Redland City

Redland City is my town. Not my kind of town just my town. It is not where I was born but it is where I grew up. AKA Redlands City or just The Redlands. I have spent 32 of my years here stuck not being able to get out when I could and now I can’t leave. Anyway this place is bland but beautiful, never bold. The beauty is in the islands including Russell Island, Karragarra Island, Macleay Island and Lamb Island where my Dad lives, which can be accessed from the Redland Bay ferry terminal. Beautiful also is Coochiemudlo Island which can be accessed from the Victoria Point ferry terminal and North Stradbroke Island, the most beautiful of all with its crashing waves and great surf I am told, which can be accessed from Cleveland ferry terminal.

The bland is on the mainland, the developments with houses all the same and the shopping centres. No Westfields however we have smaller versions each with a Woolworths and/or a Coles, sometimes like at Victoria Point with two Woolworths right across the road from one another. I read in the local paper one of the developers saying this town was not for the tourists. Well obviously not. I remember when Victoria Point was a sleepy little village, the caravan park where the new Woolworths used to be. It had charm and grace. Now everything is the same and nothing to distinguish it from other towns other than the stunning islands.

On Lamb Island where my Dad lives and I frequently visit, there is a cool permaculture vibe with groups and a community garden. There is little crime in the Redlands other than the drug dealers on Lamb Island, someone had recently been murdered there which was terribly exciting. We got to see the police barge and the police had a presence on the island for a week or so afterwards. My Dad and I tried to find the house where it happened to no avail. If I were to be picky also the only other real crime problem is bogans (usually teenagers) not paying for public transport and generally being rowdy on buses. This annoys me. The other day there was a group of teenagers on the bus playing Jimmy Barnes and rap very loudly and generally creating a ruckus, often throwing tic tacs at each other. Jimmy Barnes you say? Rap I understand however Jimmy Barnes coming from a group of teenagers was just odd. I think they were playing his songs ironically.

I used to volunteer at an edible flower farm on Lamb Island, which has now moved to the Gold Coast hinterland. On Lamb Island the beach is rocky and muddy, muddy is how I would describe most of the beaches on the Redlands mainland apart from one beach at Victoria Point where they had dumped a tonne of white silicon sand to cover up the encroaching mud, you can’t swim there anymore though because of the lyngyba outbreak although people still do. There are good swimming spots on Karragarra Island which is not muddy but calm and serene with golden sand, like Coochiemudlo Island which is popular with families for the calm swimming, no waves. There are no shops on Karragarra at all which makes for charming sightseeing. The houses on the islands off Redland Bay are an interesting mix too, a few in the Queenslander style, however mostly modern steel construction like my Dad’s house, a few wooden ones also. North Stradbroke Island would have to be the gem in the crown. White beaches, waves, clear water, with a few cafes here and there it is also the most developed island with a backpackers and accommodation options.

Anyway that’s my hometown, Redland City.