Tin Can Bay - A Boatie Utopia
I’m old enough to have kissed goodbye a few spots we previously called paradise, so I’ll refrain from using that description for Queensland's fabulous Tin Can Bay. Instead, let’s call it a boatie Utopia!
Nestled in the quiet estuarine waters at the bottom of the Great Sandy Strait, the waterway that divides Fraser Island (traditionally named K’gari) from the mainland, Tin Can Bay is a prime destination for almost all boating activities. The region has so much on offer, and it all starts with magnificent coast and estuaries that are just brimming with marine and terrestrial life and unique beauty.
Queensland has always been promoted as “beautiful one day and perfect the next”, especially in the winter months, where locals thrive and hordes of frigid visitors escape the not-so-fortunate climates. Some like the domestication of the big cities and high-rise jungles, others the security of a well-populated holiday park. Others seek total seclusion in all manner of RVs, but for me, Utopia is in a small but friendly coastal village that offers all manner of marine delights and a few creature comforts. Such is Tin Can Bay.
This fishy little town is a two-and-a-half drive from Brisbane (216km) on a good day, but it’s advisable to time the journey to avoid the terrible traffic congestion from the never-ending roadworks. Once you turn seaward from Gympie, you immediately leave the troubles of the outside world behind as you wind through a kaleidoscope of flora with rolling hills, thick coastal scrub, large eucalyptus with thick white trunks and interspersed with pine and blue gum plantations. The terrain flattens out as you pass the Country Club on the outskirts, heading down the narrowing peninsula and into the small township with a permanent population of 2596 residents in 2024.
Tin Can Snapper Creek and the southern reaches of the Great Sandy Strait are a Ramsar Convention Wetland of International Importance and an Important Bird Area of Australia. Opposite to the north is the Australian Army's Wide Bay Training Area, and a short drive around the bottom of Cooloola Cove leads to the famous coloured dunes of Rainbow Beach and further up to Inskip Point, where ferries carry a seemingly never-ending stream of off-road vehicles over to the wonders of Fraser Island.
The Great Sandy Straits, Fraser Island and Seaward
The entire area is a boating wonderland accessible to coastal vessels from both ends of the Great Sandy Strait. It’s worth gaining some current local knowledge when entering from the sea, with both the northward and southern entrances presenting often difficult and extensive sandbar entries, particularly with moving sands and channels. These are prolific waters with massive channels, rivers, and tributaries, which provide excellent fishing, wildlife, and whale watching. Coastal vessels can enjoy day trips down to Double Island Point in the south and right up the seaward side of Fraser Island. The inshore and offshore cruising potential is almost limitless.
It’s really nice to see that Queensland respects the value of boating by providing excellent boat ramps throughout. But boating aside, there’s just so much on offer for the whole family to enjoy, especially with the extensive coastal parklands with many barbecue facilities and well-defined exercise tracks dotted with permanent gym equipment.
With the peninsula running basically north-south, Tin Can Bay provides sensational waterfront viewing platforms for the magnificent Queensland sunrises and sunsets, as well as clear skies for stargazing and photography. We also found it a great spot for storm chasing, as the huge cumulus thunderheads regularly stage spectacular displays. Can you see the big flybridge cruiser in this image by Casey Harrison?
A Friendly Town
I’m going to nominate Tin Can Bay for a friendly town award, with almost everyone we met beaming with acceptance, generosity and hospitality. Thankfully, there’s no high rise in this small coastal village, but there’s every other form of accommodation. The primary industry is commercial and recreational fishing, with its own fleet of prawn and scallop trawlers as well as crabs and line fishing for any number of species. Yet tourism is obviously a mainstay, and there’s plenty to experience.
Everyone loves dolphins, and Tin Can Bay is well known for its wild dolphin experience with a paid feeding operation in the hub of the township at Norman Point, right next to the boat ramp. It may well be a great experience for tourists and perhaps the kids, but we preferred to have our own up-close and personal rendezvous with the dolphins by simply pulling up in the channel and splashing the water when they approach your boat. They will come right up to you and take a morsel if you wish. Many will frown at the interaction; however, the dolphins enjoy the one-on-one experience.
