double island camping

[fishplukka]

hi everyone !! has anyone been on nortyhshore beach lately im going tomorrow for a couple of days what are they catching ? and what are beach cond like ?thanks

[Slider]

Is pretty damn nice on the beach here atm fishplukka. Just walked out of the surf after a run to Lake Cootharaba and back and the water is sensational - calm, blue, glassy and very clear. Had the added pleasure of a mother and calf humpback sitting no more than 25 metres out from where I was swimming. They hardly moved for the 15 mins or so I was there. No traffic went past in that time either - the beauty of mid week.
Beach is wide at low tide with no rocks and 2nd and 3rd cuts good, but has been some boggage at 1st. Is bitumen currently being layed between 1st and 3rd Wilderness Track and you'll be guided by the stop go boys anyway.
Pros took a couple of tonne of tailor and whiting just north of Teewah on monday which has made it pretty barren around here (Teewah), but there'll be fish somewhere if you look hard enough - tailor, bream, dart, whiting, tarwhine, flathead.

[Seahorse]

slider,
when will bitumen be completed.
has anything been done to 3rd cutting?
last time i was up there, prob 4 months ago, the 1st cutting was great.

cheers
greg

[Slider]

Greg, the 1st cut has been restructured with bitumen to within metres of the soft sand and the cutting narrowed to half original width. It isn't particularly soft or a long run, but with big revs in low range, then doesn't need to be.::)
3rd cut can't be revamped until 'RAMS' goes through Parliament which will give the State control of the area and that won't be until the end of the year at best. So existing cutting is still to be used until then. The bitumen to 3rd cut is being done by council and they look like they should have it rattled during next week.
Parking across the road from the new Eco Centre, which is beside the High Tide Hotel is well under way to completion also, which will have the centre open at some stage finally soon - in preparation for permits.

[Mrs Ronnie H]

Hi Guys
We camp up at Northshore Park and was just wondering if you think having a better access road and better conditions to get on to the beach it will have much affect on the amount of people going up there. Holiday time is the worst time and as we have seen and heard thoiusands of people camping at Easter etc.

With better access to the beach don't you thinkthere will be an endless succession of beach goers.

Are permits still going to come into play and any plans to restrict the number of people camping at any given times. What prices are they looking at for permits.

I know last time we were at the park they were only allowed so many people in the park at one time. A much better idea as far as i am concerned.

Cheers
Ronnie

[Slider]

Is most unlikely that permits won't come into play Ronnie. With that will be capped camping numbers on Teewah Beach and Inskip Point and compulsory porta potties. Through traffic to Fraser will slow up as 2 separate vehicle permits would be required and I can't imagine too many doing that. At present, a 3 day pass at $25, a monthly permit at $38 and yearly at $191 are proposed.
I recall when the first bit of bitumen was put down from the ferry for about 2kms, back in about '83 and we thought 'here come the throngs', but I'm not sure it made any difference to numbers. And I don't believe that this new bit of bitumen will alter anything either in that regard. Capped camping is the big one and that will definitely reduce traffic - just means that campers will have to book ahead.

[Seahorse]

slider.
i dont really think capped camping is a bad idea.
By booking ahead is no different to going away anywhere.
U must admit that the traffic up there at peak times, is unreal, and dangerous at times.
I personally dont mind the permit system.
In all it will make your life quieter.
It just means better planning needed at holiday times.
I think that I would enjoy my holiday better if i had a bit of breating space between camp sites, instead of going out for a drive for the day and come back to campsite and find a damm tent set up where u parked ur car.

cheers
greg

[Slider]

Yes, capped camping is a good idea Greg and I think the proposed numbers are sensible. Compulsory porta potties are also - fancy letting the number of campers we get here all climbing the coloured sand hills to toilet in, decade after decade - just not on.
The traffic is such these days Greg that I pretty well don't leave Teewah on weekends, let alone long weekends. It can be outrageous at times and has been for many, many years. I have supported the introduction of vehicle permits since the idea was first mooted in '89 by the then Mayor of NSC Noel Playford. Noel failed in his attempt due to the fact that monies couldn't be charged for use of a gazetted Rd - ie Teewah Beach. Changing Cooloola from its current zoning of 'Conservation Zone' to 'Recreation Area' to be manged by QPWS, means that a fee can now be charged.

