One of the joys of moving to a new country is discovering new places. I’ve been here over six years now and you’d probably think I would have run out of the places to see that are still within a relatively short driving distance for me.
Not true.
Jacobs Well
I didn’t know Jacob was ill? Boom boom!
We decided to visit Jacob’s Well on Saturday because they had a bit of a do on…
But not just for that reason, I really wanted to explore the whole area, it’s somewhere we hadn’t yet been to. It’s only about an hour from my house and when I say it’s in the middle of somewhere, that’s because it’s almost slap bang in between Brisbane and the centre of the Gold Coast.
To be precise it’s 56 kilometres and 40 minutes drive from Brisbane CBD and 40 minutes drive and 39 kilometres from Surfers Paradise, it’s by the sea and it’s also 10 kilometres from the main Pacific Motorway.
Yet, it’s like living in the countryside. First, let’s take a look at that “Arts by the Sea” festival. It was pretty much the usual thing with stalls…




And an aeroplane trundling along the road…
It’s not got the tag “by the Sea” without reason though…


The land you see opposite is actually Kangaroo Island; there are a whole cluster of islands in this area with the largest one being North Stradbroke Island.
There’s even a safe area to swim for those who do not want to be having a fight with a shark…
We jumped back into our car to drive around 5 minutes up the road through country lanes to get to Cabbage Tree Point…

Cabbage Tree Point had a children’s play area…
And more people messing with boats…

There was also a map here of that cluster of islands which all form part of The Marine Park in Moreton Bay.
North Stradbroke Island is the one in the top right-hand corner of the above picture.
As you can see, at this point we were opposite Tabby Tabby Island.
Then we jumped back into a car to head off to Alberton, also about 5 minutes if you take the shortcut…
Over at Alberton, there were even more people messing with boats…
All this happening just 40 minutes from Brisbane and Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, yet it really did feel as though we were in the middle of the countryside…