sunset

Maroochydore

Creeks and lakes around the city

There are a couple urban paddles in the city. The first is Cornmeal Creek that passes underneath the large Sunshine Plaza shopping mall and the canals of Maroochy Waters. The second is the Maroochy Waters canals.

What to expect

Cornmeal Creek ducks under an array of bridges and walkways as it passes the mall. Once past this, it becomes more sedate once you reach the Sunshine Cove lake.

The Maroochy Waters canals are fully built up making for a very urban paddle though the 'burbs. Put-in spots at either end, with a couple tiny parks scattered along the shore.

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Paddling Options

A summary the two paddling options.

Cornmeal Creek

Start
Cotton Tree Park
Turnaround
Sunshine Cove
Length
7.5 km
Time
half day
Trip
Return
Rating
Type
Tidal
Elevation Loss
N/A (tidal)

Maroochy Waters Canal

Start
Maroochy Waters Pontoon
Turnaround
Maroochy River
Length
3.0 km
Time
couple hours
Trip
Return
Rating
Type
Tidal
Elevation Loss
N/A (tidal)
Notes
Great for beginners!

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Logistics

The easist access to Cornmeal Creek is from Cotton Tree Park on the Maroochy river. The two spots on Sunshine Cove have limited parking.

For Maroochy Waters, there are access points located at either end. Picnic Point has the most parking but it is also most likely to be busiest.

All are operated by Sunshine Coast Council. Refer to the Distance Table and the Interactive Map for additional details.

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shoreline

Quick Stats

Council Areas
First Nations
Kabi Kabi
Directions To
Cotton Tree (Cornmeal Ck)
Picnic Pt (Maroochy Waters)
Maroochydore
23.0°C
Feels like 19.9°C
16.8°C
05:03am
26.6°C
12:03pm
Fresh Breeze
NNE at 32 kph, gusts to 44 kph
Strongest Gust: 48 kph NNE at 4:49pm
0.0 mm since 9am
Today
Partly cloudy.
(17°C)
(27°C)
Sat
Shower or two.
50% chance 0 to 2 mm
19°C
32°C
Sun
Partly cloudy.
30% chance 0 to 1 mm
18°C
27°C
Mon
Shower or two.
50% chance 0 to 1 mm
18°C
25°C
Tue
Shower or two.
60% chance 0 to 5 mm
17°C
24°C
Wed
Possible shower.
40% chance 0 to 1 mm
17°C
26°C
Thu
Partly cloudy.
30% chance 0 to 1 mm
17°C
30°C

Sun and Twilight Times

05:07—17:57 / 12hr 49m
Civil: 04:45—18:20 / 13hr 34m
Nautical: 04:17—18:48 / 14hr 30m

Moon Info

Waning Gibbous
▼ Sat 6:01am ▲ 8:04pm
Banner image is of kids fishing on the Maroochy River at sunset
© Thomas and Olivia Williams
Some rights reserved CC BY

Tides

There is a small to moderate tidal influence for most trips, especially for Cornmeal Creek where a high tide can make it more interesting ducking the bridges and walkways of Sunshine Plaza.

Tidal info for Cornmeal Creek Entrance
October
18
Fri
02:51
-0.03 m
08:47
1.94 m
15:23
0.18 m
20:56
1.65 m
October
19
Sat
03:28
-0.01 m
09:34
1.98 m
16:15
0.26 m
21:39
1.49 m
October
20
Sun
04:06
0.07 m
10:23
1.95 m
17:11
0.38 m
22:24
1.31 m
October
21
Mon
moon icon
04:46
0.18 m
11:14
1.87 m
18:17
0.50 m
23:13
1.15 m
Tide predictions are estimates only. Tide predictions are calculated from Mooloolaba with times adjusted by 50 minutes for low tide and 27 minutes for high tide.
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 on the main waterways are listed below.

Location Features † Distance (km) §
Leg Total
Maroochy Waters
Picnic Point Boat Ramp, Maroochydore
-0.1
Maroochy Waters, Maroochydore 0.1 0.0
Maroochy Waters Pontoon, Maroochydore 2.1 2.1
Cornmeal Creek and Sunshine Cove
Cotton Tree Park Boat ramp, Maroochydore
-0.3
Cornmeal Creek, Maroochydore 0.3 0.0
The Corso, Maroochydore 0.8 0.8
Maroochy Boulevard Pontoon, Cornmeal Creek, Maroochydore 0.7 1.5
Bedarra Circuit Boat Ramp and Jetty, Maroochydore 1.8 3.3

† 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 waterways meet the Maroochy River.

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
  • Maroochy Waters
  • Cornmeal Creek
  • The Corso
  • Sunshine Cove
  • Boat Ramps
  • Kayak Ramp or Path
  • Pontoons

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Banner image is a view over the lower Maroochy River to Maroochydore.
© Thomas and Olivia Williams
Some rights reserved CC BY