I wrote in QFM about 2 years ago that I would support the introduction of vehicle permits and be the first to pay up as a major beneficiary of such a system. Well as it is turning out, I am not a beneficiary at all, but a casualty. I'll explain why, but I still support the introduction of RAM. (Rec Area Management)

At this stage, it is proposed that there be no permit required to use the stretches of beach between the 1st cut and the river mouth and the 3rd cut to the northern side of Teewah Village. This will direct everyone who doesn't wish to pay for a permit into these small areas.
With Teewah being the northern boundary of the 'free beach' and the start of the coloured sands, there will be an accumulation of vehicles and people right in front of the village. This will cause a lot of vehicle and pedestrian traffic within the village, potential crime and vandalism, dust from the sand tracks, erosion of the sand tracks, toileting in the village, safety issues within the village from increased and unfamiliar traffic, safety issues on the beach in front of the village with turning and through traffic and parked vehicles in a location where the occupants of 100 houses swim and recreate on the beach generally. The 'free beaches' will become a madhouse of traffic and pedestrians with horses thrown in to make matters worse and no areas to get off the beach to park. The environmental impacts on these stretches will be large and involves a number of bird, frog and crab species, as well as erosion to the dunes in an area that is vulnerable due to the presence of coffee rock and the shape of the bay.
Quite simply, the allocation of free beaches here will make these stretches a 'sacrificial lamb' - there are no other free beaches anywhere that can be driven on and when so close to Brisbane ......

No doubt some will say that this is just bad luck for Teewah landowners, but it is not just the impact on Teewah landowners that is of major concern. And how it is fair to create circumstances such as this for any community where safety is compromised to such a degree?

There is no doubt that the permits should apply to all of the beach, but there is much manouvering by interested parties to achieve outcomes that are suitable to themselves - these people have created a minefield for the government that will cause bad decisions to be made and for Strategic Directions for Cooloola to lose the benefits that were intended in the first place.
I'll write a book on the 'players' in this area one day.

[Mrs Ronnie H]

Hi all
I hate to say it but I am in total favour of permits. Even Bribie i sland has a permit and we have no objections to paying the annual fee to be able to camp, fish etc on the island. If management by QPWS is undertaken I can only see this as a benefit and if they do up there what has been done on Bribie i can only see much improvement.

I like the way the camping sites have been done there and think this is a god way to restrict the numbers of campers at any given times. Is this something that is going to be done at Double island as i can only see that numbered camping sites would greatly control the influx that takes place during Easter/Christmas.

The idea of porta potties being mandatory is probably good news as well as It had at times been like a sewerage dump up ther. Step out of your car into goodness knows what.

Thanks for further info on this and IMO any improvemnt up there is a welcomed one.

Ronnie

[TheRealAndy]

I dont have a problem with permits, but I do have a problem with 5 Stickers on my car. Currently I have bribie, stradbroke, fraser + rego.

I would happily pay a premium to have all permits built into one (might be a problem with straddie)...

[chisel]

Would the compulsory porta-potties be required if the numbers were reduced due to the vehicle permit? I can't see how they would police the porta-potty thing. Is there a rule like that elsewhere?

Anyway, I'm all in favour of the permit. It seems a bit stupid to me to make part of the beach a free beach and the rest requiring a permit. That might reduce total numbers a bit but as Slider said will put a lot of pressure on the southern section.
I thought numbers were already restricted a bit (I think it says something like 3000 max on the epa site when you book) but if not then I'd agree that is a good idea - although the permit should just about suffice for keeping numbers down a bit.

Slider - do you have any idea when the permits might come in? They were supposed to be months ago and I'm a bit concerned they'll never be brought in.

[Seahorse]

Slider.
I do feel for u and ur little community.
Its a great place and i can see the enormous promlems teewah village is going to have.
A sign that says, all hoons stop here. And boy oh boy will u have some.
Is there a chance that there will be no free beach?


greg

[Slider]

I think the State election put everything on hold for a while Chisel but we should see things in place by the end of this year or early next.

Camping numbers in Cooloola will be restricted to 2000 at peak periods (xmas and easter), 1200 at shoulder periods (school hols and long weekends) and 600 for the rest of the year.

Portable toilets were to be compulsory from Sep this year, but has obviously been delayed with everything else. As to policing of - I think camping permit applicants will be asked if they have one, and if the answer is no, then no permit issued. Obviously rangers will play a role here on their rounds of checking permits etc.

Ronnie, I'd expect that there will be some structure to the camping areas that is similar to Bribie or Fraser, but nothing along these lines has been outlined as yet.

I've just deleted quite a bit of relevent info as to why the 'free beach' situation came about in the first place due to threats of legal action against me that have occurred. Let me just say that there is an element in Teewah that are not your everyday type decent citizen and have agendas that suit themselves and quite happily at the expense of everyone else. I guess there's #######s in every community. And they will know who I am referring to when they read this. >:(

[Slider]

There's a chance Greg, but it reduces every time our esteemed representatives put pen to paper - they're still chasing exemptions from permits that we voted unanimously as a community that we don't want.

[bdaearth]

Wow that is a big reduction in numbers!!! It will be great up there once it kicks in and as for the free beach that has to be one of the dumbest ideas I have heard. there is going to be a lot of pressure on the rangers by the sound of it.

[Seahorse]

slider.
u do have a battle on ur hands. I love the area, so i hope it all works out for u.

cheers
greg