It’s not all about fishing and boating either. There’s bowls, an 18-hole golf course and Country Club, tennis courts, shooting range, Aero Club, craft groups, waterside cycling and walking circuits, horse riding, trail bike and 4x4 adventures, skate park and great playground equipment, as well as the Yacht Club, RSL, pub, restaurants and café’s for a full range of attractions. The town is surrounded by National Parks and State forests where you will enjoy many off-road adventures, camping grounds and natural features, including an incredible array of flora and fauna. Speaking of off-road adventures, you can drive the beautiful beaches from Inskip to Double Island Point and all the way to Noosa along the Great Beach Drive, with camping in the dunes and miles of gorgeous and very fishy surf beaches. The entire region is also a bird watcher's paradise.
A Great Base For Exploration
Tin Can Bay is an ideal base to explore the surrounding area, including tours to the world heritage-listed Fraser Island, the famous coloured sands of Rainbow Beach, the Carlo Sand blow, the lighthouse on Double Island Point, plus many more attractions! The townships and attractions of Noosa, Maryborough, Gympie, Hervey Bay and Bundaberg are all within an easy day's drive for those who want to explore further. Supplies are readily available at the IGA grocer in town or a large Woolworths and Thirsty Camel bottle shop near Cooloola Cove. There’s arguably one of the best butchers in Queensland (hint - try their hams and cured meats), drive thru bottle shop at the TCB pub and plenty of small cafés, art and craft shops, gallery, takeaway food options, bakery, plus meals at the Country and Yacht clubs as well as hotels.
The Cooloola section of the Great Sandy Strait has it all. The waterways between Hervey Bay define the Strait in the north and Inskip Point to the south, an area of a massive 932 square kilometres (360 sq miles) of sheltered waterways, coves, inlets and tributaries, including Tin Can Bay and the mighty Mary River that enters at River Heads. This is a very tidal seascape of mangroves, sandbanks, intertidal sand, mud islands, salt marshes and seagrass beds, making it a very important habitat for all marine dependent flora and fauna.
There are numerous named and unnamed islands in the strait including Big Woody, Round, Little Woody, Picnic, Duck, Walsh, Turkey, Bookar, Thomas, Slain, Tooth, Round Bush, New, Garden, Dream and Stewart Islands. Further northward Hervey Bay opens even further in the 60km stretch between Urangan to Rooneys Point on the top of Fraser Island providing a further labyrinth of sheltered waterways for boating.
Where Can We Stay?
We were obviously there for the boating and fishing, and we certainly weren’t disappointed in any way. There are options here for those from the largest cruiser to the smallest personal watercraft, power or sail. If you are looking for a place to stay, there are plenty of options for all tastes and budgets, including bed and breakfasts, Airbnb’s, some terrific caravan and tourist parks, a range of hotels and motels, holiday units and apartments, all at a range of prices and services to suit every traveller. However, if there’s an ounce of briny in your blood and a taste for excellence, you just cannot go past the Tin Can Bay Marina & Villas!
This beautiful marina provides sheltered mooring facilities for 172 catamaran and mono berths ranging from 9m to 20m plus, with short and long-term rentals. The services include a 30-tonne travel lift, on-water fuel (diesel and ULP), dry cradle and trailer boat storage, spray booths, mechanical/outboard/diesel service, upholstery and boat trimming, holding tank pump out facilities, boat ramp, laundry and its claimed to have the best showers and restrooms on the coast. Moorings have independent power and water, and “The Chandlery” provides a full range of boat fittings and accessories as well as bait, tackle, ice, gas and advice on where and how to catch the fish of a lifetime. To protect your investment, the marina provides state-of-the-art security and fire mitigation systems, plus you can phone ahead to request assistance in mooring and docking.
We stayed in the lap of luxury in the attached Marina Villa Units, an experience I can’t rate highly enough. The villas are all situated directly on the water’s edge with large balconies overlooking the marina berths with views looking north and west across the bay and into the beautiful setting sunsets. The demeanour is sub-tropical and has a relaxing, laid-back feel that makes you really appreciate the iconic beauty. There are fully self-contained and beautifully appointed villas to suit families (up to 4 people), groups or couples, and they will even help organise a short-term berth for your stay. They provide barbeque facilities and a tropical, lagoon-style saltwater pool bound by relaxing gardens with the security of a gated enclosure. You don’t have to leave site with their own Marina Bar and Grill.
