Introduction to North Brisbane
SHELTERED by its offshore islands, the waters of Moreton Bay are relatively calm. The long sweeping golden beaches extending from Rainbow Beach down to the bottom of Bribie Island have now given way to mosquito infested mangrove wetlands. The shallow bay has permanently flooded from rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age, turning once fertile plains into a maze of submerged sand banks.
The northern suburbs of Brisbane are largely inland due to the swampy nature of the Moreton Bay foreshore. There are a few peninsulas extending out into the bay, upon which residential areas have been built. In between these peninsulas are the meandering streams and rivers draining from the D'Aguilar Range into the swampy coast, so despite being near the city, much of the coast I follow feels remote.
From Sandstone Point, I follow the coast around the many peninsulas through the mangroves above the extensive mudflats of northern Moreton Bay. Eventually the coast reaches the Brisbane Airport, from where I head inland outside its boundary to reach the lower reaches of the Brisbane River after trekking 86 kilometres.
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