Queensland Parks directs Roys Road and Bells Creek Road traffic in from the Bruce Highway at Exit 179.
Beerwah's nearest trailer ramp is Roys Road at Coochin Creek, straight onto the Pumicestone Passage. It is a better ramp than its size suggests. Maritime Safety Queensland records it with a slope of 8 and Low Tide Restricted No, making it one of the few Passage ramps that is not tide limited, and it is state owned, council managed, with one lane and 15 car parks. The approach catches people out: Queensland Parks directs Roys Road traffic in from the Bruce Highway at Exit 179, not from Steve Irwin Way.
No public boat ramp or water access point is recorded anywhere in the Beerwah locality. For a trailer boat that just means you know exactly where you are pointed. Beerwah's ramp is Roys Road at Coochin Creek, and it puts you onto the Pumicestone Passage behind Bribie. It is state owned and council managed, with one lane and 15 car parks.
The thing worth knowing about Roys Road before you ever tow a boat there is the turn. Queensland Parks is explicit that access to Bells Creek Road and Roys Road runs in from the Bruce Highway at Exit 179, not from Steve Irwin Way. That is not the road most people assume, and it is a much easier fact to absorb sitting at home than it is with a boat behind you.
Partway along that road sits the Coochin Creek camping area, inside Beerwah State Forest. It is a camping area, not the launch. The boat ramp lies further along the road past it. If you have only ever heard the name Coochin Creek, that distinction saves you a wrong turn on your first trip.
The ramp itself is worth the drive. Maritime Safety Queensland records Roys Road with a slope of 8 and Low Tide Restricted No, which puts it among the few ramps on the Pumicestone Passage that are not tide limited. Plenty of Passage ramps are. A ramp you can use across the tide is a real advantage when your launch already involves a trip out of the hinterland.
What you launch into is the Pumicestone Passage, a long shallow tidal waterway of which roughly 80% is less than two metres deep. That is honest water to learn on, because reading depth and tide is not optional there. It is also the water our Caloundra course trains on, so the handling you practise on course day is the handling Roys Road will ask of you. The theory goes online first, and it has to be done within three months of your practical day.
One lane and 15 car parks also tells you something practical. It is a compact facility, so the ramp work matters. We publish our own launching and retrieving guide out of years of doing it: walk an unfamiliar ramp before you use it, and think about your retrieval before you launch, not after.
The course itself is the same wherever you sit it: the theory online first, in your own time, then a day on the water with a trainer before the assessment. You need a licence for any boat with an engine over 4.5 kilowatts, which is nearly every tinny, runabout and cruiser. Pass, and the Queensland licence never expires. Pick the date that suits you and book online.
The published access route is easy to skip past when the ramp name is the only thing you have looked up.
Queensland Parks directs access to Bells Creek Road and Roys Road from the Bruce Highway at Exit 179, not from Steve Irwin Way. Getting that wrong with a boat on the back is a slow correction.
We name the approach on the page rather than leave you to find it, because Roys Road is the ramp Beerwah actually uses.
The camping area carries the creek's name and sits partway along the road, so it arrives first.
The camping area is inside Beerwah State Forest, and the boat ramp is further along the road past it. It is a separate place, not the launch.
We keep the two apart in the copy so your first trip out is not spent reversing a trailer in a campground.
A long waterway like the Passage is easily assumed to carry ramps sized to match.
Roys Road is a one-lane ramp with 15 car parks. On a busy day that means queueing, and it means your rigging needs to be done before you are on the ramp, not on it.
Ramp handling is part of what we get you ready for, and our published launching and retrieving guide covers the etiquette a single-lane ramp demands.
Many ramps on the Pumicestone Passage are flagged low tide restricted, so boaties learn to plan around the tide as a rule.
Maritime Safety Queensland records Roys Road with Low Tide Restricted No. The ramp is not the constraint here, but the water past it still is: the Passage is shallow, roughly 80% under two metres.
We teach tide and depth reading on that same Passage water at the Caloundra course, which is the part Roys Road does not save you from.
Roys Road launches onto the Pumicestone Passage behind Bribie, and the Passage runs the whole way to the coast.
It is a long, shallow tidal channel, roughly 80% of it less than two metres deep, flushed from both ends. It handles nothing like open water and it punishes a skipper who reads it as such.
Our Caloundra course runs on that exact water, so you meet its shallows and its tide with an instructor aboard rather than alone on your first launch.
