Golden Beach, Sunshine Coast, Queensland
The esplanade at Golden Beach is perfect for walking. On one side of the street, private homes look out over the calm waters of Pumicestone Passage while on the other, the path follows the contours of the sandy beach…
until you come to the mangrove boardwalk.
As the boardwalk winds into the mangrove the houses disappear from view, hidden by a dense forest of trees, vines and undergrowth. Along the way two paths leading to viewing platforms over the channel branch off the main walkway.
The word mangrove refers both to an area of coastal vegetation and also to the particular types of trees which grow there.
Other native plants flourish in the forest too.
The mangrove is home to animals as well as plants. Golden Orb spiders build large communal webs, filling in the gaps between the trees.
When they feel the vibrations of footsteps on the boardwalk, small crabs suddenly stop their sideways scuttling. Once still, they’re hard to distinguish from the pebbles embedded in the sand.
At high tide the ocean reaches almost to the road, covering much of the vegetation on the ground. But when the tide is low and the water has receded, the true beauty of the mangrove is revealed.
Joining Jo for Monday Walks
The Eternal Traveller 
What a lovely path. Don’t you love well done paths like that! We went on one like that near Sacramento today.
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A boardwalk is always an easy way to explore. We enjoyed doing this one at low tide. There was so much to see. I hope we get to see your walk soon, Marsha.
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Probably next week when we get back.
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A lesson in Mangroves! I hadn’t realised that there was more than one type of Mangrove tree, Carol. Many thanks for the introduction.
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I didn’t know either, Jo. I just always assumed that mangrove was the area. It was interesting to read about the different types and even better to be able to identify them so easily.
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Aren’t mangroves amazing plants!
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They are! The information boards were so interesting and I learned a lot.
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I’ve only ever seen the ones that send up the breathing tubes. (Kind of like snokels, eh?)
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I guess they have a similar purpose to snorkels. Very clever.
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It looks like a nice walk, I can imagine the views from the platforms are good. I like the flowers on the paperbark tea tree, they remind me of bottle brushes 🙂
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I’ll show the views of the passage in my next post! I looked up paperbarks and bottlebrushes – they are related, and both belong to the Myrtacaea family.
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What a beautiful walk with wonderful educational markers. We are all fortunate to have these options to get up close with nature. Those spider webs are huge and true works of art.
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It was a lovely surprise to find this walk not far from our accommodation. There were huge webs everywhere. I wouldn’t like to walk through one, especially if the inhabitant was at home.
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That looks like an interesting walk 🙂
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It was interesting, Sarah. I never knew there were different types of mangrove tree. It’s great to learn something new.
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Such a lovely and interesting walk, Carol. Great photos, especially the spider in the web.
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This walk wasn’t long but it was very interesting – so much to learn about mangrove trees. The sunlight framed that spider perfectly.
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Thanks for taking me along on this walk. I liked it best when the houses disappeared and it was just us, the plants and the crabs and spiders.
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We were pleasantly surprised by how quiet it was in this area, even though the homes were right across the road. It is a very peaceful residential area, completely different to the more well known Sunshine Coast beaches further north. We really enjoyed our stay and are looking forward to going back in September with friends.
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My Aussie family seem to do a lot of Mangrove board walks nearer to Brisbane though, an interesting environment. I didn’t realise there were different types of mangroves.
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There are large areas of mangrove right along this part of the Queensland coast, all the way to Brisbane and even around the airport. I’ve never been on a walk in Brisbane but I’m not surprised to learn there are plenty around. I didn’t know there were different types either – it was a great learning experience.
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Fascinating walk! Like everyone else, the different types of mangrove were new to me.
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I’m glad I’m not the only one. We all learned something new on this walk.
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Lovely photos Carol!
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Thanks! It was so interesting at low tide.
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That looks like a gorgeous week! The tides make such a difference with how it looks 🙂
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Golden Beach is a lovely part of the Sunshine Coast, Lorraine. It’s close enough to all the tourist areas but nice and quiet. There are some excellent cafes in the main street and also a really nice organic grocer.
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Beautiful walk. That one white plant looks like a real bottle brush. In my sleepy state, I think someone used it on the spiderweb 🙂
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We enjoyed this walk and learned lots about mangroves. Who knew there were so many different types!
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We kayaked through some mangroves in Florida. It was rather spooky but so much fun.
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