Great Beach Drive tour from Noosa to Cooloola, Queensland

Great Beach Drive 4WD Tours runs day trips from Noosa to the Cooloola Section of the Great Sandy National Park. These tours involve 4WD driving up Teewah Beach to Double Island Point and Honeymoon Bay on Rainbow Beach.

Cooloola, Queensland, is not so much a town as a big sand pit.

The Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park north of Noosa is all beaches, dunes and hardy forest vegetation that attempts to grow on this.

Cooloola beach drive

Most of Cooloola is only accessible by 4WD vehicle. And those without a 4WD hire car (or the requisite confidence in their driving abilities) can take a tour instead.

Great Beach Drive 4WD Tours runs full day tours with pick-ups in Mooloolaba, Coolum and Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. The exact route depends somewhat on tides. But it usually involves taking the Noosa North Shore ferry, and driving most of the 51km length of Teewah Beach to Double Island Point. The 4WD tour then cuts across to Honeymoon Bay near Rainbow Beach.

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Cruise the mirror-like waterways of the Noosa Everglades – a glorious glide through stunning natural landscapes.
4WD along the beaches – AND kayak with dolphins on a day tour full of easy adventure.
Take a dolphin-watching safari down the Noosa River.
Have a go at kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding or waterbiking.
Take a tasting tour of the local craft breweries and distilleries – find out how the locals have devoted themselves to quality.
Get standing on your board by the end of a beginners’ surfing lesson.

Noosa North Shore ferry to Cooloola

Australia has many great beaches, but Teewah Beach has multiple factors that raise it to a higher plane. The first is sheer length. It stretches over 50km from resort town Noosa to the Double Island Point Lighthouse. The second is the difficulty of getting there. The Noosa River and Everglades cut it off from relative civilisation, and a deliberate decision has been taken to not build a bridge. The only way across – unless wishing to drive an awfully long way round – is to be shipped across on a cable ferry.

4WDing on the beach in Cooloola

But once there, the third unusual factor comes into play – so long as you’ve got a four wheel drive vehicle, Teewah Beach is one of the most spectacular highways on earth.

It’s not just a case of a few enthusiasts coming out to play on the dunes – full road rules apply. There’s an 80km/h speed limit – which is surprisingly easy to go over when the tide is out – and that goes down to 50km/h in the designated camping areas. Police often turn up with speed cameras and breathalysers too.

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Taste coffee and ginger, do rainforest walks, and visit the best lookouts on a highlight-packed hinterland tour.
Take a serene Noosa Everglades cruise along the mirror-like waterways – or canoe through the Everglades.
Learn to surf at a Sunshine Coast surf school – or try paddleboarding instead.
Combine sight-seeing and thrills on a fast boat tour.
Go e-mountain biking on the downhill trails of Tewantin National Park.
Kayak with dolphins as part of a beach 4WD tour.
Explore the Sunshine Coast from above on a seaplane flight.
Take an indigenous cultural tour – with bush tucker tasting.
Visit the region’s best craft breweries and distilleries on a drinks tasting tour.
Go jetskiing through the gorgeous Pumicestone Passage.
Taste wines, cheeses and chocolates on a hinterland food tour.
Watch migrating humpbacks on a whale-watching cruise.

Red Canyon, Cooloola on Great Beach Drive tour

Further up Teewah Beach, Red Canyon is nothing but sand, compacted over the centuries to form walls and cliffs, and cut through by rainwater trickling towards the sea. Scrambling up the sides leads to an outcrop with a majestic view. To the left and right is pure Australian beach, stretching far into the distance both ways.

A 4WD tour vehicle parked outside Red Canyon on Teewah Beach in the Cooloola Section of the Great Sandy National Park. Photo by David Whitley/ Australia Travel Questions

In front, the rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean crash in. And in amongst them is a humpback whale with her calf, starting out the long migration back down to Antarctica. They’re barely 150ft off shore. The kids digging holes in the sand could easily abandon their buckets and spades and swim out to the great beasts of the sea.

Steve Hargraves from Great Beach Drive 4WD Adventures has been driving down Teewah Beach since he was a child, and he makes no excuses for tours overrunning when there are whales to watch.

Where does the sand in Cooloola come from?

Stever also is endlessly fascinated by the sand, which has been building up here, then eroding away again for 600,000 years. “It’s a natural catchment area,” he explains. “Currents travel from south to north bringing sand from New South Wales and southern Queensland. Coloured sands come from iron oxides washed down through creeks and rivers. Then the thermals deposit them on the cliffs.”

Honeymoon Bay at Rainbow Beach

The colours are even more vivid on Rainbow Beach. This multi-coloured beach swoops round from Double Island Point, where dolphins and rays can be watched playing in the water.

In the last 20 years or so, a shimmering lagoon nicknamed Honeymoon Bay has formed on Rainbow Beach. That said, the relatively placid waters of the bay have always been fairly ideal for swimming anyway. But it’s the cliffs that are truly remarkable. There’s a kaleidoscopic array of colours – reds, whites, blacks, oranges, pinks and yellows.

Rainbow Beach paintings on Great Beach Drive tour

Steve breaks some off and starts spreading it amongst the wet sand near the water’s edge. It quickly turns paint-like, and he starts painting a rainbow across a section of the beach. This is essentially the technique Aboriginal Australians have used for cave art over thousands of years.

Steve’s handiwork is soon washed away, but the feeling of being somewhere wild, out on a limb and magical stays for a long time afterwards.

Great Beach Drive 4WD Tours

The Great Beach Drive 4WD Tours cost $195 for adults and $120 for children under the age of 14. The tours include a gourmet picnic lunch, national park and ferry fees. For more information, visit the company website.