Woralie Creek Crossing Fraser Island

[The Shag]

Hi All,

I'm planning a trip to Fraser and will be camping down at Coongul Creek just after Christmas. (I know this is a less than ideal time but I'm doing my nephew a favour as he is a little inexperienced. I have done Fraser a few times but never been to the Western Beaches).

I'm keen to hear from anyone who has crossed Woralie Creek at low tide on the beach and how deep it is? Every picture and video I see seems to be very deep but these don't seem to be the beach crossing. My gut tells me it would be fine around low tide but I'm keen to get it confirmed or if I need to get a snorkel fitted ASAP.

I am also keen for any advice and tips from anyone who has done this before.

Thanks

The Shag.

 

[Petunia]

I have never been to the flea bitten, mosquito ridden, sand fly haven of the west coast myself, but, as with the eastern beaches, it's suck the savaloy and see, the sand shifts the creek shifts? Although the surf on the west is massive, from a satellite view the creek appears to hug the shore for quite a way before it exits, this could obviously change from time to time?

I am no help, but if you have seen pictures/video, A: its true or B: they put on a show for a camera?

 

[Toddyh]

It's been several years but we crossed it at near to low tide. We had a range of vehicles including some fairly stock without snorkel. The crossing itself was fine but the sand on the other side was crazy soft. We walked the crossing and it was only a little above knee deep but then continued to walk to find a way through the soft stuff. I'd say go for a look but definitely walk it and have a good look around first.

 

[cam04]

I go there yearly or more. That time of year, if the SE’ers are blowing the bugs will be thick as.
Watch the weather a week or more before you plan to go. If there are decent N / NW ers in that week be extremely careful as the beach could have been coated in weed. It only takes one tide to cover it in pretty white sand. Go sailing into that and you can lose a car easily.
Woralie is easily crossable 3 hours either side of low. It is only a little creek and runs completely fresh at low tide. It is only ankle deep at that time. Coongul is the big one and it always has salt content. Don’t cross it unless you need to - it has claimed plenty of cars.
Any other info you need about that part of the world I should be able to help with. Take plenty of bug spray. About the only pics I have of woralie aren’t of the actual mouth.

 

[The Shag]

I go there yearly or more. That time of year, if the SE’ers are blowing the bugs will be thick as.
Watch the weather a week or more before you plan to go. If there are decent N / NW ers in that week be extremely careful as the beach could have been coated in weed. It only takes one tide to cover it in pretty white sand. Go sailing into that and you can lose a car easily.
Woralie is easily crossable 3 hours either side of low. It is only a little creek and runs completely fresh at low tide. It is only ankle deep at that time. Coongul is the big one and it always has salt content. Don’t cross it unless you need to - it has claimed plenty of cars.
Any other info you need about that part of the world I should be able to help with. Take plenty of bug spray. About the only pics I have of woralie aren’t of the actual mouth.

Many thanks for the info and pics. Very helpful indeed. My thoughts were the Woralie would be easy at low tide. I’m not planning on Coongul, it looks like a massive car trap. That said I’m getting a Safari snorkel fitted next Friday but I’ll stay away from Coongul.

Very interesting to hear about the weather. I would have thought the prevailing winds would have NE. I’ll start watching now.

Cheers

The Shag

 

[cam04]

Many thanks for the info and pics. Very helpful indeed. My thoughts were the Woralie would be easy at low tide. I’m not planning on Coongul, it looks like a massive car trap. That said I’m getting a Safari snorkel fitted next Friday but I’ll stay away from Coongul.

Very interesting to hear about the weather. I would have thought the prevailing winds would have NE. I’ll start watching now.

Cheers

The Shag

Plenty of northerlies during summer but they don’t blow too hard. It really takes a weather event with consistent high wind to weed the beach up. The best place for an update would be rainbow beach towing service on FB as they do most of the recoveries on the west beach. Prevailing is nominated as SE but we all know how often that happens. Best fishing is during the SEers over there no doubt. We were there in October chasing them.