Here’s another neat holiday option from the Sunshine Coast: the Golden Beach Holiday Park.

Formerly known as the Danmira Tourist Park, the Golden Beach Holiday Park is located in Onslow Street at Golden Beach. It’s just off the main Esplanade at Golden Beach, within a easy walking distance.

Finding the Park isn’t hard – you just head into Caloundra from the Bruce Highway. When you approach the main business area of Caloundra, look for the K-Mart shopping centre on the left. The turn-off to Golden Beach (Landsborough Parade) is virtually opposite Kmart.

Once you’re on Landsborough Parade, go past the Golden Beach Shopping Centre on the right and then look for Nelson Street, which is on the left as you head south. After you’ve turned into Nelson Street you’ll come to the beautiful Esplanade, running along the clean waters of Pumicestone Passage. One you’re on the Esplanade, take the first street to the right (Onslow Street) and the Holiday Park is right there on the corner. The sign is a little hard to see until you are right on the entrance.

Visitors staying at the Golden Beach Holiday Park (ph. 1800 639 313) can chose from tent sites, caravan or camper van sites and self-contained units or cabins. The en suite family cabins sleep up to seven people in comfort, with air-conditioning an option.

The park’s layout is open plan style, with heaps of room to find the right spot to set up a tent or camper. All van sites have an annexe pad and sullage facilities. There’s a pool, free gas BBQ, laundry, and other features. The on site accommodation for those visitors travelling light ranges from cabins, to en suite cabins, to holiday units to family villas. In all, there is something for everyone and it’s only a 50m walk to the beach for a shot at the whiting on dusk.

Golden Beach Holiday Park is within a very short walk of the Passage, which makes it ideal for anglers to grab a rod and head straight for the water at daylight. You can also opt to go rock fishing at nearby Caloundra.

Boaters are welcome in the park, of course, and there are ramps giving access to Pumicestone Passage in several spots along the Esplanade.

There are also bait and tackle outlets in the area, plus opportunities to pump yabbies for those anglers who are after whiting, bream and flathead. Those bread-and-butter fish are exactly what you can expect to catch at this time of year, too. While bream and flathead are always fun to catch, it might pay to make a major effort on whiting as there are some really good-sized fellows in the Passage during summer. There are a couple of tricks to catching them, however.

First, it pays to remember that unless a major influx of freshwater from heavy rain is influencing things, the water in Pumicestone Passage tends to be very clear towards the top of the tide. With this in mind, the clue to catching the better quality whiting is to fish at night, when they are far less shy, or to fish at times when the water is discoloured.

A good southerly breeze can stir up the water and reduce clarity, and don’t the whiting love these conditions! They often move right into where the wash or waves break against a bank, and that can be in quite shallow water. In these conditions, the shallow water factor won’t worry the fish much, so long as you don’t go walking among them with arms and rod waving like a windmill.

But usually, in shallow water during the day the whiting are pretty shy and fussy fellows. Find the right water and fish it carefully with light gear, is my advice.

There are many places that can be accessed along the Esplanade and it’s just a matter of finding the position that suits the fish you’re targeting. One of the really tasty fish that abound in the shallows of Pumicestone Passage is the humble gar. Garfish can be overlooked for the table by anglers seeking more well-known species, but these fish are mighty good to eat.

Gar bite well on hot, calm, still days and they don’t mind clear water either. All you need to do to stir up a feed is to seed the water in a back eddy or deeper area in close with plenty of bread and just wait for the gar to turn up. Half a metre of water over a weed bed is ideal.

If you’re fishing for garfish, use tackle that’s ultra light. The ideal outfit is 2kg line, a very fine rod and reel to suit and a small pencil-shaped float to indicate the bite. The best bait is a small amount of fresh prawn on a size 12 fly hook. For fun, you can rig with two hooks and score double hook-ups.

Lastly, always use a rag to handle these slithery, loose-bowelled, little fellows or you’ll end up covered in dark green gar poo.

The main attractions in this area, besides the fishing, are the clubs and other attractions of the Sunshine Coast. Australia Zoo, the Big Pineapple, the Ettamogah Pub and the like are only a short drive away.

In Caloundra there’s virtually everything you could wish for – shops, food outlets, bait and tackle stores and so forth. There are plenty of entertainment venues as well. It’s a thriving place and only a 10-minute drive from the Holiday Park.

[CAPTIONS]

1) The Holiday Park’s entrance is in Onslow Street Golden Beach.

2) Why not wade and catch some tasty whiting for tear while staying at the Golden Beach Holiday Park?

3) A neat and well equipped camp kitchen is there for folk enjoying a stay at Golden Beach Holiday Park.

4) Sites for both tent occupants and caravans are available at the Holiday Park. Motel style units are also available.