Bay Islands Info

Teaming up for island safety

Bushfire season is upon us again. Getting information to the public about fire risks, controlled burns, and current bushfire activity is very important. Over the years, social media sites have made the spreading of information much easier, but its not always easy to keep track of several posts, or have to actively monitor them for up to date information. When developing the latest version of our Bay Islands Guide app, we built a notification system that allows us to push information directly to peoples smartphones, based on certain categories. After speaking to some of the local firefighters, it was made clear that an 'Emergency Notification' category would be of great benefit to the local residents. Obviously, such a system would benefit the most from as many users as possible. We decided to remove the $1.99 price tag, make the app 100% FREE (no ads, nothing!) and team up with the Russell Island Rural Fire Brigade to allow them to notify island residents of any dange…

Bay Islands Guide reaches a milestone

In early 2014, we developed and released the very first version of Bay Islands Guide. It was born out of the frustration of there being no way to look up ferry times for the SMBI in a quick and easy fashion on your smartphone. Originally only release for iPhone, Bay Islands Guide was an instant local success, with around 1500 trips being planned using the app per month. Over the years, we've added other features, such as our local Business Directory, and even Go-Card balance checking. It wasn't until May 2016 that we would release our first ever Android version of Bay Islands Guide. We picked up quite a few new users, and our monthly ferry searches increased to around 3000-3500 per month.. not bad for a little island app! Fast forward to August 2017: We continued to design and implement new features.. new features which we thought would benefit from having as many users as possible. So, on the release of Bay Islands Guide v4.0 for Android, we made the app FREE for ever…

Welcome to Russell Island

'Welcome to Russell Island' - Is the first in a new series of videos about the Southern Moreton Bay Islands. Filmed and edited in just 2 days, this little video was made to showcase some of the businesses and activities available on Russell Island. Check it out below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il3hWIKIW28 All work was filmed and edited by local Russell Island residents. We intend to make similar short videos for Karragarra, Macleay, and Lamb islands in the near future. If you own or operate a business on one of those islands, or have some great local attractions you think should be included in those films, please get in touch.

Car park works started on Macleay Island

The much-awaited works have started on Macleay Island, promising to bring new car parking spaces, boat/trailer parking spaces and a new boat ramp. The work as initially given the green light by the Redland City Council on Nov 06, 2013, stating: Today’s decision means Council can proceed to finalise necessary State Government development permits, expected by mid 2014, to allow for project construction. and also Works will commence in 2014-15 and subject to final design, will provide up to 89 new parking spaces, comprising 68 car spaces, two disabled spaces and 11 car and trailer spaces. It's been a long road, but the work has finally begun. At the moment, there are warnings signs everywhere, due to the asbestos removal, and even a few 'air quality' meters, monitoring the level of contamination in the air.

Bay Islands Guide 4.0.0 BETA

This is a pre-release BETA version of Bay Islands Guide. It is a work in progress, and may contain bugs. Although all due care has been taken, this version isn't very well tested, and could possibly beat you up and take your lunch money. New features that are being tested are: 1) Push notification categories - Allows you to subscribe to getting certain types of notifications. 2) Location reminders - Allows you to mark (among other things) where you parked your car, allowing you to find it easier next time. If you don't want to deal with potential bugs, please don't get this version. But if you want to help us in developing this app, please get this version and test it for us, and give us any feedback. Remember, this is a very early beta version, and things are likely to change a lot, before its finished. You will need to uninstall the Play Store version of this app before installing the beta. Don't worry, you still own and can reinstall the Play Store version in the f…

Free Wallpaper Pack

Are you tired of having the same old desktop wallpaper on your computer? Do you want to see beautiful local scenes on daily basis? Well, look no further. Today we are releasing the first version of our FREE "Bay Islands Info Theme" for Windows computers. Simply download it and double click the file to add 16 locally taken photographs to your computer, and set them as the desktop wallpaper. By default, the theme will automatically change wallpapers at a regular interval. Here is a sample of the wallpapers included in version 1.0: You can download the wallpaper pack here: PLEASE NOTE: The images in this 'theme pack' are for personal use only. They are not to be used for commercial use without prior permission from Bay Islands Info.

School Holiday Farm Excursion

The SMBI Food Growers Group in conjunction with Pretty Produce business will be holding a free activity for school age children on the 20 January 2017 on Lamb Island. Give your children a leg up with some education to get them interested in being involved with specialist food growing and the edibles around us in nature. Get together as a group for chaperone purposes and register for this interesting tour on Lamb island. Contact Dave via 0456 266 111 or smbifoodgrowers@gmail.com This introductory excursion in food growing could be followed up with their school garden club and at home.

Vandals strike at Redland Bay Marina

Vandals have damaged cars with graffiti at the ferry carpark on the mainland overnight. A police report has been filed a police and forensic team will be dusting cars for fingerprints. The new (temporary) toilet block has also been damaged so the offenders should be seen on the CCTV cameras in that area. The vandals tagged cars with '4184', our local postcode, as well as the words 'CAZ' and the phrase 'Strong and loyal'. If anyone has any information please contact police link. Hopefully someone recognizes these tags. If you have any information, please contact Police Link (131 444) or contact Bay Islands Info.

Fairer fares start today

From Monday 19 December 2016, new fares and simpler zones will be introduced across South East Queensland. opens in a new window What's changing? Reduced fares for all zones, including reducing the cost of one zone local trips to $3.20 (adult go card). Reduced number of zones from 23 to 8 wider zones, making local travel more affordable. Weekday morning off-peak period extended to 6am. Free weekend travel for children aged 5-14 travelling on an orange child go card. Introducing an '8 paid journeys and 50 per cent off subsequent journeys per week' incentive to replace the existing '9 and FREE' scheme. In addition, concession fares will be introduced for people receiving the Newstart Allowance or Youth Allowance, as well as asylum seekers. These new concession fares will be introduced during 2017, pending discussions with Federal agencies.