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.

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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.

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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.

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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

September

8

Sun

06:12

0.24 m

12:22

1.31 m

18:51

0.43 m

September

9

Mon

00:15

1.13 m

06:41

0.29 m

13:05

1.29 m

19:43

0.51 m

September

10

Tue

00:53

1.02 m

07:15

0.35 m

14:00

1.27 m

20:54

0.57 m

September

11

Wed

01:48

0.91 m

08:03

0.41 m

15:11

1.27 m

22:34

0.57 m

Tides for selected locations on the lower Coomera River for Sunday, 8th September

Boykambil Esplanade

06:24

0.24 m

12:32

1.31 m

19:03

0.43 m

Colman Family Park

00:08

1.24 m

06:44

0.24 m

12:48

1.31 m

19:23

0.43 m

Charles Holm Park

00:10

1.24 m

06:48

0.24 m

12:50

1.31 m

19:27

0.43 m

Saltwater Creek

00:16

1.24 m

06:57

0.24 m

12:56

1.31 m

19:36

0.43 m

Tide predictions are estimates only. The tidal datum is for Gold Coast Seaway. Tide predictions are calculated from Gold Coast Seaway with times adjusted by 96 minutes for low tide and 70 minutes for high tide. Other locations use a similar offset calculation.
Please refer to the Bureau of Meteorology and Australian National Tide Tables for official tidal information.
© Commonwealth of Australia

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Distances

Some key locations up until Causeway Park, are listed below.

^* 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.

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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