Inskip Point, Cooloola National Park April 22-26 Pt 184

Back in Carbala, via the “New England Highway” north of Toowoomba, we found no easy answers about the A-Van. Larry suggested we just leave it behind and spend at least a little time on the Sunshine Coast (the ocean shores north of Brisbane--the Gold Coast is south of Brisbane). Specifically we headed for some camping spots on Inskip Point, in the Great Sandy National Park, just east of Gympie. The best camping is probably on Fraser Island, the world’s largest all-sand island and southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. It has freshwater lakes, rainforests and no roads. You can take a ferry from Inskip Point to Fraser Island and drive on the 75 mile long beach to remote camping spots. We didn’t want to take any risks with Larry’s Nissan. To drive on the beach you need to deflate the tires a little and drive on the wet sand with 4 wheel drive while the tide is low. So we camped near the beach at Inskip Point.

The drive to Gympie was fairly fast and we stopped at their visitor center to get some literature. The center was part of a large park in Gympie that was packed on this Sunday afternoon. Above the railing of the porch going into the Visitors Center was the largest spider web and spider that we saw on our whole trip. It was probably 2 to 3 inches across and I assume harmless since they left it there. Gympie became a gold boom town after James Nash found several ounces of gold in a few hours panning Deep Creek in 1867. We had no time for fossicking however and headed straight for the beach.

Rainbow Beach is a small surfing-oriented tourist town on the ocean in the middle of the park, so named for its multi-colored sand dunes and cliffs. It was described as a laid back little burg in Lonely Planet, but a new hotel and several huge condominiums being built there pretty much spell an end to that. Park literature features the Pandanus tree which is prominent on these shores near Rainbow Beach. It has pendulous roots that seem to have as much to do with the air as the ground. Then after securing a permit and driving on heavily rutted soft-sand roads, we found a spot overlooking the beach in a forest of Casuarina Trees. Commonly known as Australian Pine, these trees are well adapted to windy, salty situations. I think they exude the salt from groundwater, especially on cars and tents under them. They are also popular with Rainbow Lorikeets, Crows and Brush Turkeys.

After setting up the tent and a kitchen area, we contemplated the other things to do: surfing, fishing, boating, hiking, or even fossicking for rutilated quartz. We did a lot of contemplating and some beach walking but none of those other things for about 4 days. The wind was warm and strong enough to blow away the sand fleas. We watched the sunrise over the ocean and the sunset by the ferry launch (which was from a beach – there was no dock on the mainland or Fraser Island). We didn’t have many neighbors but got to know them as time went on. One couple, who were both traveling nurses on their way to new jobs, called in and said that they had car trouble and were not going to make it on time. Another pair were retired and just traveling around after living in New Zealand. They left a large caravan behind in nearby Hervey Bay and were camping in a tent – sortof a vacation within a vacation. Another retired fellow brought his trick kite, one with twin strings that you can make zip back and forth – and crash emphatically. He showed me how to fly it when the wind got strong enough. Some other folks walking by on the beach asked for some water. They told us about wild dolphins that come to feed every morning in Tin Can Bay – a relatively short drive away. We went there the next morning and watched them – along with a crowd of other folks. (My camera was craving better batteries at the time so I don’t have pictures.) Back at camp we mostly watched people going by, the gannets diving for fish, fishing boats coming and going with their lights bobbing in the ocean after dark, and the Double Island Lighthouse far to the south of us. Joe went swimming to cool off a couple of times despite possible stinging jellyfish, sharks and the usual maritime suspects. It was great. We woke up to the sounds of the birds making their rounds in the morning and went to sleep to the sound of the waves pounding the white sand in the moonlight. Using hardly any petrol or auto-gas, costing very little to camp, cooking simple meals and camping on a million dollar ocean lot, these were easily the most relaxing, enjoyable and least expensive days of the trip. Eventually (SIGH!) we had to head back to Toowoomba and home.