What to see and do

Walk the Coloured Sands beach section to look closely at the swirling, striped cliffs, and take your time on the wide shore at low tide when the sand firms up for strolling. The beach is excellent for line fishing—bream and flathead are the usual catch—and the dunes and shallow sandbanks bring lots of shorebirds resting along the waterline, with birds of prey often soaring overhead.↗↗

Between roughly winter months, keep an eye on the horizon: humpback whales migrate along this coastline and can be spotted from the beach. If you want a scenic drive, Teewah forms the heart of the roughly 60km Cooloola Beach drive from Noosa North Shore to Rainbow Beach, with the rocky headland of Double Island Point (named by Captain Cook, who saw it as two islands from out at sea) a short hop north, reached via the inland Leisha track bypass.↗↗↗

For something a little further afield, the inland Freshwater Road sand track and the rugged 40km Kings Bore circuit both branch off nearby and offer a very different side of Cooloola—rainforest patches, blackbutt forest and scribbly gum woodland, with the small rainforest picnic spot at Bymien.↗

Camping on the beach

Teewah is one of Queensland's classic beach-camping experiences. The camping area runs for about 14km along the eastern beach in two open zones—zone 1 to the south and zone 2 at the northern end—where you pitch behind the vegetated foredunes on sand and grass, with she-oaks, banksias and the coloured cliffs as your backdrop. There are no formally marked sites; you camp in the zone you have booked, using existing access tracks only.↗↗

Camping here is genuinely self-sufficient. Portable toilets are mandatory (sealed-tank units only; bag and bucket types are not allowed), there are no rubbish bins so you must take all waste out, open campfires are prohibited and you may only cook with fully self-contained gas or manufactured-fuel appliances. Generators are permitted only under conditions (zone 2 restricts them to 7am–9pm, max 2.0 kVA and under 65 decibels), there is no mobile phone reception, and shade is limited so bring your own. A QPWS beach camper service facility opposite the Freshwater day-use area provides portable-toilet waste disposal, untreated tap water and cold outdoor showers; toilets also sit at Freshwater and Double Island Point.↗↗↗

Getting there and permits

Teewah is reachable by 4WD on the Cooloola Beach drive from both ends. From the south, take the Noosa North Shore vehicle ferry at Tewantin, drive through to the third beach cutting and head north on the sand; from the north, ramp onto the beach at Rainbow Beach and drive south. You can also reach it inland via the roughly 19km Freshwater Road sand track from Rainbow Beach. All vehicles must be registered, drivers licensed, and Queensland road rules apply even on the beach; a high-clearance 4WD is essential and dogs are not permitted in vehicles traversing the recreation area.↗↗↗

A vehicle access permit is required to drive here, and a separate camping permit if you are staying overnight—buy them at the Great Sandy Information Centre near the Noosa North Shore ferry, or at Rainbow Beach's QPWS Information Centre, Shell service station or Mantaray Barges. Automatic number-plate recognition cameras check the beach around the clock, and entering without a valid permit carries a fine, so make sure the registration on your permit matches your vehicle.↗↗↗

Visiting safely

This is an exposed, dynamic coastline, so preparation matters. Sand cliffs and dunes are unstable and can collapse without warning—never climb, slide down or dig into them, do not park close to their base, and keep children well away. Plan driving around low tide, deflate and recover for soft sand, and stay alert for approaching 4WDs while walking the shore, since surf and wind mask engine noise.↗

Before setting out, always check the Cooloola conditions report, park alerts for closures, weather and bushfire warnings, and confirm your permits are booked. Treat the beach as a remote environment: carry water, fuel, recovery gear and a first-aid kit, and tell someone your plans.↗↗