FAMILY GOES HOME AND WE CHECK OUT THE CARLOS SANDBLOW...

 Our last full day at Rainbow Beach today...  We spent a pretty quiet morning at the park with family, mostly letting the kids enjoy time on the jumping pillow again and playing in the playground.  Sarah and Colin had to be out of their unit by 10am.

It was just after 11am when they all left to head home and we felt a little flat.  We had looked forward to our time with them and it has gone so quickly.  

Steve packed the boat up and put in any luggage that we wouldn't need for our last day and then tied the cover back on the boat in readiness to leave the following morning.  We then had a bite of lunch before doing a bit of a shopping list to prepare us for our 5 days at Turkey Beach.

There is no shopping at Turkey Beach so anything we need we need to buy here before we leave.  We decided to head to the IGA at Rainbow Beach itself rather than take the half hour drive to Cooloola Cove to the Woolworths there...

As we left to go do our bit of shopping we drove down through the caravan park to check out the new amenitites block that has just been built along with their really lovely camp kitchen area...

Outdoor BBQ Area attached to the new Camp Kitchen.

New Camp Kitchen...

Inside the new Camp Kitchen...

 

 The new amenities block was lovely also, with each area a mini en suite with toilet, shower and hand basins all within the one room...

New amenities block..

We headed into town to the IGA from here.  We had a few things we needed to get but unfortunately we were only able to get half the things we needed, so in the end decided that we would go through the Cooloola Cove and stop off at Woolies on our way out.  This would work well for us as it would allow us to stop off at the bakery and pick up something to take for morning tea when we dropped into Steve and Toni's..

It was just after 3pm when we finished out shopping and neither of us felt like going back to the cabin so we thought we would go and see if we could find Carlos Sandblow and check it out...

We had seen the car park earlier in the week but wasn't too sure how far the walk to the sandblow was.  We went back to investigate again this afternoon and found that it was  a well maintained  600m walk winding through the Australian bushland to the viewing platform overlooking the sandblow.  It wasn't a difficult walk but there were some steps that we needed to climb...

The start to the Great Cooloola Walk which takes you past the Sand blow.

 

It is easy to see how the Carlo Sandblow can take your breath away... The dense bushland  breaks open to reveal a sprawling moonscape of golden sand.  Curling up into a halp-pipe before you it momentarily distracts as your mind tries to process the sheer depth of the open space in front of you.  You look left and the vast expanse of rippled sand, broken only by footprints gives way to unimpeded views of the water.  As you wander down the sandblow it only gets better until you're standing on the edge of a cliff, waves beating down on the shore below.  It was easy to get caught up in it's splendour as we marveled at just how beautiful and really special it all is...

This 15ha sandblow, the largest accumulation of wind-blown sand found along Queensland's coastline,  was named in 1770 by Captain Cook, who observing it, decided to name it after on of his deck crew named Carlo.  It really does offer excellent views east to Double Island Point, and west to Tin Can Bay, and I would imagine it would be the perfect place to come and watch the sun come up over the horizon.  

Whilst we were there, it was very popular with people sand sliding down the sand dunes.  Appartently it is also very popular for both hand gliding and para sailing.  They use the gentle slope of the 'blow' to launch out over Wide Bay,

Looking out to Double Island Point...

The viewing platfrom overlooking the sandblow..

Sand sliding down the sand slopes

 

 From the inland side of the Sand Blow, you are treated to sweeping views of Cooloola Cove and Tin Can Bay out towards the horizon and mountains jutting up from the earth.  It is also the perfect spot to sit and watch the sunset...

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From the coast side of the Sand Blow you have unimpeded views of Double Island Point to Inskop Peninsula and the southern tip of Fraser Island.  To the right, the stunning beauty of the Coloured Sands.  The shape of the coastline is dramatic and humbling, sharing the sheer size and raw beauty of the Queensland coastline...

Amazing colours in the sand as you shuffle you feet in it...

 

It was going on for 5pm when we decided to leave.  We were pretty keen to get back to the boat ramp at Carlos Point to sit and view our last Cooloola Coast sunset.  We have spent most afternoons down here this week enjoying the beauty of a Queensland sunset... 

It was a quicker walk back through the bush as we didn't really stop of photos on the way back until we got back almost to the car park when we stopped just to take a couple...

It was close to 5pm by the time we got back to the car and with less than half an hour to sunset, we decided to head down to the boat ramp at Carlos Point to watch the sunset for one last time...

We were in for  a real treat tonight, it was an amazing sunset, with the colours of the sky ranging from oranges, peaches, mauves, pinks and it was magical...  
Feeling so blessed to be able to share this together.

We watched a tinny of fisherman returning from their day out on the bay and they provided a wonderful silhouette  against the setting sun in the background.  Makes for a great photo...

  

Once the sun actually set, the clouds were then lit up with all shades of beautiful colours.  There were a few of us down there admiring the beauty of the evening sky.  

There were also quite a few sitting on the edge of the pontoon just fishing too...

Such beautiful birds....

Sitting out and witnessing this sunset was a wonderful way to end our week at Rainbow Beach.  We have had such a lovely time here and built some beautiful memories.  Makes it so much easier to want to come back here again, and we will and another thing I can tell you is that we won't be waiting another 40 years to do so...