sunset over a river

Saltwater Creek

A varied paddling experience from near virgin bush to waterfront subdivisions.

What to expect

It is a wide tidal river at the start with mangroves lining much of the northern shorelines and the southern shoreline is packed with waterfront houses. Above the anabranch / cutting you briefly follow the busy Hope Island Road, before entering mixed urban and reserve sections that include a flying fox colony at Helensvale Reserve (km marker 9.7).

A low bridge marks the end of the trip, although you could duck this and push up the riffles past the motorway bridges.

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Paddling Options

The two main options are paddling the entire length of the tidal section or combining it with a trip around Hope Island.

For those wanting a slightly shorter trip, the tidal section return lengths from Jabiru Island are:

  • Saltwater Cutting 13.2 km
  • Rock Wall 20.5 km

Pacific Motorway

Start
Jabiru Island
Turnaround
Pacific Motorway
Length
22.0 km
Time
full day
Trip
Return
Technical difficulty
Grade I
Rating
Type
Tidal
Elevation Loss
N/A (tidal)

Hope Island

Start
Jabiru Island
Length
17.4 km
Time
half day
Trip
Circumnavigation
Technical difficulty
Grade I
Rating
Type
Tidal
Elevation Loss
N/A (tidal)

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Logistics

There are a couple put in spots along Coombabah Creek operated by Gold Coast City Council.

The likely best spot to put in is at the boat ramp at Jabiru Island Park. The status of River Downs Park boat ramp beside the cutting is unknown at the time of writing. Parking is not an issue usually at Jabiru Island, these are more limited at other locations.

Saltwater Creek forms an anabranch with the Coomera River, and I refer to the top cutting as the Saltwater Cutting, albeit doesn't appear to have a formal name.

The locks, canals and harbours of Monterey Keys, Oyster Cove and Lake Serenity are not open to the public.

Refer to the Distance Table and the Interactive Map for additional details.

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Tides

There is likely minimal tidal influence for most trips, however a high tide will ensure easier navigation in the shallower sections.

Tidal info for Saltwater Creek Entrance
HAT
1.90 m
MSL
0.82 m
MHWS
1.40 m
MHWN
1.10 m
MLWN
0.40 m
MLWS
0.10 m
December
22
Sun
02:42
0.97 m
08:32
0.49 m
14:33
1.31 m
21:50
0.33 m
December
23
Mon
moon icon
03:48
1.01 m
09:40
0.56 m
15:20
1.21 m
22:35
0.33 m
December
24
Tue
04:55
1.09 m
10:56
0.60 m
16:14
1.13 m
23:21
0.32 m
December
25
Wed
05:52
1.20 m
12:13
0.59 m
17:14
1.07 m
Tides for selected locations on Saltwater Creek for Sunday, 22nd December
Saltwater Creek Cutting
03:02
0.97 m
08:57
0.49 m
14:53
1.31 m
22:15
0.33 m
Pacific Motorway
03:11
0.97 m
09:09
0.49 m
15:02
1.31 m
22:27
0.33 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 116 minutes for low tide and 84 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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River

Quick Stats

Source
Nerang National Park
Elevation 180 m
Mouth
Coombabah Creek
Elevation 0 m
Length
21 km
Navigable
10.5 km
Catchment
28 sq km
Elevation Loss
Elevation 180 m
Council Areas
First Nations
Bundjalung
Directions To
Jabiru Island
River Downs Park
Coomera
21.8°C
Feels like 23.8°C
21.7°C
12:50am
31°C
Forecast
Light Breeze
SW at 7 kph, gusts to 9 kph
Strongest Gust: 9 kph SW at 12:50am
0.0 mm since 9am yesterday
Today
Sunny.
5%
19°C
31°C
Mon
Sunny.
10% chance 0 mm
19°C
33°C
Tue
Partly cloudy.
10% chance 0 mm
21°C
29°C
Wed
Sunny.
5% chance 0 mm
19°C
29°C
Thu
Sunny.
5% chance 0 mm
19°C
29°C
Fri
Partly cloudy.
5% chance 0 mm
18°C
30°C
Sat
Sunny.
10% chance 0 mm
20°C
33°C

Sun and Twilight Times

04:46—18:43 / 13hr 57m
Civil: 04:21—19:09 / 14hr 47m
Nautical: 03:49—19:41 / 15hr 52m

Moon Info

Waning Gibbous
▼ 11:00am ▲ 11:34pm
Banner image is of a sunrise on Coomera River
© Chris Lofqvist
Some rights reserved CC BY-NC-ND

Distances

Saltwater Cutting is 0.6 km long.

Some key locations up until Highway bridge are listed below.

Location * Features † Distance (km) §
Leg Total
Coombabah Creek
L Bert Hood Street Boat Ramp, Banksia Park, Hope Island
-1.2
L Boykambil Esplanade (Bert Hood Street) Jetty, Hope Island
0.1 -1.1
R Jabiru Island (Oxley Drive) Boat Ramps, Paradise Point
0.8 -0.3
R Jabiru Island Weir 0.2 -0.1
Saltwater Creek 0.1 0.0
R Lake Serenity Lock 1.7 1.7
Helensvale Rd bridge 1.3 3.0
R Oyster Cove Lock 0.6 3.6
R Monterey Keys Lock 2.0 5.6
L Saltwater Cutting 0.7 6.3
Coomera Connector and Rail bridges 0.1 6.4
R River Downs Park Boat Ramp, Condamine Cres (unconfirmed)
0.1 6.5
Rock Wall 3.7 10.2
Siganto Dr bridge 0.5 10.7
Pacific Motorway bridge 0.0 10.7
Rock weir 0.1 10.8

* 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 100 m for the navigable section, then every kilometer to the source, that start at 0 at where the creek meets Coombabah Creek.

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.

Download Distances: KML / SHP / JSON / CSV / GPX / WKT
  • Coombabah Creek
  • Saltwater Creek
  • Coomera River
  • Jabiru Island
  • Hope Island
  • Saltwater Cutting
  • Boat Ramps
  • Bridges
  • Access Point
  • Pontoon
  • Weir or Low Head Dams

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