Day 2 37 km
I was up early once again, as I was concerned about the time I would need to complete a second day of long hiking. Once packed I said goodbye to JP, as he was solo walking back to Freshwater. I set out around 6am and I really enjoyed the high country as it become lightly wooded and at times was mass planted with grasstrees. The views to the west were opening up more. The ground was becoming more and more sandy, so the walking was a little tougher. After many kms of steady downhill walking I made campsite Dutgee. This camp site is in very low-lying ground and extremely spaced apart. I would not like to be around this site in wet weather. I ate a large meal in the eating area beside the Noosa River. I filled up with water and drank all I could before moving on.
The next section wandered beside the Noosa River, in what was very pretty low-lying bush land, before opening up at the base of the climb to the Cooloola Sandpatch. This is over 4 km of constant walking up, on very soft sand, and it was a hot day, with little shade. Day trippers were also on the walking trail at this point. At the top of the climb the view southwest was open and clear and a good view of the lakes could be had. I entered the Sandpatch at around 1pm, so it was unrelentingly hot, I followed the instruction boards and after an hour or so I re-entered the bush. The sandpatch was large and beautiful, however even though I was travelling mostly downhill, the soft sand had taken its toll on my body. The walk to the final camp Brahminy was only about 7 more kms however I ran out of water with 2 km to go, and I was overheated. The views to the East over the ocean were a welcome end to the walk. I was most grateful to make camp in the last hour of light of the day. This camps’ eating area had a beautiful view of almost 180 degrees facing south. Unfortunately, I had campers’ tents sent up in the eating area as well as weekend walkers having a small party, so my time in this area was limited. Again, the water in the tanks was plentiful, and my tent site was flat and fairly isolated.
https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/cooloola/journeys/cooloola-great-walk
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