Tin Can Bay Accommodation, Hotels, Tours & Information

The Cooloola Coast is part of the Great Sandy Strait, which is an internationally important wetland. It is an area of tidal swamps and intertidal sand and mud flats. The vegetation includes beds of seagrass, mangrove forests and saltmarsh wetlands. The Great Sandy Strait supports 38 species of shorebirds including 18 migratory species. The area is also used by other threatened species such as turtles and dugongs.

The Cooloola Coast is a perfect place for shorebirds. At low tide there are extensive sand banks where the birds can search for food and at high tide there are secluded places where they can roost and rest without disturbance.




The Esplanade
Tin Can Bay, QLD, 4580

Located 0.4K from Tin Can Bay

Nursery Reef is a shallow rocky reef off Rainbow Beach that is always full of surprises. The least dived site in the area, due to its shallow depth and exposed location, Nursery Reef is only 5 metres to 7 metres deep. Although shallow, this rocky reef is decorated with a good range of hard corals, soft corals and sponges. While small tropical reef fish dart about the reef, divers will have to search the countless ledges and caves to find the reefs more interesting inhabitants. Species to look out for at Nursery Reef include moray eels, ornate wobbegong sharks, crayfish, boxer shrimps, stonefish, lionfish, brown-banded bamboo sharks, scorpionfish, blue-spotted stingrays and nudibranchs.




Rainbow Beach, QLD, 4581

Located 8.1K from Tin Can Bay

Round Bommie is a large granite monolith divers can explore off Rainbow Beach. This huge slab of rock rises out of the sand at 15 metres and reaches within 6 metres of the surface. It takes about 30 minutes to swim around Round Bommie, but with many ledges and holes to investigate divers are lucky to complete a circuit in an hour.

This fabulous dive site is home to a good variety of reef fish and invertebrates, including crayfish, nudibranchs and hermit crabs. However, most divers will remember Round Bommie for its larger residents, such as the turtles, gropers, wobbegongs, eagle rays and schools of pelagic fish. The sand around the bommie is also a good place to see dozens of stingrays, large Queensland gropers, flatheads, shovelnose rays and leopard sharks over summer. Divers have also encountered manta rays at Round Bommie, making this a very special dive site on the Sunshine Coast.




Rainbow Beach, QLD, 4581

Located 8.1K from Tin Can Bay

Carlo Sand Blow is a unique "moonscape" sand mass covering over 15 hectares and overlooks the towering coloured sands and the coastline from Double Island Point to Inskip Peninsula and the southern tip of Fraser Island. Locals and visitors take the easy 600 metre nature walk from Cooloola Drive in the afternoon to take in the sun setting over Tin Can Bay and the Great Sandy Strait. This track is also the entrance to the Cooloola Great Walk.




85 Cooloola Drive
Rainbow Beach, QLD, 4581

Located 8.9K from Tin Can Bay

Wolf Rock, located off the coast of Rainbow Beach near Gympie, is an action packed dive site with few equals. A dive for experienced divers only, due to the depth and strong currents, Wolf Rock comprises of five interconnecting pinnacles that rising from 35 metres. Two of the pinnacles break the surface, but the others progressively get deeper. Grey nurse sharks are the big attraction at Wolf Rock, with packs of these large sharks patrolling the channels between the pinnacles and the nearby rocky gutters. But they are not the only sharks divers will see as wobbegongs, leopard sharks and even bronze whaler sharks can be seen here. Colouring these incredible rocky pinnacles are black coral trees, spiky soft corals, hard corals, gorgonians and spiral sea whips. Many ledges cut into the rock and are home to moray eels, nudibranchs, gobies, scorpionfish, sea stars, shrimps and coral crabs. Other common visitors include turtles, Queensland gropers, stingrays, eagle rays, manta rays and schools of batfish, trevally and barracuda.




Wolf Rock
Rainbow Beach, QLD, 4581

Located 10.2K from Tin Can Bay

Inskip Peninsula is a narrow, sandy finger of land built up by wind and waves, forming a natural breakwater at the entrance to Tin Can Inlet and Great Sandy Strait.

Close to Rainbow Beach, Inskip is a gateway to World Heritage-listed Fraser Island. Beach she oaks, cypress pine and other coastal trees and shrubs shade the very popular camping areas ringed by open ocean beaches and sheltered estuary shores.

Tin Can Bay is a wetland of international importance. The sand spit is clad in casuarina, cypress pine and other coastal vegetation, providing a great habitat for birds. The beaches and mudflats are roosts for waders and thousands of resident and migratory shorebirds.

Bring your own drinking water and camp in one of four shady camping areas. Dogs are permitted in the recreation area, but must be kept on a leash at all times.

Bring your binoculars to view birds in the early morning or late afternoon. Look for button-quail on the sandy tracks and shorebirds (in summer). Watch for dugong, turtles and dolphins in the bay. You must bring your own firewood for campfires, but best to bring a fuel or gas stove and reduce your use of campfires.




Inskip Peninsula Recreation Area
Rainbow Beach, QLD, 4581

Located 12.5K from Tin Can Bay

An iconic feature of the Cooloola Recreation Area in Great Sandy National Park, Double Island Point is a scenic headland offering mesmerising views along the beach and out to sea.

The easiest way to visit Double Island Point is by four-wheel-drive vehicle along Cooloola's beach drive between Noosa North Shore and Rainbow Beach. Explore the Double Island Point lighthouse walk for great views or launch a canoe from the sheltered northern beaches of Double Island Point.

If you are camping overnight in Cooloola's Teewah Beach or Freshwater camping areas, take the short drive or walk along the beach to explore the scenic headland.

If you are feeling energetic, consider the Double Island Point walk, a full day hike from Rainbow Beach. Follow the historic lighthouse telegraph line along the high coastal dunes, looking for old telegraph posts still standing among the blackbutt trees. Then splash in the calm lagoon at the base of Double Island Point headland and watch surfers catching the long, rolling waves. Climb the steep track to the Double Island Point lighthouse to gaze at sweeping views over the ocean and coast to the north and south, before your return journey.




Double Island Point
Rainbow Beach, QLD, 4581

Located 18.0K from Tin Can Bay