Lives Lived: On Scotland Island and Coochiemudlo Island

By Nick O’Brien

The pull towards island life

In 2013, we bought a 27-foot 1982 fibreglass sail boat and put it a swing mooring in Pittwater in NSW, directly opposite Scotland Island, and wondered what would it be like to live there.

With two young kids and a dog, we jumped on the Church Point ferry which stopped at several interesting spots around the island and bays, and spent the whole day walking around Scotland Island. It’s possible to walk completely around the foreshore of Scotland Island, especially at low tide, and the distance is around 3kms. Six off leash and very friendly dogs accompanied us everywhere and wanted not company but our food. One of these dogs, a Labrador named Chewy — who we later learnt was the island canine legend and an accomplished BBQ gatecrasher —  became a diabetic and very overweight years later. He ended wearing a vest that said `do not feed` and, sadly, was later further restrained when tighter restrictions like Coochie`s were enforced on dog movements on the island.

But Chewy and his five canine mates made us want to live there.

This region of Sydney is known as the Northern Beaches and it’s a very popular place to live. We had been living in a two-bedroom unit in Dee Why for over 10 years and buying a house was not easy due to the high costs. But we found that on Scotland Island, three-bedroom homes stayed on the real estate market for years and even dropped in value. Back then, the island was not a popular place to live, maybe in part because it’s water-access-only, the ferry service stopped at 7.30pm, and there’s limited mainland parking so it’s necessary to own and run your own commuter boat.

Scotland Island homes are identified according to where they are on the island: waterfront, middle and top.

Desirable waterfront properties, with their own boat wharf, were and still are expensive. 

The middle or near public wharf homes are cheaper island homes but have another consideration: These are mostly located on steep plots built on levelling stilts which would involve residents climbing many steps. For us, we had to take 170 steps up and 170 down to Eastern Wharf, all good when you’re fit and well. One day I went up and down these steps ten times carrying timber supplies. A day’s recovery was necessary after that.

The third tier of island homes is at the top of the island, some 100 metres up. These were even cheaper with lots of steps and steep terrrain, and dirt walking tracks. These are the only paths to these secluded dwellings. These homes were for the most hardy, determined and fit, or stay-at-home islanders.

The first-seen views from our Scotland Island home front deck (top photo on this page) were just simply stunning: tops of gum trees, a panoramic vista view of Pittwater, and we could also just see our sailboat on its mooring. That made us want to live in this house. A spectacular sailboat race had us running down the 170 steps for a closer look.

Our house needed a lot of work and we did a lot of restoration including learning about septic systems, fresh water storage tanks and collecting and filtering rain water. 

After big storms, soil erosion and fallen trees are common. Trees often landing near or on island homes.

Getting about the island

All of Scotland Island roads are unsealed, often in bad condition and always worsened further after heavy rains. Quad bikes, postie bikes and golf buggies were common. A community council ute was available for moving items like your weekly shopping. Some tracks were so poor that the ute could only reverse up. The fare for a single ride was $15 and this was a payment for the island drivers. 

As an island newcomer, you have to find somewhere to put your commuter boat and this can be difficult. We paid $9,000 for our first boat, a low-sided 4.8 metre tinny with a large 80hp engine. We bought it from a family leaving the island and it came with a mooring spot — a loop of rope tied to wall on shore and anchored about 15m out — but it was on other side of the island!

Two weeks into owning the tinny it was gone, sunk in a marina, then someone seeing the empty mooring pretty quickly took that, too.

We learnt a lot about island living and boating. Commuting to work was always a highlight of our day. We got more suitable commuter boats, looked after bilge pumps and batteries, and got a mooring on a wharf nearer to our place, and constantly watched the weather. Numerous times we had to race down to the wharf in heavy wind and rain at 3am to bail out the commuter boat. Two other of our commuter boats sunk whilst living there, but when we were away from the island.

On and around Scotland Island, people help each other out, bail or tow boats, and with moving stuff up steps or into homes, just like they do on Coochie. There is a strong community spirit on both islands. I was at the mainland Church Point ferry terminal with a heavy three metre ladder and was immediately offered a lift in a boat going across and I would always offer lifts to someone waiting at a wharf.

Mainland carparks

Car parking was always difficult especially as we were shift workers. On and off shore residents pay the council — $400 annually when we were there — for a parking permit but at 11pm all the limited parking spaces were gone. So, we often had to drive further away and walk back a long distance to the boat wharf. Limited parking spots on weekends were also paid parking spots for visitors so it became unwise to move your car on weekends.

The local council also charged $400 annually for a permit to moor a commuter boat at Church Point. Again, there were limited spots and for any shift worker starting at 2pm it became a big challenge to find a boat spot as most residents who worked on the mainland seemed to have 9 to 5 work hours, or earlier.

In 2018, an additional two-tier parking area was built at Church Point but the spots on the top deck were allocated for a whopping $6000 per year. The mainland car parks were known as a spare parts location for thieves and was quite common to see a car sitting on four bricks with missing wheels.

Taking your car to Scotland Island was only possible on a rough-type of barge that cost, back then, $400 one way.

Commuting

My commute to work became good when I walked down so-called `heart-break hill`, then kayaked to the mainland where the local council allocated spots for kayaks, and then I rode a motorbike to work — the first section of the ride through the beautiful Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The McCarrs Creek Road is a superb ride/drive.

The water distance between Scotland Island and the mainland is similar Coochiemudlo Island and the mainland. But Pittwater is mostly calmer than Moreton Bay, and it’s a well-lit crossing. At night I had full navigation lights on the kayak. Late nights under a full moon, with the water affected by biofluorescence, were always a memorable experience. Only a couple of times did the winds suddenly whip up into a squall mid-paddle and then I’d get blown off course a bit, but I still made it to the island … just had a longer walk home up `heart-break hill`. 

During Covid, around 2021, Scotland Island’s popularity exploded, maybe due to continued affordability or it was seen as an ideal location for working from home. House prices rocketed but now, in 2025, they have fallen quite significantly.

Making a move, an island switch

We first came to Coochiemudlo Island a couple of years before moving here full time and we instantly made comparisons. Both have stunning outlooks over water views, but Coochie has some differences. It has superb beaches — Morwong Beach is incredible and stopped us in our tracks. There are places to buy food and drinks. It has flat, sealed roads, a big protected wharf, a regular barge for vehicles, mainland water and sewerage connected, and homes with garages — so no need, at last, to use up under-house storage, and with the possibility of having your car or motorbike next to your home.

Coochiemudlo Island has lower housing prices than Sydney, and it is close to extraordinary Brisbane City. It has an excellent ferry service that runs late, to 11.30pm, but sadly no commuter boat wharf or kayak racks. But we wanted to live here, and we love it — it’s another island paradise.