Beerwah has no ramp of its own, so getting on the water starts with a drive to Roys Road at Coochin Creek. If you are already driving to launch, it is fair to ask who you are driving to for the licence. The Queensland Government's BoatSafe register lists Australian Boating College at Caloundra against 0427 110 025, which is the number you would ring us on. Karen K's review records travelling nearly two hours to train with this trainer on a personal recommendation. In Queensland a marine licence can only come from an approved BoatSafe provider, so that listing is the one that counts. The training organisation behind the courses, Australian Boating College, is current on the national training register. Every approved provider works to the same floor: trainers hold a commercial marine qualification and pass a criminal history check, the training vessel is commercially certified and carries sun protection, and the organisation running it has to carry public liability cover of at least 20 million dollars. Maritime Safety Queensland audits providers and can suspend one that cuts corners.
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From Beerwah, near Australia Zoo and the Glass House Mountains, it is a run along Steve Irwin Way and Caloundra Road to our Caloundra base on the Passage. Beerwah is a hinterland town among the Glass House Mountains, so the on-water day is held on the sheltered Pumicestone Passage down at Caloundra. We run the boat licence there with all equipment provided, so Beerwah locals can get licensed close to home.
Tell us the date that suits you near Beerwah and our team will come back to you, usually within one business day. Prefer to talk it through? Give us a call.
Roys Road at Coochin Creek, on the Pumicestone Passage. No public boat ramp or water access point is recorded in the Beerwah locality itself, so Roys Road is where a Beerwah trailer boat goes in. It is state owned and council managed, with one lane and 15 car parks, and Maritime Safety Queensland records it with a slope of 8.
Queensland Parks directs access to Bells Creek Road and Roys Road in from the Bruce Highway at Exit 179, not from Steve Irwin Way. That is the detail most people get wrong first time. Partway along the road you pass the Coochin Creek camping area, which sits inside Beerwah State Forest, and the boat ramp is further along past it.
No. Maritime Safety Queensland records Roys Road with Low Tide Restricted No, which makes it one of the few ramps on the Pumicestone Passage that is not tide limited. That is a genuine advantage when you are towing out of the hinterland and cannot easily reshuffle your day around a tide chart.
No. The camping area sits partway along the road inside Beerwah State Forest, and the boat ramp is further along past it. They share the creek's name, which is why the two get confused. Plan for the ramp as a separate destination on the same road.
Shallow. It is a long tidal waterway of which roughly 80% is less than two metres deep, flushed from its northern mouth at Caloundra and its southern mouth at Deception Bay. That makes depth and tide reading a working part of every trip rather than an occasional concern, and it is exactly why we train on it.
At our Caloundra base, on the Pumicestone Passage. You can check the business on the Queensland Government's BoatSafe register, which lists Australian Boating College at Caloundra under 0427 110 025. The theory is done online beforehand and must be completed within three months of your practical day. You get the exact meeting point when you book.
Walk it first. Roys Road has one lane and 15 car parks, so there is not much room to sort yourself out on the ramp itself. We publish a launching and retrieving guide written out of operational experience, covering ramp hazards, tide timing and etiquette, and ramp work is part of getting you ready on course day.
Pick whichever is most convenient, since the course and the qualification are identical at all three. Caloundra trains on the sheltered Pumicestone Passage, Maroochydore on the sheltered Maroochy River, and Noosa on the Noosa River. You can view dates for every location on our Course Dates page and book the one that suits you.
Yes, if your boat has an engine of more than 4.5 kilowatts (around 6 horsepower), which covers almost every powered recreational boat. You can operate without a licence if someone who holds a valid marine licence is supervising you on board. Our one-day BoatSafe course covers what you need, and once issued the licence is yours for life.
One day on the water. You complete the online theory beforehand, then spend a hands-on day on sheltered Sunshine Coast water at Caloundra, Maroochydore or Noosa. You sit the assessment the same day, and once you pass you leave with the BoatSafe certificate you need to apply for a Queensland licence. If you need more time on the water to feel competent, we would rather you took it.
When you need a recreational marine licence in Queensland, the power and speed thresholds that trigger it, the minimum age, and how to get licensed in one day on the Sunshine Coast.
A simple checklist for your boat or jet ski licence course day on the Sunshine Coast: ID, what to wear, sun protection, and what we provide so you can just turn up and learn.
Beerwah launches from Roys Road at Coochin Creek, off the Bruce Highway at Exit 179.
