Guide to Innes Park Queensland Australia

Innes Park is a small coastal community about ten minutes south of Bargara and 20 minutes from Bundaberg. Together with neighbouring Coral Cove it lines a stretch of black volcanic shoreline where coral grows almost to the water’s edge. There are no big resorts and few shops, just houses facing the sea, a sheltered inlet for swimming and some of the best shore diving on the Queensland coast.

Known For

• Barolin Rocks, a well-known shore dive and snorkel site
• A calm tidal inlet for children
• A quiet, rocky coast with ocean views

The coast here is made of basalt from an ancient lava flow, forming low cliffs, rock platforms and small coves rather than long beaches. Offshore, the Woongarra coast is protected within the Great Sandy Marine Park, and its rocky reefs carry hard and soft corals at the southern limit of the Great Barrier Reef region.

Things To Do in Innes Park

Innes Park Inlet

A narrow creek mouth forms a sandy, sheltered lagoon that fills and empties with the tide, safe for small children to paddle and swim. A park beside it has barbecues, picnic shelters and a playground.

Snorkel and dive at Barolin Rocks

At the northern edge of Innes Park, steps lead down to Barolin Rocks, where a gently sloping reef begins a few metres from shore. Snorkellers see corals, nudibranchs, turtles and schools of reef fish; divers follow the reef out to greater depth. It is best at high tide in calm weather, and local dive shops in Bargara offer guided dives and gear hire.

Walk the coast

Paths and quiet esplanade roads follow the shore between Innes Park and Coral Cove, with lookouts over the rocks. Humpback whales pass offshore from July to October, and turtles surface close in throughout the year.

Golf

The Coral Cove Golf Club has an 18-hole course on the clifftop with sea views from many holes, and a clubhouse open to visitors.

Where To Stay

Accommodation is mostly holiday houses and a few apartments and resort units around the golf course at Coral Cove.

Bargara, with its esplanade of apartments and motels, is ten minutes north, and Elliott Heads has a foreshore holiday park ten minutes south.

Eat & Drink

The golf club has a bistro and bar with ocean views, and a small shopping centre nearby has a tavern, takeaways and a cafe. Bargara has many more restaurants.

History

The coast is the country of the Taribelang Bunda and Gooreng Gooreng peoples. The surrounding land was part of the Barolin cattle run and then cane farms, and the settlement takes its name from an early landholding family. Housing spread along the shore from the 1970s, and the golf course estate at Coral Cove followed in the 1990s.

Getting to Innes Park

From Bundaberg, take Elliott Heads Road and turn off at Innes Park Road, about 15 kilometres in all, or follow the coast road south from Bargara. There is a limited local bus service.