Cooloola Great Walk - Great Sandy NP

We got dropped off at the ranger cabin and permit center to start our first Great Walk. We were informed about the spiders, snakes, dingos and other exotic things that might harm us. And we got a good sense for the amount of water we should carry each day. You must book the campsites that you will stay at along the way, to make sure they're not overbooked, and so rangers can find you in case there is trouble. Because of the dry, hot weather, another fire/hiking ban would be implemented. We would have to be out within 4 days. But the hike we wanted to do was 5 days. Hmm... The ranger asked which campsite we wanted to skip. A 5-day, 90km hike in 4 days. We can do that, right? https://www.npsr.qld.gov.au/parks/great-walks-c…

We set off for the first campsite. We saw lots of wildlife along the way; a small snake, some spiders hanging over the path and a large lace monitor (lizard). We were startled by the lace monitor at first. Will it attack us? Is it fast? It was busy eating something, so we were assured its belly was full and we cautiously tip-toed around it. We had a nice refreshing dive at Poona Lake. But 15 minutes later, a red belly snake swam out of the water! It was poisonous but luckily also as scared of us as we were of it. But besides the scary looking animals, we also saw lots of beautiful rainforest and heard lots of crazy bird calls, from the kookaburra ("oo-ah-ah-ah-ah") to the Eastern Whipbird ("feeeee-piew!"). At night, we were startled by every chirp and falling twig around the tent, but the long hike put us right out.

The next days we walked through more rainforest, went up and down hills, and got our first views overlooking the vast forest canopy. We went through some different vegetation; eucalyptus trees, low shrubs and more dense rainforest. We walked under trees bearing 3kg pinecones, hikers beware! We crossed a big, parched grassland, into the valley of the Noosa River. Here we came across people canoeing. We had a nice little break before going straight up a sandy path to the Cooloola Sandpatch. We hiked a bit more this day, so the last day would be manageable.

The Cooloola Sandpatch is a sandblow. It was formed 500,000 years ago, as coastal winds blew beach sand into valleys between the hills. It is still creeping along, as the tail gets covered by new vegetation. The Great Walk crossed the sandpatch in a straight line for one kilometer. Better get out the compass and make sure you're going the right way! We played in the sand dunes and wild-camped on the other side, between the last two official campsites (kind of cheated a bit!).

The last day was long! We had to hike 27km. And ironically, although we were rushing out for the fire/hiking ban, it poured buckets that day. But a small break in the clouds allowed us to check out the peak of a nearby hill, with awesome views over the beaches and the nearby lakes. We had a 2km stretch over the beach. And walked the last few kms through the Arthur Harrold Nature Refuge. All of a sudden, something moved on the path ahead, two kangaroos! They stopped and stared at us for 10 minutes, and we stared right back. Awesome! They hopped around a bit but didn't get off the path. Finally, when we got a little closer, they bolted, bouncing across the high grasses. An awesome finale to a tough but exciting Great Walk!Read more