Stage 4 - The Cooloola Section |
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Rainbow Beach to Freshwater Creek (17.5km) The sun was already quite fierce when we set off from Dingo's on the last stage of the Great Sandy Walk. We headed up through the residential streets of Rainbow Beach before entering the Great Sandy National Park at the end of Double Island Road. The track continued to climb steadily through eucalypt woodland, skirting the inner edge of the Carlo Sandblow, a steep wall of sand, in parts stabilised by trees and grass, in parts continuing its relentless push inland. Eventually we met up with the Old Telegraph Track, part of which had been buried by the drift, and, heading away from Carlo, we continued the steady climb upwards until a slight detour took us to the edge of the sand cliffs at the Murrawar Lookout; back to the north we could see our path - the long eastern coast of Fraser Island disappearing into the horizon, while closer in, the long beach from Inskip Point to Rainbow Beach formed a narrow white ribbon between land and sea. To the east, Double Island Point dominated the vista. |
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Now if we were to live in the tropics, that not bad |
A last look at Inskip Peninsula and distant Fraser Island |
The old Telegraph Track Every tree deserves a hug |
Resuming our easterly journey on the Telegraph Track, we parallelled the cliffline, before turning south on a narrow walking trail and descending quickly into the rainforest. The track meandered through this beautiful patch of rainforest, at times barely differentiated from the leaf-carpeted forest floor. We wandered through groves of picabeen palms, past tall rainforest trees, some being slowly overgrown by the veinous root systems of strangler figs descending down their host trees to the forest floor. Above us heavy liana vines drooped across the path and the occasional staghorn, elkhorn or birds-nest fern perched high on the trunk of a rainforest giant. |
Buttress roots and strangler figs Rainforest clearing |
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Sunlight filtering through the rainforest canopy |
Spot the goanna |
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Crossing a 4WD drive track, the path continued on through the rainforest, before again meeting a wider track that climbed steeply up a stony ridge of the high dunes - it was strange to be walking on a rocky surface again, but several times during the day we crossed these areas where there seemed to be a sandstone boulder bed within the sand. At the crest of the climb, a sign pointed off to Poona Lake, a kilometre from the main track. We turned off, full of expectations of this perched lake, and descended again through the myrtle forest.
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Rimmed by white sand and forest, Poona Lake is one of the gems of Cooloola |
White sand and paperbarks |
The tranquil setting of Poona Lake |
Always look up in a rain forest |
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Elkhorn high in the rainforest canopy |
Finally Freshwater |
The hot sun broke through the sparse canopy, and we were glad that his section was only a short one, leading us past the dry, reedy bed of Freshwater Lake, and along the bracken covered gulley of Freshwater Creek to eventually emerge in the Freshwater Campsite - a mecca for 4WD enthusiasts on their weekend breaks. Don't get me wrong, but can anyone explain why some people have to greet walkers with comments like "wotcha wanna walk here for when you coulda driven in" - it happens quite often when we share campgrounds with car-campers. Well, we would never have enjoyed Poona Lake if we hadn't walked for a start! Nonetheless, we found ourselves a shady, secluded site and set up camp, well content with the day, the beautiful rainforest, a wonderful lake, friendly bush turkeys and no biting insects! |
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A passing flight of terns |
Sandpipers piping |
Brahminy kite |
Gulls being gulls |
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It was a bit of a shock for those expecting a quiet stroll down the beach, as, for that entire length, a long string of tents, small, large or clustered like small cities lined the base of the dunes and cliffs in the shade of the grey, drooping casuarinas and pandanus palms. The occupants were all out and about, enjoying the beautiful morning - some fishing, some surfing, some swimming or riding boogyboards, Mums and Dads with little kids laughing in the surf, teenagers skylarking, a bloke on a jet ski, a kite surfer flying over the waves, the two blokes sitting at their own portabar on the beach drinking cans of XXXX, a group of people lazing in a blow-up pool in the dunes, the boy being towed along the sand on a piece of board behind a 4WD - they were all there enjoying the sun, the cool breeze and the clear green-blue waters of the Pacific. |
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A second surprise at Red Canyon was a mobile food shop, where, upon hearing of our walking efforts, the owner promptly shouted us an ice-cream. How good it tasted and how nice it was to experience that small act of kindness - thanks mate! |
A small pocket of sand beneath a grove of casuarinas, covered with its soft needles, beckoned; above us, an eroded cliff of orange, yellow, cream and white sands, while out to sea the gentle roar of the surf.
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Soon we reached the point to start inland again - with the expert guidance of my GPS we found the unmarked and rarely used track heading up a pandanus-lined creek that had created a narrow valley through the sand cliffs. Soon the valley opened out into low scribbly gum forest with a dense understorey, in places a monoculture of 2-3m high bushes. The distant roar of the surf quickly gave way to the very proximate crescendo of cicadas. This grove of eucalypts seemed to be cicada heaven, such was their din! Finally, a kilometre inland, the forest thinned and then vanished, revealing the base of the Cooloola Sandpatch. Before us lay an enormous dune, the bare sand at its base sprinkled with onion skin fragments of sandstone. Climbing up, the fragments cleared leaving a broad steep sheet of powdery tan-coloured sand; but, disturb the surface and white, black or brown sands were often revealed just beneath. |
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View across to the old volcanic plug of Mt Cooroora |
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Watching the world go by |
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Track through the Wallum heathland |
Grass trees in the swampy flats of the Noosa River |
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Our last and best campsite |
Black cockatoo |
Water dragon on the alert |
It wouldn't be Queensland without a cane toad |
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Canoeists on the Noosa River |
Reflecting on reflections |
Evening falls over the still dark waters |
We awoke to the sound of the dawn chorus of bush birds. It was a time for calm reflection - at least it was for the Noosa River, whose glassy surface perfectly mirrored the white-trunked eucalypts, callitris and paperbarks lining it banks. We lingered on its shores in the coolness of the early morning, enjoying our last bush breakfast and not wanting to leave on this last short stage of our walk. |
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All that remained was a short stroll to the other end of the camp ground for a quick visit to the old wooden shack that lends its name to the Harry's Hut site, a change into clean clothes and time to brew a cuppa as we waited in the shade for the Noosa River Cruise Boat. |
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