Day 2

Noosa to Rainbow Beach, 133km
Noosa National Park – free, 4 hours free parking available.
Standown Caravan Park – $28 powered.

We awoke early to the soothing sounds of roads being resurfaced. We knew this was happening and they did give us a discount on the rate in anticipation of the disturbance but that still didn’t make the 7am wake up call any easier! We packed up fairly quickly and made breakfast in the most beautiful camp kitchen, which was open on two sides to give a view of the Noosa River.

After breakfast, we drove the five minutes to the National Park. We chose to take the coastal track which is a 10.8km return and offers stunning views of the ocean. After a couple of hours we reached Sunshine Beach (which is the end of the track) and stopped for a few minutes to take in the view. We decided that instead of doing the same hike back, we would take another route back to the car which lead us through the rainforest (after climbing up the worlds biggest hill). I have no idea how long the actual walk due to our diversion was but I racked up 22000 steps by the end of the day so I guess it wasn’t a bad effort!

Once we got back to the car, we grabbed our lunch, sat by the water and did some research on where we were going to set up camp that evening.

During this trip, we want to experience as many things as possible and because of this, sacrifices have to be made in terms of where we camp and food etc. We are trying to live as cheaply as possible, so we have more money for ‘the good stuff’. The next stop was planned to be at Rainbow Beach which is best known as a landing point for Fraser Island tours. We have decided to put the Fraser tour on the back burner for a little while until we are back in Brisbane and have some more money behind us however we still wanted to see Rainbow Beach. The campsites there were all a little pricey, but we managed to find a fairly cheap one on the road in so went with that.

We arrived to a camp fire and some really friendly hosts. The site is an ex veterans retreat and due to this they have a memorial around the dam which was lovely. I had one of the best night sleeps in the roof tent so far and woke fresh ready for a day of falling down sand dunes…

Day 3

Rainbow Beach to Tiaro, 93km
Carlo Sand Blow – Board rental $15 per board from Epic Adventures. ($50 deposit)
Tiaro Memorial Park – Free, unpowered

We left the camp around 10am and set off on the 30 minute drive to Rainbow Beach. We heard there was a great place to go sand boarding so we headed into town, hired two boards and made our way to the Carlo Sand Blow.

When we arrived at the main car park, the walking track to the dunes was closed. Undeterred, we attempted to find another way in. After a little driving around, we found another track from one of the National Park offices and set off.

We rented two boards, a stand up one like a snowboard and a sit down sled (mainly because I was scared to fall head first down a hill if I was standing up so needed options!) It was roughly a 2km walk but it felt like an eternity.

Eventually, the mass of trees dispersed and we ended up stood at the side of the sand blow. To our right, a sheer drop into the ocean. To our left, an amazing view of the town and Tin Can Bay (yep, that’s its name…) and in front of us masses upon masses of sand.

Due to the track being closed, it was practically deserted on the dunes. Almost immediately and like a kid at Christmas, I hopped onto my sled and tried to slide down the hill but try as I might, I could not get it to go anywhere. Matt tried to push me but it still wouldn’t budge.

We decided that we needed a steeper hill and that meant a trek across to the other side. Yep. No luck there either. We also tried waxing it but we still couldn’t get the board to go anywhere! So please, any pro sandboarders out there – what were we doing wrong?!

In the end, we both took turns on the stand up board. Matt has snowboarded before, so found it way easier than me but we had a good laugh watching me try!

After we were both covered head to toe in sand and exhausted from running up dunes, we took a walk over to the cliff edge overlooking the sea. From there, you could see the full peninsula of the Great Sandy National Park and it was pretty special.

Once we had our fill, we got back to the car and set off for our next destination.

Tonight we are staying in our first free camp in a little town called Tiaro, just off the main road. We are pretty sure we shouldn’t be here as we are the only ones not in a proper camper van but we shall see! There are clean toilets and free two minute hot showers so we cant complain too much.

Tomorrow we are heading to Bundaberg to drink some rum!