Friday, September 10, 2021

Cooloola Great Walk Day 1 - 39 km


CGW has been on my bucket list for around 5 years, however between life commitments and constant closures of the walk, I haven’t made it happen. A mate of mine JP, put the hard word on me to compete this walk, so after some rushed planning I booked in a date. I could only justify 3 days, so JP made a wise choice to join me for one section of the trail.


At Rainbow Beach I woke early around 05:00 on the Friday morning. I packed up camp, organised myself for hiking and set off. I had to be at the first campsite Kauri by 10am to meet with JP whom had walked in 5 km’s from Freshwater campground. I realised later in the morning that I had not allowed the 30 minutes from Rainbow Beach to the start of the CGW, so I had a little time to make up. Once out of town, and onto the walk you cross Carlo Sand blow. I have had the pleasure of crossing this sand blow a number of times, as it is on the Rainbow Beach Trail Marathon course, an event I have completed 3 times (2021 was cancelled due to Covid.) The walk was then on moderately undulating paths through woodlands and some rainforest sections. The last 500m or so is quite a steep climb. I arrived at 10:05. JP showed me around the campsite and then I filled up with water and ate a little.







JP then joined me on the walk to campsite Litoria where we would be staying the night. The walking had more elevation changes in it than the first section. The forest was becoming more big gums. In the higher parts of the section, you started to glimpse the low-lying land to the west, however there are no great vantage points. Again, the last km or so was all up hill, and I was glad to make camp on the first night. To me this was the second most difficult day of walking. The campsite was spaced out well, however a number of tent sites where not overly flat. Again, there was plenty of water in the tank. We ate dinner and JP shared desert with me, then we and the entire camp went to bed around 7pm.

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