The idea for this trip was from Brian at the Elanda Point Canoe Company.
The Cooloola Great Walk. It is very difficult to plan walks based on the web site as they publish very limited information – you cannot, for example, find out the names of the walker’s camps based on the rubbish they publish. Of course, they are hoping that customers will buy their map but I certainly could not find out how to do this from their web site – their insistence that you visit one of their stores would have made sense in the 1970s.
I was fortunate that Brian from the Eland Point Canoe Company advised me on the name of the walking camp (Brahminy), sent me a map of the walk, and arranged transport for me.
Well, the trip occurred on Monday and Tuesday after Easter. We left Brisbane around 9.00 am to arrive at Elanda Point at 11.00 am. There were 6 of us all up (3 dads and 3 Grade 10 boys). We parked our vehicles, paid for our transport, and met Brian at the boat for a short trip across Lake Cootharaba. We were dropped off at Teewah Landing with a recommendation to walk across to the ocean side for lunch. This was only about 2 Km and we enjoyed lunch before meeting up with the walk up to Mt Seewah lookout. We then continued on the last part of the walk to Brahminy walkers camp where we arrived at about 4.00 pm. After setting up our individual campsites we met for dinner in the shared eating area at the entrance to the camp. This was my first trial of the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2 tent. I must say I was very happy with this tent. My son and I had a reasonably comfortable night, certainly stayed dry.
The next morning we assembled at 7.00 am for the walk to Camp Site 3 on the Noose River. This took us about 7 hours with stops. We moved reasonably quickly. The walk is world-class. At some stages, you walk ocean side, and at other times there are views of the lakes. The highlight was crossing the Cooloola sand patch. The view is marvelous. We were fortunate to do the walk after a rain so it was quite firm underfoot. I would not like to do this part of the walk on the soft sand at midday in summer. We had lunch at the end of the sand patch stage and then finished the walk at the Noosa river around 2.15 pm. We rang the Canoe Club for an early pick-up and Brian arrived a bit under an hour later. He had cold drinks on board for the return trip which was an excellent end to the adventure.
If you are looking for an overnight walk with a twist then I definitely recommend this trip.
There are not many circles walks in Brisbane – this trip was an exception – a break from the usual. It is not for beginners or the less fit. Day 1 was only about 6k – day 2 was around 18 km.
Pic source here
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