Noosa Sand Patch

Have you ever sat on Main Beach and wondered about that patch of sand as you gaze north across Laguna Bay toward Double Island Point. It is well worth the energy to discover this relatively untouched part of the Noosa landscape.

I suspect you can reach the Sand patch by driving up the North Shore and hiking up from the beach but in this blog I will write about my experience in reaching the Sand patch by kayak up the Noosa River.

You may refer back to my blog providing advice to paddle up to Harry’s Hut. If you are prepared to camp over  night this is the way to go. If you’re not game to camp or you can only afford to get away for a single day you can drive into Harry’s Hut and launch your kayak from there. In either case you want to be heading out of Harry’s before midday at the very latest.

I prefer to set up camp at Camp 3. This is about a 1 ½ hour paddle from Harry’s Hut. It’s a great campground, very private, has a toilet & rainwater and has a walking track that will take you to the Sand patch. If you are not going to camp I would suggest paddling up to Camp 4 where the actual Sand patch track starts.

The walking track is well marked and hard packed sand all the way to the top. It starts dead flat and then there is a climb up to the top of the dune. It will take over an hour to reach to Sand patch. There is an interesting variety of flora along the way but a surprising lack of wildlife.

After what seems like a very long hike and just when you start thinking you must be on the wrong track without warning you are confronted with a vast open dune known as the Sand patch. There is a sign suggesting you don’t walk over the dune. Not sure what damage you could possibly do as there isn’t a single blade of grass and I don’t think anyone takes any notice of the suggestion.

Walking out on the dune it is almost surreal. The openness and rolling dunes with the ocean backdrop seem so unexpected after the hike up. Given the timing I’ve never been able to spend too much time on the dune themselves. I’m sure there is a lot more to discover but given the time of day and the amount of time required to get back to camp you cannot spend too much time on the dune itself. This is particularly the case if you need to get back to Harry’s Hut.  I’ve had to paddle back in the dark and may have missed the camp if not for a couple of backpackers having a cigarette on the jetty.

All in all it will be a really big day but a Noosa experience you will never forget. From then on you can look across Laguna Bay and say ‘I’ve been there’ and it was awesome!