Rainbow Beach

On the way out of Hervey Bay, Glen noticed that the bike rack was leaning about 1/2 degree more than it should so upon inspecting the nuts and bolts he found that one of the uprights (out of two) was cracked almost all the way through. Luckily we were in a major city and after a quick detour to autobarn and 30 minutes later we were back on the road, hopefully this one will last all the way home.

We got to Rainbow Beach at lunchtime and checked out the beach (not very inviting) and the park (for toddlers) the shops and the pool (19 degrees) but the kids still had a swim until they went blue.
The weather wasn't great while we were in Rainbow Beach, and they say your impressions of a place can be totally dependent on the weather so I guess Rainbow Beach "wasn't that great for us". However we did manage to catch up on a bit of homework and washing when the weather was ordinary. During our three days there we did manage to go for a walk to the Carlo Sand Blow, which was quite impressive. Sand Blow's are common in this part of Australia and are the result of sand being constantly blown up through the vegetation, literally swallowing it. We also splashed out at a nice cafe for fathers day lunch, then again for dinner because happy hour went for a bit too long watching the footy finals. Rainbow Beach is probably the cheapest town to access Fraser Island. If you are looking for a day trip to Fraser Island then come to Rainbow Beach on a weekend. It costs $80 for the ferry crossing and $47 for a permit to drive over there. Wish we had done this but you can't do everything.

Friends for five minutes while bushwalking to the Carlo Sandblow

View of Rainbow Beach from a sand dune

We went for a couple of little drives along the beach (just to say that we have done it) and to see the many different colours of sands that make Rainbow Beach live up to its name. The sand dunes are very steep and very high with colours ranging from yellows, oranges, reds, grey and black. All the way along this stretch are fantastic formations and patterns which have been eroded in the sand over time. Mel through it would be lovely to wind the window down and film us driving down the beach navigating around the rocks at low tide. Glen thought it would be hilarious to drive through a washout. You can guess the rest. We all got wet! Hilarious guy that Glenno! Rainbow beach can be tricky if people don't take particular notice of the tide. Throughout the year many people take a drive along the colourful sand dunes only to realise on their way back they can no longer drive past the rocks again as the tide has quickly changed. To their horror they can only bail out of their car, climb up the rocks and sand dunes to safety and watch as their car is bashed against the rocks and taken by the ocean. The drive took us 30 minutes, the queue up for the under body car wash to get rid of all of the sand took 2 hours, so we are a bit hesitant to take Bruce back onto the beach.

Fantastic patterns in the sand dunes eroded of time

The highlight of Rainbow beach had to be the massive sandhill 50 metres from the caravan park. Where all of us got a buzz out of sliding down the hill on the boogie boards. There was a small 20 metre slide and a rather long 80 metre slide towards the beach. The climb up to the top of both was pretty steep so most of us slept well that night.

We stayed at the only caravan park there, which was again pretty ordinary, squeezed in like sardines, even tighter than Hervey Bay. Most vans needed a tractor to get them in and out of their sites, however I'm sure that if the weather was great we wouldn't be spending a lot of time at the van park. Next stop, Noosa.

TIP: Take notice of the tide charts when driving along the beach. Apparently you can feed dolphins at Tin Can Bay which is reasonably close to Rainbow beach, the only drama is that you have to be there by 7:15am and it is about 40 minutes away, so that counted the Stevos out who have come accustomed to sleeping in until 8.00am these days! Always move your car away from your van and poles before you start pulling them down as sometimes (well once) poles can just fall onto it. If you don't want to get your car sandy, take a trip to Fraser Island on one of the big day tour buses. It costs a fair bit but if you shop around you will be able to find a price that suits.