheaper cars for getting around on their islands – although Lamb Island is small enough for many residents to choose to just walk, cycle, or in some cases use golf carts. Macleay Island offers supermarket shopping, a butcher, pharmacy, medical services, restaurants, hotel, golf course, bowls club, a thriving arts and crafts centre, and more – just a three minute waterbus ride away. There’s also a primary school on Macleay Island, with a supervised bus to transport the Lamb Island kids to and from the Macleay jetty. (High school students go to the mainland, where special buses meet them.) Russell Island, just five minutes in the other direction, has a huge IGA supermarket, butcher, bottleshop, etc, all within a hundred-or-so metres of the jetty – or a quick barge trip if you want to take your car over. Redland Bay offers comprehensive shopping facilities a few hundred metres from the mainland jetty. Victoria Point (just a three minute drive further or via regular bus services) is a booming regional shopping centre with everything one could need including cinemas, restaurants, and a council library. From Redland Bay, Brisbane CBD is within a 45 minute drive outside peak hour (but closer to an hour during peak times), while the Gold Coast is about 45 minutes via easy access to the Pacific Motorway. Make your lifestyle what you want. Living on Lamb Island is like enjoying a permanent holiday in a small unspoilt coastal town that's still the way it was back before the rest of the world went crazy. Obviously, if you're into boating and/or fishing, this is the perfect place for you.  Invite some of the 'neighbours' home for dinner. But for most residents Lamb Island's major appeal is the very real sense of peace and contentment that comes from living in such a natural environment and its small-scale community where everyone's friendly and laidback, primarily interested in enjoying life on their own terms rather than trying to keep up with the people next door. There's also the security factor. Lamb Island's relatively small size makes it something like a 'gated community' – for the most part only the local residents or their visitors come here, and because everyone knows each other at least by sight, anyone who doesn't belong soon gets noticed. And of course, cruising hoons from elsewhere are never going to come through at two in the morning. The island has a small general store we call the 'kiosk', and a members-run bowls club with a liquor licence but no bowling greens (hey, it's about priorities). A proposed boutique-style tavern and adjoining new premises for the kiosk have received council approval. There's also a community hall, public tennis court, and a first-aid facility used by visiting health practitioners. At the same time, despite all the lifestyle positives and recreational opportunities, it's important to understand that living here isn't for everyone (which is part of what makes it so appealing to those who do). In practical terms, Lamb Island living does require a certain amount of planning. To begin with, the only 'shopping experience' on the island is the kiosk. Instead of Big Macs, you'll have to make do with their freshly made burgers, and chips instead of fries. And while the kiosk carries a surprisingly wide range of basic needs, most locals shop off-island for meat, liquor, groceries, and so on, bringing them home on the waterbus (with specially dedicated areas for passengers' personal 'freight'). Others take the barge to do a major shop every so often, fill the car, then scurry back to the relative peace of the island. Most happily consider the effort to be a worthwhile trade-off for the advantages of living such a natural and laidback island lifestyle – free of pollution, traffic, noise, crime, hustle-and-bustle, and angst. In fact, there's an attitude that inevitably takes over Lamb Islanders, one that you'll hear expressed time and time again as locals get off the waterbus after a trip to what they refer to as 'Australia' – and it usually goes something like: "Thank goodness we're home again. Why do mainland people live like that?" Once you live here, you'll wonder too. |
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