Carlo Sandblow

It's the 1st of Jan 2017, the start of a brand new year, the last day of my New Year holidays. Switched off the phone hoping to bypass the alarm and oversleeping. Looks like my biological clock is more powerful than the phone alarm, and I woke up exactly at 6.30 am :( Our initial plan was to have breakfast and go straight home, but a brochure I picked up the previous day from hotel reception was nagging my inquisitive mind - Rainbow Beach.

I very casually mentioned about it to John over our overpriced lousy breakfast at Lemon and Thyme, who was very willing to have a detour to see the place, though he has been there before. I felt guilty as it would be him, not me doing the driving, but John insisted we saw it before we went home and I 'complied'.

It is amazing how John knows all these roads in his head, he would just take the turns as if he'd driven the same route thousands of times. We left Moololaba and arrived in Gympie and took the road towards Tin Can Bay.

Road from Gympie to Tin Can Bay was quite a beautiful sight, strip of yellow little flowers by the road before stepping into the never ending pine forests. It reminded me of Europe, but on the dash board temperature was reading at 33 Celcius - oh yes it's Queensland in summer.

You have to take a right turn before reaching Tin Can Bay to go towards Rainbow Beach. This road goes through the Great Sandy National Park. Never ending arid trees and shrubs go past you at 100km/h and in about 2.5h after leaving Moololaba we were at Rainbow Beach.

Once in Rainbow Beach take the Cooloola drive and keep driving to the end of it where there is a car park. It was around 11am when we got there and soon after I got out of the car I started to regret this detour. The scorching sun pierced through my skull and I almost felt individual sun rays. From the car park it's a relatively easy walk in shade of about 600m with two wooden flights of stairs to the Carlo Sandblow.

It was unbelievable how  quickly the landscape changed from well grown trees to vast almost desert like sand dunes! There is a viewing deck right at the end of the foot path with a good description about the phenomenon which gave rise to this moon like landscape and the history of the place.



The strong winds carry sand from the Pacific ocean which deposits in the area forming these dunes, some of which are among the highest in the world. Captain Cook saw these dunes while sailing past this place over 200 years ago and named this place after one of his crew members, Carlo.


When we arrived at the dunes, there was one mother with her three little daughters. Two of the girls jumped onto the sand and started walking towards the sea against mother's protests and the little girls soon returned as they couldn't cope with the burning sand at mid day with just flip flops; we were glad we were wearing fully covered shoes. With only half of a half a bottle of water John and I started to walk down the dunes. Your shoes would bury in sand at some points and I was trying to recall if Queensland got any sand vipers. Death by a sand viper on 1st of January would have made headlines I guess. The dunes slope towards the sea and abruptly end in a cliff beyond which is the placid and  mystically blue Pacific ocean. Sun was harsh, but the view of the ocean and the surrounding scenery was beholding all our senses as we walked to the edge of the dune. From the edge of the dune you could see the Tin Can Bay, the Double Island Point and the colored sands of Rainbow Beach. There were coastal paragliders setting up their glides to take off; Carlo Sandblow is a world renowned place for coastal paragliding. The place was simply amazing and the piercing rays of sun was well worth it.




After immersing ourselves in the beautiful scenery we started our return journey to climb up the dune, and it was such a challenge! you need to fight both the gravity and the sand which try to swallow each of your steps. I was praying John wouldn't faint and I'm sure he prayed the same for me. By the time we reached the viewing platform, my gear fit was recording a heart rate of 140, we were sweating from each and every pore of our skin - a good work out. There were no bathroom facilities at the car park, so we were drenching in sweat until we found a cafe with bathroom facilities in the town - food was rubbish, but at least there was a bathroom.

I will definitely return to see this wonderful, mystical landscape again, next time either at sunrise or at  sunset.

Tips:

• Go in the morning or at sunset. 
• If going during the daytime like we did, make sure you are wearing shoes covering your feet, have a hat, have a bottle of water in hand. 

No Entry Fees

Amenities

• There are enough little cafes in the Rainbow Beach town to grab a bite.
• There are no cafes to grab a bite / water bottle at the walk entry, so bring yours from the town.
• There are no bathroom facilities at the entrance. You need to come back to the town to use bathroom.