Coloured Sands Beach Day Trip - Trip Leader - Chrissy Etchell

We will leave Brisbane in the morning and traverse the beautiful coloured sands from Noosa Northshore. Perfect for those members wanting to learn how to drive on the sand.

More information:

1 - Meeting Locations: 

The first meeting location will be at the northbound Twin BP on the Bruce highway. I will be parked in the general parking area in front of the food court. I will be leaving this location at 7:30am sharp. If you are running late, you can catch up with us at location 2. My car is a Toyota Prado with the number plates 66CME.

Meeting location 2 will be on the side of the road just past the Noosa North Shore beach campground. You are able to put this into Google and navigate your way there. We will meet here at approx 9.00am and commence airing down. Please be courteous when parking - there will be members of the public mixed in with us and we will need to make sure the road is left free for traffic. Please do not block the roadway. Remember, we are a particularly large group so park as close to each other as possible.

2. What should I air down to? High tide is 6am at Noosa so we will be getting onto the beach around 3.5 hours after high tide. It can be assumed that we may be driving in soft sand for part of the trip. With this in mind, 18 PSI tends to be a good choice to air down to when driving on particularly soft sand. We may need to drop lower depending on the conditions of the day and this will be communicated to you on the day as required. For those of you who are new or maybe not too confident, please let me know on the morning of the trip and I will pair you up with an experienced member of our club to be with in the convoy. 

3. Once we have all aired down, I will give a trip briefing and everyone will sign the trip sheet.  We will then make our way down onto the beach and form up into 2 groups.  We will get a photo of the convoy, hopefully via drone, when safe to do so..  The numbers on the day will influence how or if the group is split up.

Please remember that, on the beach, speed limits vary from 40kmh up to 80kmh and it is imperative to do the signposted speed and keep a good, even distance with the car in front of you. Those of you who are uncomfortable travelling at the signposted speed in a group, that won't be an issue. However, please note you will be moved down the back of our group so as not to hold the group up too much. 

4. First stop will be the Red Canyon. This is not too far up the beach and will be the location of morning tea and a good chance to stretch your legs. The adventurous members of our group will most likely climb the dune and take in the views from the top. Alternatively, you can have a swim. It is anticipated that we will be at this stop for around 45 minutes to an hour. Please also bring your chairs if you would rather sit down and take in the serenity. The rest of the trip outline will be given to you on the day at the trip briefing. 

5. Please have a functioning UHF.  If you do not own a functioning UHF, the club has 4 handhelds that can be loaned out. Please contact our property officer, Mark Newman, to organise borrowing one.

6. Please make sure that you have appropriate recovery gear and functioning communication devices. If you do not, you will be turned away at the trip briefing and sent home.  Please see the list below of what you will need.  We will be running UHF channel 57. 

What you need:

• Recovery gear 
• Tyre deflator / Gauge 
• Day beach permit - Vehicle access permits | Parks and forests | Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, Queensland (des.qld.gov.au) $14.40
• Lunch, snacks and drinks 
• Togs and towel
• Chairs 
• 12v Compressor to re-inflate tyres. (while there are a couple of servo's at Rainbow, availability of air to re-inflate cannot be relied on. 

I look forward to seeing everyone. Due to the size of the group, I will not be waiting for people if they are not at the rendezvous points on time, and it will be up to you to catch up to the group. Please also keep in mind that phone reception is limited on the beach, so if you're trying to contact me after 9:30am you may be disappointed. This trip is run through national parks, so unfortunately pets are not welcome. 

This trip is highly popular so, if for some reason you can no longer attend, please let me know as soon as possible, so that your place may be offered to another member on the waiting list.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me.