https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/great-walks-cooloola
It was a windy night that didn't provide great sleep. This time I had a hiking pillow, and it was definitely worth its weight to carry. After a leisurely start to the day, Drew and I headed south back toward Tewantin, detouring via Mount Seawah.
Continuing south it was not possible to walk on the beach due to very high tide, so we continued on the path I had taken yesterday through the dunes.
https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/great-walks-cooloola
I was up fairly early and took my time to walk to the last
campsite. The trees down were few to the sand blow and the sand was firmer due
to recent rain. On the sand blow I saw a feral cat and a very low flying
helicopter. The walk from the sand blow to the campsite I once again found
tough, and the number of trees down was crazy. This was the worst section of
the track. I arrived at camp just before 15:00 to find Tracy waiting with a big
smile, and once again a completely empty campsite. That night I slept very
poorly, as the wind was very strong.
Day 4
Up early once again and we packed and took our time walking
out to the ferry. It was nice to have someone to walk with for a change. We had
planned to walk the beach from Teewah Village however it was high tide, so we
had to stay on the path. We saw and talked briefly to 3 groups going north on
the trail, totally about 20 people as one group were schoolgirls! Tracy had
told me the last 2 km of the walk was underwater, so we walked on the beach to
the first cutting and stopped for lunch and a well-deserved swim. We walked the
roads to the ferry and then to our car. We plan to complete this again over 5
days together in July, cross fingers!!
Unfortunately I had not been able to do the whole Cooloola Great Walk with Drew, but at last I was finally able to get out hiking again. I caught the ferry at Tewantin and then walked north along the road to the start of the Great Walk. Due to the recent rain there was a lot of water around. Walking through Arthur Harrold Nature Refuge toward the beach there were many areas where the path was under water and the detour was under water and the detour from the detour was under water. This made for some beautiful reflections.
The beach was beautiful and most of the time all to myself. There were long stretches without anyone else's footprints. Near the caravan park there were a few people on the beach, some flying kites.
The path then went into the dunes and undulated through a variety of microclimates. It is quite amazing how very localised the types of flora are.
Drew arrived at Brahminy not long after me and we had Brahminy camp we had all to ourselves. Such a beautiful spot!
