Double Island Point: Permits and access via the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park

Getting to Double Island Point in the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park requires a 4WD vehicle, a Cooloola Recreation Area permit and a steep walk. Alternatively, take a Great Beach Drive day tour from Noosa.

Double Island Point feels like the end of the world. Connected to the rest of Queensland by a long, sandy spit, this unusual headland is home to a highly photogenic lighthouse. It’s also a prime spot for watching dolphins, whales, turtles and manta rays.

Getting to Double Island Point requires a bit of effort, unless you take a 4WD tour with dolphin kayaking at Double Island Point from Rainbow Beach. Find out more about these tours here.

Where is Double Island Point?

Double Island Point is the second most easterly point of mainland Australia. It’s part of the Gympie region, but to most visitors it’s either at the very bottom end of the Fraser Coast or the very top end of the Sunshine Coast. Double Island Point is at the eastern end of Wide Bay and the northern end of the 51km-long Teewah Beach. This beach is sometimes called Cooloola Beach as well.

There are no sealed roads to Double Island Point. The Cooloola area is mainly sand. It’s 4WD tracks and beach driving only in these parts. Most visitors will arrive from Rainbow Beach, home to two popular holiday parks, or Noosa after taking the Noosa North Shore Ferry from Tewantin.

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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.

Double Island Point permits for the Cooloola Recreation Area

To visit Double Island Point in the Cooloola Recreation Area will need a 4WD vehicle, and preferably some experience of driving a 4WD vehicle in sandy conditions. You will also need a Cooloola Recreation Area permit. These vehicle access permits can be bought from the Queensland Parks and Forests service.

Double Island Point permit cost

Bought online, the Double Island Point permits cost $13.95 for a day or $35.50 for up to a week.

That’s considerably cheaper than the equivalent permits for Fraser Island.

Access to Double Island Point lighthouse

Once at Double Island Point, you have to park by the beach at the bottom. The gates on the access track to the lighthouse are locked, so the only way up to the headland is walking. The Double Island Point walk is short, but steep. It’s 2.2km return, and rated as a Grade 3 walk for difficulty. The views from the top make it worth it. On a clear day, you can see as far as Inskip Point and Fraser Island.

Double Island Point Lighthouse, Cooloola, Queensland — The Double Island Point lighthouse is at the top of a steep walking track. Photo copyright David Whitley/ Australia Travel Questions.

If that seems too much like hard work, you can take a Double Island Point tour. Great Beach Drive 4WD Tours runs day tours from Noosa along Teewah Beach to Rainbow Beach. The guides have the keys to the Double Island Point lighthouse gates. This means you get to drive up, rather than walk up.