About the new Carlo Sand Blow walk

The beautiful Carlo Sand Blow bush walk at Rainbow Beach takes you through eucalypt forest and rainforest with diverse towering trees, shrubs, ferns, flowers, sedge, vines, and grass trees along the way.   Of course, September is wildflower season, so a particularly beautiful time to go.  Much of the walk is under the dappled shade of the forest, so it is lovely even in the heat of summer.

The trail commences at the QPWS (Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service) office (situated on the right as you drive in Rainbow).  Or, you can walk to the start via the Double Island Drive fire break (walk to the top end of Double Island Drive and turn right onto the fire break).  It is approximately 2.8km to the Carlo Sandblow.  

At the peak of the walk, you will emerge from the forest onto the high, southern side of Carlo Sand Blow, where the 'moonscape' of windblown sand before you is breathtaking.  

Carlo Sand Blow is part of the huge accumulation of windblown sand known as the Cooloola sandmass.  Wind is carrying sand across a forest and burying everything in its wake.
From points around the sandblow, enjoy stunning 180-degree views over Rainbow Beach, Tin Can Bay, the Coloured Sands, Double Island Point, Fraser Island and Inskip Peninsula. 

Once you are at this point of the blow you can either return the same way you came, or continue across the sand blow to the viewing platform, follow the track to the car park, and then down Cooloola Drive through town to wherever you started from!

Spotted on the walk

Early on the walk, you'll come across patches of this mysterious feathery brush-like plant with distinctive 'burnt' brown rings on the stem.  It looks like a cross between a fern and a pine!  It is in fact a class of plants known as a 'sedge'. Caustis Blakei, or Foxtails.  We searched widely to try to find what it was and eventually I joined a Facebook Plant Identification Group, who were able to name it.

It has inflorescence, not leaves. 

From NoosaLandcare.org: This sedge can be found in wallum woodland and dominating the grass species in Scribbly Gum or Blackbutt forests on sand islands - the coastal lowlands being a preferred habitat. It ranges from Bundaberg in QLD to Taree in NSW and also in the Greater Brisbane Region west to Helidon. The flowering ‘tails’ are 20- 50cm long but many plants have non-flowering (infertile) branches these each with clusters of branchlets. C.blakei has rigid, erect, smooth stems up to 2m tall.

This massive Scribbly Gum must be hundreds of years old.  No doubt it was standing when Captain Cook sailed past and named the sand mass, Carlo Sandblow.

 

Did you know that at the end of every scribble trail there is a loop, where the grub circles back and starts re-consuming the trail it has been on.   You can also see here how the grub has grown in size as it has eaten its way from the thinnest line to the thicker line. 

Don't miss the turn, unless you want to walk to Double Island Point!  Here you also join the very last section of the Cooloola Great Walk, a five day 102km trek from Noosa North Shore to Rainbow Beach.  200 metres to go to the blow!

Just after the turn off, look out for our tree fondly known as "the booby tree".

Fascinating burl on a gum, bark stripped away above but clinging on below.

The sun is starting to set through the Eucalypt forest.   We timed the walk perfectly!

Arriving at the Sandblow

Listen out for wonderful birdlife twittering in the banksias (including tiny birds with a big song that we think they may be Mistletoe-birds). Look overhead for birds of prey, such as brahminy and whistling kites. 

Carlo Sand Blow

We never tire of taking new people to explore all corners of Carlo Sand Blow. The wind rushing up from the ocean over the expanse of sand blows away all other thoughts. From the striking beauty of the coloured sand cliff edge to sand tobaganning, sand dune sprints and admiring the coastal vegetation.

Carlo Sand Blow is accessed from the top of Cooloola Drive.  From the car park is a moderate 10 minute walk that is easily accomplished by young children.  Once at the sand blow you can spend a brief time admiring the view from the platform or spend hours wandering the extremes -- to the back end where the sand is creeping towards the houses in Rainbow Beach, to the cliffs on the ocean side and up the sides!

Paraglide at Rainbow Beach

 

The thermals must be good at the moment, because we had a parade of paragliders passing the house.  One photo shows someone just taking off from Carlo Sand Blow with Double Island Point in the background.  From the sand blow they drift up and down, riding the thermals back along to Rainbow Beach.   We are all convinced that we would like to try paragliding because they look so relaxed, literally just having a little sit down in their floating seats.

On the sand dunes today there were three paragliders doing circuits over the beach - one you can see above was "sand surfing", being dragged along the dunes by the sail.   The haze in the sky is from the fire on Fraser Island.

Footprints on Carlo Sand Blow

 

Not ant trails, but the footprints of people busy investigating the sand blow cliffs. 

Spectacular views from Carlo Sand Blow

There is no need to go to Fraser Island to see a spectacular sand blow. The expansive Carlo Sand Blow can be found near Rainbow Beach, three hours drive north of Brisbane.

Covering around 15 hectares, Carlo Sand Blow offers beautiful 360 degree views from Double Island Point around to Tin Can Bay. You can walk down to the steep cliff face of the coloured sands from where the sands are blown up, and you can trek to the back where you see the sand slowly engulfing trees and bush as the blow inches inland.

The National Park walking track to the Carlo Sand Blow, which starts about 300 metres up the road from Scribbly Gums beach house, meanders through woodlands with massive scribbly gums and banksia. We love an early morning walk to watch the sunrise over Double Island Point or to go at sunset and watch the sun go down over the waters of Tin Can Bay inlet.

This view shows Inskip Point and the hills of Fraser Island in the background.  Near the middle of this photo there is a tall pine tree with a wind sock flying from the top that is used by the paragliders.  Scribbly Gums beach house is located just over the road from this tree.

You will often see paragliders taking off from the Sand Blow, joining the sea eagles making the most of the thermals along the cliffs. The sand blow was named by Captain Cook after one of his crew named Carlo.