Wooroi Day Use Area, Tewantin National Park, QLD.

The access to Wooroi Day Use Area is easy to miss. If approaching from Tewantin along the Noosa-Cooroy Road, drive past Beckmans Road until you see a bus shelter and turn left immediately. The access road ends in a car park and a large pleasant picnic area where there are tables and taps but no toilets. This area used to be State Forest but is now a National Park so dogs are not allowed. Several mixed use trails start from this area.

Palm Grove Walk
A Class 4, 1 km circuit walk through cabbage tree and piccabeen palms along Wooroi Creek. This is the only trail for walkers only.

Glider Trail

The Glider Trail is a 2.5 km (one way) walk and links up with some other trails in the park and bike trails throughout Tewantin. This is a wide trail that walkers share with mountain bike riders. We have always found the bike riders here to be a considerate and cheerful bunch. On this trip, one rider who is also an avid twitcher stopped to chat with us to see what birds we had seen in the park. We had a bit of a laugh because we had seen one Lewin's Honeyeater and heard a few Woompoo Doves. He told us that he often sees Varied Trillers at the start of the path. Later we saw a Spangled Drongo. Oh well, not every trip is an outstanding birding experience but you never know what's out there and just looking is half the fun. 

Lewin's Honeyeater and Spangled Drongo

There were plenty of butterflies about. Common Crows and Orchard Swallowtails were in good numbers. We noticed that this Orchard Swallowtail was a bit battered; you can clearly see through the hole in its wings to the greenery behind it.

Varied Sword-grass Brown Tisiphone abeona and Orchard Swallowtail Papilio aegeus

We observed this Lace Monitor rolling over and over in the dust. We haven't seen this behaviour before but we wondered if it was dislodging troublesome ants or perhaps it was just playing as juveniles of any species are inclined to do.

Mount Tinbeerwah, Tewantin National Park, QLD.

Mount Tinbeerwah Fire Tower

Most tourists are aware of the Glass House Mountains in the south of the Sunshine Coast but Mount Tinbeerwah 17 km west of Noosa Heads must be the Sunshine Coasts best keep secret. Mount Tinbeerwah is at the end of Tinbeerwah Road off the Noosa-Cooroy Road. The last section of road contains some gravel sections and climbs up to the car park.

Although signage still indicates that this area is a Forest Reserve it is now listed as National Park. No camping or pets are allowed but next to the car park there is a day use picnic area with pit toilets.

Day Use Area

Mount Tinbeerwah Lookout Track

The 1 km return, Class 4, track to the Fire Tower on top of Mount Tinbeerwah is an interesting walk through a volcanic landscape. The foundation of Mount Tinbeerwah was formed during volcanic activity 27 million years ago. Erosion has removed the soft outer sandstone and left behind the hard rhyolite core that we see exposed today. There is a lookout area about 130 m into the walk that can be accessed by pram or wheelchair.

First Lookout Area

The view out to Lake Cooroibah and Lake Cootharaba

The vegetation does an amazing job existing on the hard rhyolite surface and the mountain is surrounded by lush eucalypt forest.

Keep your eye out for hexagonal shaped cooling columns as you continue on to the Fire Tower.

On your right as you ascend there are several abseiling platforms equipped with anchor points. The cliff faces are largely fenced but please take care especially if you are walking with young children.

Abseiling platforms looking out to Mount Cooroy

Side view of the abseiling cliffs

We have abseiled here in the past. We have also climbed down to the base of the abseiling cliffs; although we didn't do it this time as we were carrying a fair bit of camera gear. The photo below was taken in 2011 and doesn't do justice in showing how high the cliffs are.

Looking back up the vertical cliff face after descending

If abseiling or rock climbing is not your thing then continue up to the Fire Tower, which is open to the public. Here you will find great views in all directions.

Noosa Heads

Mount Cooroora

Mount Cooroy

On this trip, in March 2015, we went in the morning but Mount Tinbeerwah is also a beautiful place to watch the sun set.