Into the Blue

Karina here.

I wanted to go back in time a bit and tell you about one of our first off-road adventures as a family. Neil and I have done 8 months of off-roading about 10 years ago, all pre-kids. We were itching to get back into thew wild as a family. This is how we began again….

We were feeling cramped and suburban.
We wanted our kids to know adventure.
So, we bought a Nissan Pathfinder & Named it Barry.
….We could have bought a Patrol. We’ve had a Patrol. We’ve adventured in a Patrol. But we weren’t ready for the commitment.

So Barry & the 4 of us started ‘going up the beach’. For us, that means Double Island Point, North of Noosa, on the Sunshine Coast. On this particular bright blue day, we travelled with ‘The Friends’. We drove all the way to the point, crossed over to the west-side and setup ourselves up for the day.

It was turquoise at hyper-level. I walked around the point barefoot to watch the surfers and see what plants I could find. There was a mantra ray swimming a little way out. I loved him, but he didn’t want a photograph.

We stayed for just one night. Ate too many marshmallows by the fire, and came home via Red Canyon.

Ocean Imagery from this series is available for purchase from www.stockpassport.com

This is a truly beautiful part of the world, but very tide dependant. It is predominately beach/sand driving and 4WD’s really are a must. There are zero facilities. I’m pretty sure there are zero dogs . Fires are allowed, but you need to bring your own wood.

To get there, from the Sunshine Coast side, drive to Noosa North Shore and catch the Car Ferry from Moorindil Street. Drive onto the ferry and hand over your $7 or $12 depending your vehicle. From there, drive on bitumen past the pub and past the 1^st & 2^nd cuttings. Stop on the road-side before the bend that takes you to the third cutting. This is the “tyre-spot”. Let your tyres down for sand driving, then enter the beach in 4WD mode. Camp anywhere in the camping zones. Or you can drive all the way to the end for the day. The eastern side is lovely when the wind blows from the North or West and is about 1 hours drive through the sand to the end. If the wind is from the South or East you can cut across to the western side for protection. Add an extra 10-30 minutes to get across. There is no camping at the pointy end.

Be very aware of tides. Our aim is to be driving on the beach 2 hrs either side of the low tide. If you go all the way to the end, know your tide timings for coming back. For camping trips, we stick to weekends when the low tide is on the Friday afternoon. That way you can travel in safely (low tide at say 3:30pm), and make your return trip either on the Saturday arvo (low tide at say 4:30pm), or early/late on the Sunday (low tide at say 5:30am or 5:30pm). For day trips you need to look for days when the low tide happens twice during daylight hours (for instance, low tides at both 7:30am and 7:30pm). On your return trip, re-inflate your tyres at the ‘tyre-spot’ mentioned above if you have a compressor, or do it at the carwash 2 minutes up the road. This is a national park, so camping AND vehical permits apply, so pick yours up before you leave, either from the QPWS Great Sandy Info Centre just before the Ferry (noosa-side) or grab them online before you go.