Nerang River
The Nerang River is the largest river on the Gold Coast and has a large number of smaller tributaries. Its upper reaches begin in the McPherson Range and Springbrook Plateau where it feeds the two main Gold Coast Dams (Hinze Dam and Little Nerang Dam), which supply most of the Gold Coast's drinking water supply.
The tidal section of the river extends up to Weedons Crossing where it passes through medium and high density urban residential areas. This section has a number of artificial tidal and freshwater lakes and canals, providing a significant area of urban exploration from the water.
Note that the Mudgeeraba Catchment makes up approximately 150 sq km of the Nerang Catchment of 500 sq km. This joins the Nerang River at Broadbeach, close to the river mouth.
What to expect
The lowest 5 km section is part of The Broadwater, a wide open estuary. There are expansive shallow sandflats away from the main channel.
At Main Beach, the waters narrow into the river proper, with the skyline dominated by the skyscrapers of Surfers. From here, the river passes through a maze of canals lined with houses before the semi-urban areas around Nerang.
Above the tidal sections, the river becomes stepper and rockier and potentially not naviagatable. The exception to this is Advancetown Lake, the main reservoir for the Gold Coast that has two major but narrow arms to explore. The source is found high above the beaches on the slopes of the Springbrook plateau.
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 Main Beach to Weedons Crossing is over 40 km, significantly longer if you start near the Gold Coast Seaway, 52 km.
Wave Break Island
- Length
- 4.5 km
- Type
- Circumnavigation
- Time
- half day
- Technical difficulty
- Open Water II
- Elevation Change
- N/A (tidal)
- Rating
Surfers
- Length
- 10.3 km
- Type
- Return
- Time
- half day
- Technical difficulty
- Grade I
- Elevation Change
- N/A (tidal)
- Rating
Mid-Tidal Reaches
- Length
- 15.8 km
- Type
- Return
- Time
- 1 day
- Technical difficulty
- Grade I
- Elevation Change
- N/A (tidal)
- Rating
Upper-Tidal Reaches
- Length
- 15.8 km
- Type
- Return
- Time
- 1 day
- Technical difficulty
- Grade I
- Elevation Change
- N/A (tidal)
- Rating
Logistics
There are multiple spots along the river to put in, mostly around The Broadwater and 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 easier away from the main strip.
- 1.5 km
- Harley Park
- 1.6 km
- Marine Stadium
- 3.4 km
- Broadwater Parklands
- 17.7 km
- Pidd Family Park
- 24.5 km
- Arthur Earle Park
For those paddling solo trying for a longer trip, Bus Route 735 runs between Nerang and Southport to car-bus shuttle. It runs every 30 minutes during the day and hourly at night (last service ~11 pm). It's about a 10 min walk (650 m) and 15 - 20 min bus ride. There is mostly free and easy parking at Nerang, but it tends to be busy and with paid parking at Southport.
Quick Stats
- Length
- 76.9 km
- Navigable
- 26 km
- Catchment
- 493 sq km
- Elevation Loss
- Council Areas
- First Nations
- Bundjalung
12:50am
Forecast
SW at 7 kph, gusts to 9 kph
Strongest Gust: 9 kph SW at 12:50am
Sun and Twilight Times
Civil: 04:20—19:09 / 14hr 48m
Nautical: 03:48—19:41 / 15hr 53m
Moon Info
▼ 11:00am ▲ 11:34pm
© Simon Morris
Tides
There is a strong tidal influence for most trips, with care required near the Gold Coast Seaway due to the strong current and ocean waves, and enough flow to provide a noticeable current in the tidal sections that are best paddled with the current.
Tidal info for Gold Coast Seaway
Tidal info for Broadwater Parklands (Operations Base)
Tidal info for Bundall, Nerang River
Tides for selected locations on the lower Nerang for Sunday, 22nd December
Birt Av Boat Ramp
Naples Av Boat Ramp
Carrara Rd Boat Ramp
Nerang Boat Ramp
Please refer to the Bureau of Meteorology and Australian National Tide Tables for official tidal information.
