Woombye sits at a beginning. Maritime Safety Queensland records Paynter Creek as meandering from its source at West Woombye, so the creek starts here rather than passing through. It reaches the Maroochy system a long way downstream, at the Dusty Rhodes Bridge at Diddillibah, where the clearance is about three metres. MSQ has recorded no marine incident on Petrie or Paynter Creeks since July 2000. Your trailer boat goes in on the Maroochy River itself, which is the water the course trains on.
Most suburbs sit somewhere along a creek. Woombye sits at the top of one. Maritime Safety Queensland records that Paynter Creek meanders from its source at West Woombye, which makes Woombye the place the creek begins rather than a place it runs through. That is the whole geography of boating from here in one line: the water leaves Woombye, and a trailer boat meets it a long way further down, where the creek reaches the Maroochy system at the Dusty Rhodes Bridge at Diddillibah, clearance about three metres.
A source is not a launch, and knowing that saves a wasted trip.
From West Woombye the creek runs down toward the Maroochy, and MSQ describes Paynter Creek along the way as extremely narrow and shallow, navigable by only the smallest of ships such as dinghies, kayaks and canoes. It reaches the Maroochy system at the Dusty Rhodes Bridge at Diddillibah, where the clearance is about three metres. That clearance figure is the one to hold on to, because height stops more boats than length does.
There is a rule on the creek most people never encounter. Water skiing is prohibited on Paynter Creek, gazetted 28 February 1997. The same prohibition applies on Petrie Creek next door, gazetted the same day. Two neighbouring creeks, one standing rule, and almost nobody knows it is there.
One more record is worth reading carefully rather than comfortably. MSQ has recorded no marine incident on Petrie or Paynter Creeks since July 2000. That is a genuine fact about your local water and it is a good one. It is not, though, a statement that the creeks are easy: it is a record of what has been reported on water that carries very few powered vessels, in reaches MSQ itself calls very narrow and shallow. Read it as a reason to keep the record intact.
So the practical answer for a Woombye trailer boat is the Maroochy River, and the recorded ramps there are not interchangeable. Muller Park at Bli Bli, MSQ identifier MA21, is the closest recorded Maroochy River trailer ramp to the northern hinterland and MSQ flags it Low Tide Restricted; the Cod Hole on Bradman Avenue, MA11, and Fishermans Road, MA14, are not. Downstream again, the David Low Bridge carries 2.8 metres of clearance at highest astronomical tide, and MSQ states the reach above it is navigable only by powered vessels up to seven metres, while below the bridge the limit is twelve.
The course day puts all of that into your hands. You complete the online theory first, no more than three months before the practical, and the on-water day runs at our Maroochydore venue on the Maroochy River, down through Nambour and along the Nambour Connection Road. Operating at 6 knots or less, a man overboard drill, turns on and off the plane and berthing are all mandated parts of the assessment.
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.
