When travelling sometimes the best things happen without a plan. On one afternoon while staying in Caloundra, there was no plan, in the beginning, I just stopped to take the first photo below of the view. Thankfully on this occasion, I was not the driver and instead of jumping back in the car and continuing on decided to walk. The walk ended up being roughly 2.4km from just north of Caloundra Head, around to Bullcock Beach.
Shelly Beach
The starting point of the walk was somewhat motivated by the view that I saw as we were driving around past the beaches. From the top of the cliff looking out over the rock shelf to the Pacific Ocean is quite a dramatic view. Made even more so by the waves breaking over the rock shelf.
We noticed along the pathway here that there were many markers for veterans of many different conflicts who had served in all forms of the military. Looking at the number of plaques we decided to follow them and it turned out they continued for quite some way. Passing a number of locations with more significant monuments to specific conflicts or incidents.
Caloundra Memorial Walk
Along the heads and cliff top, there are many memorials. The first collection of memorials is at Caloundra Head (Wickham Point). At this location, there are I think four memorials and what looks to be a representation of a ships mast.
Continuing a little further along the path is ANZAC Park, with a cenotaph with the inscription “We will remember them.” The location here has an absolutely beautiful view of the inlet to Pumicestone Passage and across the ocean.
The last memorial that I photographed was in Centaur Park. The memorial is to the lives lost onboard the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur. The ship is believed to have been sunk by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine in May 1943. There were 250 lives lost in the tragedy with just 64 survivors. The remains of the Centaur lie roughly 100 km out to sea from this location and were discovered in 2009.
Kings Beach
You have a great view looking along Kings Beach just before you get there. The path goes away form the water for a moment to go around the Caloundra Surf Life Saving Club before continuing at the top of the beach.
You arrive in one big open area at Kings Beach which looks a little more interesting from above if you look at the pattern on Google Maps. But there is plenty of seating and open space here as well.
There is around 500m of beach here that seems to be popular for swimming and relaxing on the beach. We stuck to the path not being all that prepared for a stop at the beach.
After you leave the beach behind the walkway again raises a little to a boardwalk style walkway. However, as we were heading onto this walkway we noticed something of a cairn that has been left on the rocks below. It looked to make an interesting little photo.
The boardwalk gives a nice view out over the ocean and what is the inlet to the Pumicestone Passage.
Pumicestone Passage Inlet
Caloundra sits on the northern side of the entrance to the Pumicestone Passage. The entrance here seems to be very popular for kite surfers, considering the wind this afternoon I can understand why. Although I could count 14 in total at one point, I could not get them all in the photo.
Bulcock Beach
The last spot we passed on the walk was Bulcock Beach. We had to stop here as the time was getting on and we were still looking for somewhere to eat lunch. It is amazing how quickly the water seems to calm though from white foamy surf to just gentle ripples.
Take a Walk
The area between Shelly Beach and Caloundra is great for a walk if you are staying nearby. The pathway is part of the coastal pathway which will eventually extend from Tewantin to Pelican Waters. Much of the pathway is already there, just a few linking sections are in the works. So if you are staying nearby why not get outside and check this walk out.