© Commonwealth of Australia
Distance Table
Some key locations, mostly those up until Nerang, are listed below.
| Location * | Features † | Tides ‡ | Distance (km) § | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | High | Leg | Total | ||||
| L | Lands End (Ray St) Boat Ramp, Ryder Park, Runaway Bay | -2.8 | |||||
| R | Gold Coast Seaway, The Spit / South Stradbroke Island | 2.8 | 0.0 | ||||
| L | Harley Park (Marine Parade) Boat Ramp and Jetty, Labrador | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||||
| L | Aqua Pontoon, Marine Parade, Labrador | 0.4 | 1.9 | ||||
| L | Imperial Jetty, Marine Parade, Labrador | 0.4 | 2.3 | ||||
| R | Marine Stadium Boat Ramps and Pontoon, Muriel Henchman Drive, The Spit | 0.2 | 2.5 | ||||
| L | Loders Creek Boat Ramp, Len Fox Park, Labrador | 0.5 | 3.0 | ||||
| L | Broadwater Parklands Boat Ramps and Pontoon, Southport | 0.4 | 3.4 | ||||
| L | Southport Pier Pontoon, Broadwater Parklands | 0.8 | 4.2 | ||||
| R | Pelican Beach Park Boat Ramp, Floating Walkway and Pontoon, Waterways Drive, Main Beach | 0:00 | 0:00 | 1.3 | 5.5 | ||
| R | Pelican Beach, Waterways Drive, Main Beach | -0.2 | 5.3 | ||||
| R | Budds Beach Reserve (Birt Avenue) Boat Ramp, Surfers Paradise | 0:19 | 0:14 | 2.1 | 7.4 | ||
| R | Tiki Reserve (Cavill Avenue) Pontoon, Cavill Avenue, Surfers Paradise | 0:28 | 0:22 | 1.1 | 8.5 | ||
| L | Isle Of Capri Boat Ramp, Naples Avenue Reserve, Surfers Paradise | 0:45 | 0:35 | 1.8 | 10.3 | ||
| R | Little Tallebudgera Creek | 0:52 | 0:39 | 1.0 | 11.3 | ||
| R | Boobegan Creek | 3.9 | 15.2 | ||||
| R | Pidd Family Park (Carrara Rd) Boat Ramp, Carrara | 1:33 | 1:09 | 2.5 | 17.7 | ||
| L | Royal Pines Marina Boat Ramp, Benowa | 1:46 | 1:19 | 2.0 | 19.7 | ||
| L | River Reserve, Ashmore | 2:01 | 1:30 | 2.4 | 22.1 | ||
| R | Arthur Earle Park Boat Ramp, Nerang | 2:15 | 1:40 | 2.3 | 24.4 | ||
| L | Mooyumbin Creek | 0.2 | 24.6 | ||||
| Weedons Crossing | 2:25 | 1:48 | 1.3 | 25.9 | |||
| Upper Sections | 25.9–76.9 | ||||||
| L | Crane Creek | 0.5 | 26.4 | ||||
| R | Bridge Creek | 4.6 | 31.0 | ||||
| Advancetown Lake | 10.2 | 41.2 | |||||
| R | Little Nerang Creek | 0.8 | 42.0 | ||||
* 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 the Gold Coast City Council pages.
‡ Tide times are offset from the Sundale Bridge (Pelican Beach) that are in turn offset from the Bureau of Meteorology tide tables.
§ Distances have been manually calculated from the Gold Coast Seaway.
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 creek meets the ocean 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.
- Biggera Creek
- Gold Coast Seaway (mouth)
- Loders Creek
- Little Tallebudgera Creek
- Reedy Creek
- Boobegan Creek
- Mudgeeraba Creek
- Bonogin Creek
- Mooyumbin Creek
- Crane Creek
- Bridge Creek
- Advancetown Lake
- Little Nerang Creek
- Boat Ramps
- Causeway
- Kayak Ramp or Paths
- Access Point
- Pontoons
