Coomera River
Coomera is known for its theme parks, but the Coomera River offers a completely different experience with semi-urban paddling and great fishing. Being the second largest river on the coast, it also has a number of tributaries to explore including Saltwater and Coombabah Creeks as well as the lower Southern Moreton Bay Islands.
Note that the catchment includes 56 sq km from Coombabah Creek that joins near The Broadwater and 25 sq km from Biggera Creek that empties directly into The Broadwater, leaving 375 sq km in the main upper catchment.
What to expect
The bottom section is a wide tidal river with some mangroves and built up areas with multiple canals running off either side of the river, with mixed urban and parks to the causeway that marks the end of the tidal section.
Above the causeway, expect pools separated by gravelly riffles but the river becomes stepper and rockier and potentially not naviagatable as you go further upstream. The source is found high above in Lamington National Park.
Paddling Options
There are multiple options from short trips based at one of the put-in locations, to longer trips of the main river itself noting that a full return trip of the tidal section from the Broadwater to the Causeway is 37 km.
There are potentially two round trips around Hope Island and Coomera Island, but I can't verify these as I haven't paddled the area yet. Hope Island is a fairly urban trip along Saltwater Creek and back via the Coomera River, and Coomera Island loop traverses the north and south lower branches of the Coomera River that circumnavigate parts of Moreton Bay National Park with a 4 km leg through The Broadwater.
Coomera Island
- Length
- 17.2 km
- Type
- Circumnavigation
- Time
- 1 day
- Technical difficulty
- Grade I
- Elevation Change
- N/A (tidal)
- Rating
- Sections
-
3.6 km Coomera River South
6.2 km Coomera River North
4.0 km The Broadwater
3.4 km Coomera River South
Hope Island
- Length
- 17.4 km
- Type
- Circumnavigation
- Time
- 1 day
- Technical difficulty
- Grade I
- Elevation Change
- N/A (tidal)
- Rating
- Sections
-
1.5 km Coombabah Creek
6.4 km Saltwater Creek
0.8 km Saltwater Cutting
8.7 km Coomera River
Logistics
There are a few put in spots along the river operated by Gold Coast City Council.
The following are likely the better spots to put in, but there are some other locations that you can use too. Refer to the Distance Table and the Interactive Map for additional details. Parking is not an issue in general.
Boat Ramps
- 2.2 km
- Boat Harbour
- 7.5 km
- Colman Family Park
- 8.9 km
- Charles Holm Park
- 14.0 km
- Watersports Lane
- 17.5 km
- John Siganto Park
Kayak Carry
- 3.4 km
- Boykambil Esplanade
- 18.3 km
- Causeway Park
Tides
There is likely moderate tidal influence for most trips, with enough flow to provide a noticeable current in the tidal sections.
Tidal info for Coomera River Mouth
- HAT
- 1.90 m
- MSL
- 0.82 m
- MHWS
- 1.40 m
- MHWN
- 1.10 m
- MLWN
- 0.40 m
- MLWS
- 0.10 m
Tides for selected locations on the lower Coomera River for Sunday, 8th September
Please refer to the Bureau of Meteorology and Australian National Tide Tables for official tidal information.
© Commonwealth of Australia
Distances
Some key locations up until Causeway Park, are listed below.
Location * | Features † | Distance (km) § | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Leg | Total | ||||
R | Boat Harbour (Donald Avenue) Boat Ramp and Finger Pontoon, Paradise Point | 2.2 | |||
L | Boykambil Esplanade Sth Jetty, Hope Island | 1.2 | 3.4 | ||
L | Bert Hood Street Boat Ramp, Banksia Park, Hope Island | 0.1 | 3.5 | ||
L | Colman Family Park, Tallawood Road, Coomera | 4.0 | 7.5 | ||
R | Charles Holm Park Boat Ramp, Hope Island, Santa Barbara | 1.4 | 8.9 | ||
R | Allabah Park Boat Ramp (Private) | 0.9 | 9.8 | ||
R | Watersports Lane (Coomera) Boat Ramp, Oxenford | 4.2 | 14.0 | ||
L | Koala Town Road Pontoon, Coomera | 0.2 | 14.2 | ||
L | John Siganto Park Boat Ramp, Gawler Place, Upper Coomera | 3.3 | 17.5 | ||
L | Coomera River Causeway Park, Oxenford | 0.8 | 18.3 | ||
Causeway | 0.1 | 18.4 |
* Side represents either the left / port (L) or right / starboard (R) sides when facing downstream of the main river or the specified direction of travel for bays or lakes (usually anticlockwise).
† Most of the features were taken from local council pages.
§ Distances have been manually calculated from the river mouth.
Map
Explore the key locations in the map below. Most locations will have a photograph that can be seen by clicking on the icon or number in the map itself.
The map also has markers every kilometer that start at 0 at where the river meets The Broadwater all the way to the source.
You may need to zoom in to see all of these kilometer markers. These do not correlate with any existing numbering system on the river.
- Boat Ramps
- Causeway
- Kayak Ramp or Path
- Pontoons
- Weir or Low Head Dams
Quick Stats
- Length
- 89 km
- Navigable
- 18.5 km
- Catchment
- 456 sq km
- Elevation Loss
- Council Areas
- First Nations
- Bundjalung
- Directions To
- Boat Harbour
Charles Holm Park
Causeway Park
05:58am
11:35am
NNE at 15 kph, gusts to 19 kph
Strongest Gust: 24 kph N at 11:43am
Sun and Twilight Times
Civil: 05:28—17:59 / 12hr 30m
Nautical: 05:01—18:27 / 13hr 25m
Moon Info
▲ 8:20am ▼ 10:03pm