You may well have your own live-aboard cruiser, but if not, why not hire a houseboat? If it sounds appealing, give Margot a call at Tin Can Bay Houseboats, or better still, go and meet her in person at their offices right next to the Norman Point multi-lane boat ramp, you won’t be sorry – she’s a character! The office is in the services buildings at Snapper Creek Boat Harbour on Norman Point where you will also find the Coast Guard, Barnacles Café and the Yacht Club. Perhaps take a stroll along the professional wharf or stop into the Lee Fishing Company for some scrumptious seafood delights. If whale watching is your thing, there are regular sightings of migrating whales right along the coast, with Rainbow Beach being a great vantage point, or alternatively, motor up to the famous whale attractions in Hervey Bay, either with your own boat or perhaps take a professional charter. (Whale season is June – October)
Fishing at Tin Can Bay
The fishing opportunities at Tin Can Bay and regions are endless! If you are boating remember that the entire area is quite tidal and has many sand bars, channels, fast running water and marine reserves to will need to acquaint yourself with. Most boats nowadays have efficient chart plotters to make life safe and easy.
The estuary waters present a huge array of fishing and crabbing opportunities that can be shore-based, but a boat opens up many alternatives. Some of the more popular fish are whiting, flathead, bream, cod, mangrove jack, mackerel, tailor, tuna, herring, garfish and even the occasional barramundi. Most of the Great Sandy Straits are surrounded by extensive mangrove forests that form a terrific nursery for many species. There are prawns, scallops, bugs, blue swimmers, spanners, mud crabs, cuttlefish, and even champagne crayfish. If you want fresh bait, you can pump yabbies and sandworms at low tide at Tin Can Bay foreshore, where the local jetties can provide white bait and other small bait fish. The local shops, including The Chandlery at Tin Can Bay and Gardner Fisheries at Rainbow Beach, can also supply bait, tackle and advice for both fishing and crabbing.
If your boat is seaworthy and you are confident in your skills to make your way out to sea through the bar, then the world is a fisherman’s oyster. We were invited to join Greg Pearce from Double Island Point Fishing Charters for a terrific day offshore, and WOW, it was surely a great adventure. Greg is a true professional who knows his boat and the offshore fishing opportunities like the back of his hand. This time we ran up the coast outside of Fraser Island, but never venturing much more than 30 metres depth, and finding a great array of scattered reefs interlaced with occasional bommies, making ideal fish habitat. We caught snapper, mulloway, tuna, squire, pearl perch, sweet lip, cod, amberjacks, parrotfish and red emperor to keep all the punters enthralled with seasonal mackerel, cobia, marlin, Mahi Mahi, wahoo and many more all available in an area quoted to provide “some of the finest offshore fishing grounds in the world!”
Don’t forget the famous tailor fishing off the northern beaches, where literally hundreds of fishermen may gather to fish a stretch of beach with their bait and berley, keeping the schools localized.
Tin Can Bay has two very good boat ramps, with the primary being a dual lane ramp into deep water with a floating pontoon at Norman Point. There’s a smaller single lane ramp without a pontoon at nearby Crab Creek where you will also find Temptations By The Water Café, public toilets and a barbecue area. There is another boat ramp and marina close to Rainbow Beach at Carlo Point, and we launched at the Bullock Point dual lane boat ramp for our trip offshore, as it is much closer to the southern entrance near Inskip Point.
A Must-Visit for Fishing and Relaxation
Australia has many fine destinations and experiences, but for a trailer boat fisherman, or indeed a coastal cruiser or sweetwater venturer, you will find it hard to find a more appealing destination than Queensland’s Tin Can Bay. The enclosed waters and offshore opportunities are limitless plus the land based provisions and opportunities are only outdone by the friendly attitude of the locals. My only disagreement was with the local sand-flies, but I should have known better! There’s no doubt in my mind, Tin Can Bay is one of our country's premier boating and holiday destinations.
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