Escape to Boreen Point

by Roz Glazebrook (subscribe)

I was recently lucky to be invited to camp at Boreen Point with some friends. It was my second time camping in the campgrounds there right on Lake Coothabara. I have kayaked and canoed across the lake several times on trips up the Upper Noosa River to Campsite 3. I wrote about one of those trips here.

We had left from Elanda Point on those trips. My first time camping at Boreen Point was with some friends with campervans a couple of years ago. A couple of us were in tents. We had a great time and walked to the Kinaba information centre one day from Elanda Point. We also went kayaking on the lake and had a meal at the pub. I was only there for a couple of nights, so was looking forward to camping and exploring this time for 5 days and 4 nights.



I arrived at Boreen Point on Boxing Day. I had driven up from Brisbane via Pomona. It took me about two hours. My friends had been there since Christmas Eve. They were out kayaking when I arrived, so after I set up my tent, I went for a walk along the lake bank. It was very windy and the kite surfers were having a wonderful time. I took a photo of the waves and even the land on the other side of the lake looked wavy.



Soon, I saw my friends coming in. They hadn't gone too far because of the wind and a couple of them in a hired double kayak hadn't had much kayaking experience before.



We had a relaxing lunch and afternoon. They had set up a great communal tent for shelter and meals. There are two toilets and shower blocks and a kitchen with a large fridge, microwave oven and power points to recharge phones.



You can also buy ice for the eskies from the camp shop. It did close at 2pm each day, so you need to get your supplies before then. There is a freshwater tap attached to tanks, but it is a good idea to bring lots of water as well. Peter had a great Cobb gas stove. It is a universal cooker with a BBQ grill, frypan, and oven to fit a full-size chicken), or pizza, which we all used to cook our food on the nights we didn't go to the pub.



The next morning we got up early and set out for a paddle on the right side of the Lake. The lake is shallow and about 10km long by 5km wide.

We had seen a creek on the map and were heading for it. After battling the wind for quite a long time we finally found the creek entrance. It was very calm and beautiful paddling up the creek for a couple of kilometres there and back. We came across a launch site and decided we would come back another day and bring the others who didn't want to paddle all the way in the wind up Lake Coothabara. I'm glad I kept going. I almost turned back just before we found the creek entrance as I was getting tired. I hadn't been paddling for over a year and my arms were feeling it.



On the way back Peter picked up a Cruz freeride foil kite, which he found buried in mud on the way over. He tied it to the back of his kayak. There was a sign up in the shop from the owner asking if anyone had found his missing foil. He was very pleased to get it back and drove up to the campsite to collect it that afternoon. He had been searching for it for three days. He brought us a crate of beer as a thank you.



I went for a 12.2 kilometre bushwalk the next morning from Elanda Point to the Kineba Information Centre. It was an easy flat walk. We passed some wild pig traps and old concrete troughs along the way. The track starts near Habitat Noosa which is only about 5 kilometres from Boreen Point.





The tracks are well signed and there is a car park on the opposite side of the road. You do need to drive as it could be dangerous trying to walk up the road. There are lots of camping and glamping options at the remodelled campsite there but I prefer the Boreen Point campsite. I paid $20 per night for my campsite. I remember the old campground at Elanda Point before all the new development there. It used to be a popular place for families. Nowadays it has a locked gate and only people paying to stay there can visit.



From Kinaba, we saw some kayakers and canoeists heading down towards the Everglades on the Upper Noosa River and some heading back towards Elanda Point. One poor man in a canoe seemed to be doing all the work with his two children sitting in the front of the canoe I didn't envy him having to get back across Lake Coothabara in the wind.



We went for dinner at the Apollonian Hotel for two nights. The hotel was brought to Boreen Point from Gympie after the Gold Rush days. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was great. There is a short track from the campsite to the hotel.



We explored Boreen Point one day and discovered a plaque to Eliza Fraser and a jetty with a crocodile head next to it.
The plaque commemorates the rescue of Eliza Fraser, a survivor of a shipwreck in 1836, who spent several weeks living with Aborigines on Fraser Island.



The plaque reads, "Elisa Fraser who was shipwrecked and after suffering a great ordeal was rescued from northern shores of this lake in 1836 by convict Graham." I didn't know she had been rescued from Lake Coothabara.

Noosa Shire Chairman Bert Wansley unveiled it on the 3rd of January 1982. I found some information about Eliza. She isn't popular now because she tried to make money out of her experience when she returned to England and many of her allegations about the Aborigines have been disclaimed. Fraser Island is now called K'Gari.

"In May 1836, "The Stirling Castle", captained by Scotsman James Fraser, was wrecked on a reef now known as Eliza Reef approximately 200km north of Fraser Island. The survivors boarded two open boats, both in poor condition. The two boats became separated and Captain Fraser, his wife Eliza Fraser and some of the crew spent several weeks at sea before beaching a short distance from what is now known as Waddy Point, a few kilometres north of Orchid Beach tourist resort.

Eliza remarried and returned to England and sought to make money from her ordeal. Prominent people living in Australia and those who were knowledgeable on aboriginal tribal customs disclaimed many of her accounts. A statement by the newspaper "The Sydney Gazette" in 1838 disclaimed some of her allegations.

A few mornings we got up really early and went for kayak before the wind came up. It was very relaxing and beautiful on the lake. There is a great coffee shop within walking distance of the campground that sells a large range of interesting things.

We had some drama one night. A giant centipede bit one of the men at midnight in his tent on his thumb. We didn't hear about it till the next morning. The creature was still in his tent so we all helped carefully to pull everything out and check for it. We eventually found it under his mattress. It moved really fast but we managed to guide it out of the tent back into the bush. I got a blurry photo. I'd never seen one that big before, so if you are camping up there keep your tent closed. He said it hurt a lot, but the swelling and redness went down after a day.





We had a couple of goannas and brush turkeys around the camp, so we did need to keep our food contained.



Even though there were a lot of people camping, it didn't feel crowded in the large campground. Some campers close to the lake had to battle the windy conditions and I think a few might have given up and left early. We were at the back and fairly sheltered in the natural bushland.



I loved my trip to Boreen Point and will definitely go back again when I get an opportunity.

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Why? A great place to camp, kayak, and walk

When: Anytime

Where: Boreen Point, Lake Coothabara

Cost: Camping fees

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