After last week's rain (and it also poured torrentially all weekend after I finished my previous hike) I was due for some good weather and conditions sounded promising for my hike of the 102 kms Cooloola Great Walk, also in southern Queensland. This walk is a point to point route between Noosa North Shore and Rainbow Beach with hiker campsites along the way. Luckily for solo walkers there is daily public bus access to points close to each end of the route.
27 July 21.2 kms. When I got to the bus stop in Rainbow Beach to catch the bus to Tewantin near the start of the hike I was amazed that the only other person at the bus stop, a semi retired doctor of my age, was there for exactly the same reason as me. The bus services the whole Queensland coast so the chances of this were not high.
Once in Tewantin I bought a loaf of sliced white bread to enhance my food supplies and walked the 2 kms to the ferry across the river to Noosa North Shore. A ferry appeared almost immediately, and after the brief crossing I walked another 2.5 kms to the walk's official start. By then it was 11am and sunny.
The first part of the walk was across marshy heathland and it was totally inundated in many places, with evidence of earlier hikers making new paths through the vegetation to avoid the flooding. But even these side tracks often proved to be under water, it was just that you couldn’t see the water until you stepped in it. Having spent two days drying out my socks in Rainbow Beach I was sad to have them wet again so soon. I found a pair of sunnies while crossing one patch of heath.
It was great to make it to the beach, with Noosa Heads in the distance to my right and endless sand to my left.
Unfortunately I only had two kms on the sand before the trail turned inland and went through banksia/ferns/paperbarks, some of which had been burnt. Further on the path came out into the open on high spots and there were great views back down the coast, then over Lake Cootharaba with the hinterland peaks jutting up on the horizon. There was a considerable climb up Mt Seewah just before my campsite and I saw two kangaroos, my first in Queensland.
The campsite was busy with a group of local lads, my doctor friend, a single guy and a couple walking in the opposite direction to the rest of us. All the individual sites were separated by bush so socialising was like walking down someone’s driveway to go to their house. My little alcove was full of scribbly gums. I asked around about the sunnies I’d found and then left them by the water tank.
28 July 19.1 kms. I woke to a perfect sunny day although still pleasantly cool. Today’s walk was wonderful: nice weather, not too strenuous and constantly changing environment.
The day started with a climb back towards the coast with some superb vistas along the endless beach heading north and over the inland lake, and with more of the Noosa River coming into view. Then there were stretches of heathland with thick trunked banksias and lots of scribbly gums that were distorted and bent over by the wind. Then there was a patch of rainforest with the tallest trees.
Emerging from the trees I came to the Cooloola Sandpatch, a vast area of sand dunes, some topped with trees but mostly bare. There were strict instructions about navigating this unsignposted bit of the trail, which was one km and slow work in soft sand. A bit like trekking across the desert. I practised navigating using the compass on my watch and the bearing on the instructions. At the end I sat by the trees at the edge of the desert and had coffee.
The trail wound downhill for a long time, first in light forest and then on more open heath. I took a detour to Campsite 3, a kayaker site on the river bank, and had lunch sitting on a pontoon. The river was very serene and a few kayakers came by. As I left I scared a big goanna into climbing a tree.
From here the trail was alongside the river, moving away from it from time to time. My campsite was close to the river but sadly the actual camping clearings were away from the water and particularly segregated. Doctor and the solo guy were there. It was sunny enough to sit by the river until late afternoon, but then it was colder at night than it has been (7 degrees) with a good show of stars. The day's hiking was like compressing the Great South West Walk into one day.
29 July 14.3 kms. This was only a short day so I decided to take it easy and have lots of stops. Invariably the doctor would catch up to me as I sat and we would have a long chat in the sunshine. However hard we tried to avoid it we always ended up on covid.
The hiking was nice but not a patch on yesterday. The vegetation changed frequently from marsh (still quite wet but not flooded) to banksias and grass trees to gum trees and ferns and sometimes paperbarks, and some tiny purple or white wildflowers. I have never seen so many really young grass trees with no central stem yet. With a few window views I could see forested hills in many directions.
Once I startled a bush turkey and it ran along the trail then flew up to a branch and sat there watching everything. Later a whole group of them ran across the path and into the bush.
The day's campsite was deep in the forest but on a little summit, again the doctor, the solo guy and me. The group of guys from Day 1 also came by and I heard one of them handing the sunnies I had found (and left by the water tank) to the solo guy, who was incredulous and pleased to get them back; turns out the young guy had seen where I’d left them and picked them up. The doctor, who had told me when I found them that he thought they would have been very expensive, said to the solo guy Be sure to thank that lady! We had pleasant conversation until darkness at 5.30.
30 July 25.5 kms. Today’s hiking was a constant roller coaster: from up in the dry forest to down in the rainforest and then back up again. I was in the shade all day. The rainforest was lovely with amazingly tall trees, buttressed figs, tall palms and fern trees. There were always noises but I could never find the cause. I played cat and mouse all day with the solo guy and the group of dudes and had several long breaks. The only actual attraction, so to speak as it’s all attractive, was Freshwater Lake; it was off the route so I scrambled up one embankment and down another to reach it. It was pretty, surrounded by reeds in a hollow in the forest.
At the campsite I couldn’t find the hiker area and I was at the beach before I gave up searching; it was a delight to see the ocean and a good swell. I took a spot among the car campers and was happy to be able to use their rubbish bins and flush toilet.
31 July 27.7 kms. It was windy in the morning and I had a tailwind for my 9 kms walk along Teewah Beach to Double Island Point; this was the same beach I walked on four days ago, it’s long. The sky was black ahead of me and it drizzled for a few minutes. The beach was backed by dunes and the tide was high so I had to share the hard sand with 4WDers.
At Double Island Point I went up to the lighthouse and had a fabulous view of the beach I had walked (shown at the start of this blog entry), then I turned the corner and was looking at the multicoloured dunes behind Rainbow Beach (that the town is named for). The sight was stunning when the sun shone on the dunes.
I came down to this beach and started walking, and now I had a strong headwind. I had to cross some random bits of water creeping up the beach so I took off my shoes and continued walking at the edge of the ocean. Then I realised I should have turned off the beach and headed inland. Instead of backtracking I elected to climb a nearby high dune and bash until I rejoined the trail.
Climbing this dune was extremely hard; I kept slipping downhill on the sand and bits of vegetation that I grabbed would come away in my hand, plus I lost my GPS signal. But I eventually made it to the trail. I have to say it would have been more enjoyable to walk on beautiful Rainbow Beach than through the forest on another roller coaster but I thought I should follow the curriculum, and I avoided the traffic.
Many hours later at the end of the roller coaster was the Carlo Sandblow, a mini version of the Cooloola Sandpatch, with the ocean to one side and Rainbow Beach town to the other. No navigation tools were needed as I could see the far side. I descended, and this was the conclusion of the Cooloola Great Walk.
I had a few minutes more to walk to get back to the town, now drizzly and threatening worse. This included me climbing over someone’s fence because the road shown on my GPS went through their back yard. My first priority, before returning to my car, was the bakery.
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