Rainbow Beach and Cooloola National Parks – Long Weekend Excursion, Sat 3 to Mon 5 May, 2025

Rainbow Beach and Cooloola National Park Leader: Greg Neill (contact details provided by email on registration)

Registration: Registration is preferred via the QNC website. Click on the excursion name and complete all fields and submit. Once you have successfully registered you will receive an automatic email confirming your registration. Alternatively, you could contact the leader Greg Neill (email: gne15404@bigpond.net.au). Note: you must be a club member to attend this excursion. You can join the club here: QNC Membership

Meeting Details: We will be meeting in Rainbow beach township 0900 on Saturday morning. Meeting place will be provided to all registered participants closer to the time. Please bring day walking gear and the usual naturalists’ paraphernalia; sturdy footwear, binoculars, cameras, magnifying glasses, drinking water and snacks, sunburn and insect protection.

Accommodation Options:

• Camping at Inskip Point – Booking via https://parks.desi.qld.gov.au/parks/cooloola
• Two caravan parks. One in town very close to all facilities and the surf beach
• https://www.rainbowbeachholidayvillage.com/accommodation/caravan-sites/
• Another much larger park has an open area for unpowered sites and is on the shores of Tin Can Bay
• https://www.big4.com.au/caravan-parks/qld/sunshine-coast/breeze-holiday-parks-rainbow-beach/accommodation
• Backpackers, short term housing https://www.cooloolacoastrealty.com.au/

Details of excursion: There are several options for outings which will depend on weather and preferences of participants. Suggested outings include:

• Proposed visit to Bullock Point area or Carlo Point. Mangroves, sand flats, woodland forest; low tides early afternoon approx. 1.30pm.
• Poona Lake walk which is a formed 2 km walking track in and out to the lake (swimming is allowed). Greg will lead any interested naturalists on an extended walk via a road to the proposed site of the Cooloola Great Walk private camp site. This involves a slightly longer walk with a little bit of offtrack through a large old growth forest of Blackbutts. We will meet up with the track walkers at Poona Lake and return to Bymien Picnic area along the National Park track.
• Early evening visit to Cooloola Plains to hear, and hopefully observe, Ground Parrots.
• Bymien Picnic area night visit for night time searches.
• Short visit to Tin Can Bay cemetery and the start of the Cooloola Wilderness trail for general nature walks.
• On Monday, we plan a half day morning walk so attendees can depart Rainbow Beach in good time for the return home. This is one of our favourite walks leaving from the National Park office in Rainbow Beach through to Carlo Sand blow. We will cross the sand blow to the carpark where we could leave 1 or 2 cars for the drive back to town, or some may prefer the easy walk back to Rainbow Beach township