Introduction to today's journey
Today's journey starts back at Wooral Day Use Area and heads past Tewantin Golf Course through a relatively new subdivision before reaching a long firebreak through tall forest. I follow this track westward until it starts winding up the slopes of Mount Tinbeerwah towards its summit. After resting at the summit in perfectly clear conditions, I descend to the Tinbeerwah Goat Track which I follow down to Old Tewantin Road, which continues through the forest along what will soon be the Weyba Trail along the Noosa Trail Network. Eventually the track diverts from the road crossing Six Mile Creek before reaching Lake MacDonald at the Noosa Botanical Gardens.
Distance hiked today: 18.9km
Total distance hiked: 476.1km
Today's Journey
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Setting out from Tewantin, I reach an entrance to the northern half of the Tewantin National Park, with a nice little sunchair greeting me at the gate. There is no time to linger though. |
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The short track leads to this long firebreak heading through the swampy everglade forest heading towards Mount Tinbeerwah in the distance. |
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Eventually the track rises above the swampy everglade forest winding its way up the volcanic hill covered in eucalyptus forest to the Mount Tinbeerwah Road which I follow for its last two kilometres towards the car park. |
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From the car park, a well graded sealed walking track heads further up the hill to this shelter at the summit, from where I get 360 degree views along the Noosa foreshore to the east, the Cooloola Sandmass to the north, Eumundi Range and the Blackall Range to the south, and a view out to Lake MacDonald and the forest I will be hiking through over the next couple of days - this is the image at the top of this page. |
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From the Mount Tinbeerwah summit, I descend along the track, then the road a short distance before following the Tinbeerwah Goat Track along a ridge and moderately down the other side along a narrow track with a lot of vegetation fallen over it. There are quite a few grass trees, giving Mount Tinbeerwah its name, meaning place of grass trees. A local person is clearing some of this bush today. |
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The track descends to Old Tewantin Road, which I follow westward towards Lake MacDonald following what will soon be the Weyba Trail which will form part of the Noosa Trail Network starting from Marcus Beach on the Sunshine Coast, passing Lake Weyba before coming up through here towards Lake MacDonald. This section of road is closed to vehicles with the floods from earlier this year washing part of it out. |
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The road eventually ends at a junction where what was once Old Tewantin Road continues as a rough walking track, but I follow Gumboil Road rising moderately out of the Noosa Catchment area to a couple of large water storage tanks from where I descend a short distance into part of the Mary River catchment area. |
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The trail leaves the road following a walking track at the start of the Wahpunga Trail which I will be following tomorrow. The track crosses 6 Mile Creek before heading towards the Noosa Botanical Gardens. |
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About twenty minutes after crossing the creek, I reach its source, the Six Mile Creek Dam behind which is the beautiful Lake MacDonald. The dam was initially built in 1965 and raised in 1980 supplying water to the Noosa region. |
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I reach the southern end of the Wahpunga Trail at Noosa Botanical Gardens in the outskirts of Cooroy. From here I watch the spectacular sunset over the lake and gardens as little turtles frolic offshore. |
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