sunset

Mooloolah River

Tidal paddling up though a busy community port and maze of urban canals into a tranquil Mangrove and Melaleuca woodlands.

What to expect

The lower Mooloolah River is wide and has a lot of boat traffic with yachts and powerboats lining the shore and marinas with plenty of parks to stop and enjoy the laidback atmosphere.

Kawana Water and Tuckers Creek have extensive network of canals that provide an interesting urban paddling with a number of beaches where you can pull out and relax. Lake Parrearra and Lake Brightwater are both separated from the main waterways.

Mountain Creek provides a quieter backwater with much of the creek surrounded by reserves, and the upper tidal areas of the Mooloolah River run alongside the Mooloolah River National Park. You'll struggle to get far past the tidal reach, but upstream on Ewen Maddock Dam, Addlington Creek, provides excellent lake paddling on a stocked lake that only allows non-motorised vessels.

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Paddling Options

Kawana Water Canal

Start
Buddina Boat Ramp
Length
10 km
Time
half day
Trip
Circumnavigation
Technical difficulty
Grade I
Rating
Notes
Urban paddling

Mooloolah National Park

Start
Outrigger Park Boat Ramp
Turnaround
Wyuna Canal
Length
10 km
Time
half day
Trip
Return
Technical difficulty
Grade I
Rating

Mountain Creek

Start
Outrigger Park Boat Ramp
Turnaround
Redbud Park
Length
5 km
Time
half day
Trip
Return
Technical difficulty
Grade I
Rating
Notes
Tide permitting you can try to paddle further

Point Cartwright

Start
Buddina Boat Ramp
Turnaround
Buddina Beach, QLD
Length
6 km
Time
half day
Trip
Return
Technical difficulty
Open Water II
Rating
Notes
Only attempt in very calm conditions.

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Logistics

La Balsa Park Buddina (south) and Parkyn Parade Mooloolaba (north) Boat Ramps provide convinent access to the lower section and Outrigger Park Boat Ramp provides the easist access to the upper tidal sections.

Wyuna Canal has a lock but requires a key, so a portage across the weir is needed. Weirs at both ends of Lake Parrearra / Wyuna Canal have steps to allow paddle craft to portage the weir. Do not attempt if in flood.

Parks and boar ramps are operated by Sunshine Coast 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

1.0 km
La Balsa Park. Buddina
1.6 km
Parkyn Parade, Mooloolaba
3.5 km
Outrigger Park

Kayak Carry

2.0 km
Mooloolah River Park, Mooloolaba
2.2 km
Charles Clarke Park, Mooloolaba

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Sunset over river with boats

Quick Stats

Length
49 km
Navigable
16 km
Type
Coastal River
Council Areas
First Nations
Kabi Kabi
Directions To
Mooloolaba
Buddina
Outrigger Park
Caloundra
19.8°C
Feels like 21.7°C
19.8°C
12:40am
29°C
Forecast
Light Breeze
WNW at 6 kph
Strongest Gust: 7 kph WNW at 12:35am
0.0 mm since 9am yesterday
Today
Sunny.
0%
18°C
29°C
Mon
Sunny.
5% chance 0 mm
19°C
30°C
Tue
Mostly sunny.
10% chance 0 mm
21°C
29°C
Wed
Mostly sunny.
5% chance 0 mm
21°C
27°C
Thu
Mostly sunny.
5% chance 0 mm
20°C
28°C
Fri
Partly cloudy.
5% chance 0 mm
19°C
29°C
Sat
Sunny.
5% chance 0 mm
21°C
32°C

Sun and Twilight Times

04:49—18:42 / 13hr 52m
Civil: 04:24—19:07 / 14hr 42m
Nautical: 03:53—19:38 / 15hr 45m

Moon Info

Waning Gibbous
▼ 11:02am ▲ 11:35pm
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 moderate tidal influence in the lower section, with care required near the mouth, and enough flow to provide a noticeable current that is best paddled with the current.

Tidal info for Mooloolah River Entrance
HAT
2.20 m
MSL
1.01 m
MHWS
1.70 m
MHWN
1.30 m
MLWN
0.60 m
MLWS
0.30 m
December
22
Sun
00:53
1.17 m
06:30
0.66 m
13:00
1.54 m
19:50
0.57 m
December
23
Mon
moon icon
02:09
1.20 m
07:38
0.76 m
13:48
1.45 m
20:39
0.55 m
December
24
Tue
03:24
1.28 m
08:55
0.81 m
14:43
1.37 m
21:27
0.51 m
December
25
Wed
04:25
1.39 m
10:13
0.81 m
15:40
1.31 m
22:14
0.47 m
Tides for selected locations on the Mooloolah River for Sunday, 22nd December
Point Cartwright
00:52
1.17 m
06:29
0.66 m
12:59
1.54 m
19:49
0.57 m
Mooloolaba Boat Ramp
01:00
1.17 m
06:44
0.66 m
13:07
1.54 m
20:04
0.57 m
McKenzie Bridge
01:10
1.17 m
07:03
0.66 m
13:17
1.54 m
20:23
0.57 m
Parrearra Weir
01:16
1.17 m
07:14
0.66 m
13:23
1.54 m
20:34
0.57 m
Tide predictions are estimates only. Other locations tide predictions are calculated from Mooloolaba and have been adjusted using various offsets for low and high tide times.
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
River Mouth, Point Cartwright 0.0
R La Balsa Park Boat Ramp, Buddina
1.0 1.0
R Kawana Water Canal 0.5 1.5
L Parkyn Parade Boat Ramp, Mooloolaba
0.1 1.6
L Mooloolah River Park, Mooloolaba
0.4 2.0
L O'Connors Reach, Charles Clarke Park, Mooloolaba
0.2 2.2
L Tuckers Creek 0.1 2.3
R Wyuna Canal 1.2 3.5
R Outrigger Park Boat Ramp, Nicklin Way, Minyama
0.0 3.5
L Mountain Creek 0.2 3.7
R Parrearra Weir, Wyuna Canal, Parrearra
4.8 8.5
L Mooloolah River National Park 0.8 9.3
R Ewen Maddock Dam, Adlington Creek
19.7 29.0

* 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 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 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.

Download Distances: KML / SHP / JSON / CSV / GPX / WKT
  • River Mouth, Point Cartwright
  • Kawana Water Canal
  • Tuckers Creek
  • Wyuna Canal
  • Mountain Creek
  • Lake Edge Park
  • Mooloolah River National Park
  • Ewen Maddock Dam, Adlington Creek
  • Boat Ramps
  • Access Point
  • Pontoon
  • Weir or Low Head Dams

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