Eco Boat and 4WD Tour | Bribie Island

The Eco Boat and 4WD Tour is fully skippered purpose built Eco boat designed for a number of education and water based activities.

As showcased on Channel 7 TV the ‘Weekender’ TV Series last Sunday, the vessel is a custom built extra shallow draft facility that has the capability to travel the length of the Pumicestone Passage. The vessel is capable of stopping at multiple locations along the journey having a beach landing ramp at the bow of the vessel, and eco-friendly carbon fibre pole anchors on the rear to minimise seabed impact.

The Eco - Vessel ‘Reflections’ is fitted with the latest underwater roving 4K drone technology with video feeds from up to 100m deep and also the latest waterproof aerial drone technology with huge 5 kilometre range with both drones linking back to onboard visual monitoring equipment.

With this capability, we are now able to offer a number of very unique experiences specifically for outdoor education, sciences, history and geography purposes, including the opportunity for new ‘Drone Pilots’ to see the equipment in real world applications

About the Pumicestone Passage

This shallow estuary nestled between the mainland of Queensland and Bribie Island is approximately 35 kilometres long. It receives inflows from numerous small creeks and is subject to tidal flushing starting from Deception Bay, resulting in a slow net northern movement of water. The area contains a range of habitats including mangroves, saltmarshes, sand and mudflats, seagrass beds and coastal dunes. The rich feeding and breeding grounds support a wide variety of plant and animal communities.

The proposed tours can combine:

• Outdoor education:- including kayak trips in the more ‘remote areas’ of SEQ, i.e. Tripcony bight, Glass house Mountain creeks, Thooloora Island, Long Island, Lime Pocket camp grounds etc. The vessel is equipped with a dedicated Kayak Towing/Davit capability to take groups of Kayaks to areas for tours where kayaks generally cannot reach whilst having a fully equipped ‘mother ship’ for added safety. This vessel can also support remote camping trips and activities, having 15 seats and a large carrying capacity.
• History tours:- in the form of information and onsite location visits from the first settlers i.e. Mission Point (The site of the first mission school etc), Poverty point, Lighthouse Reach, Tripcony Bite and many other locations with history back into the early settler days
• WiId life and sciences exploration:- Given that the Pumicestone Passage is designated a DIWA nationally important wetland with over 375 species of birds recorded, of these home to about 1,500 resident shorebirds, across 11 species and nearly 20,000 migratory shorebirds across 24 species. In order to observe and explore this the vessel will be equipped in January with a full 4K professional waterproof Aerial drone boasting a 5 kilometre range and with full 4k video feeds to onboard visual high definition displays.
• Underwater monitoring and exploration:- The vessel will also be equipped in January with the latest professional underwater drone capable of diving up to 100 meter in depth whilst streaming direct to onboard displays and recording equipment. Operated by Virtual reality headsets the underwater drone has an enormous 5 hour underwater dive time. The marine park area houses approximately 350 species of marine invertebrates, over 60 fish species, it is a declared fish habitat area as it is an important hatchery for many species. The Passage is also home to seven species of mangroves and seven species of seagrass, turtles whose species include the vulnerable Green and Hawksbill turtles and the endangered Loggerhead turtle and is also home to the endangered Dugong, all now visually accessible from the Eco vessel.

The AMSA certified Vessel can take upto 12 Passengers and is complete with skipper, crew, and includes all fuel, with packages starting at $350 per hour for the full vessel with a minimum of 3 hours charter and with additional drone packages or kayak packages available on request.

If you have interest in this, or feel that this experience could be of value to you or your studends please email the Beach Shack, or call for any additional information.

• For general public tourist bookings it is $95 per seat for the 3.5 hour eco boat tour trip (Thursday, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon)
• Full circumnavigation tour bookings with 4WD (7 hour) 3.5 hours by water and by 3.5 hours 4x4 back to the beach shack is $220 per seat. (Thursday, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon)
• For science/educational groups (Schools, colleges, universities etc) it is a whole boat price on an hourly rate for the full boat (Tuesday/Wednesday),