Coastal Fringe and Hayward Gully is a 3km, grade 2 hike located in the Conway National Park, Queensland. The hike should take around 1.25 hrs to complete.
Hike overview
This Coastal Fringe and Hayward Gully hike wanders through lowland rainforest and cross a small tidal creek next to mangroves and cottonwoods. Keep an eye or ear out for conway's ' Big-foot' birds.Australian brush turkeys dutifully rake about in the leaf litter or you may hear the strange call of the shy and rarely seen orange footed scrub-fowl.
The walk is extended by branching of the coastal Fringe circuit to hayward gully continue through lowland forest and cross small rocky creek beds.
Hayward gully begins on a plateau high in the Conway range. A small patch of mangroves and associated wildlife adds diversity to the walk.
Route and GPX file
Max elevation: 23 m
Min elevation: 3 m
Total climbing: 89 m
Total descent: -87 m
Trail location
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Getting there
The Conway Coastal Fringe Circuit at the Conway Picnic area. The track is just past the Airport on the right hand side when heading towards Shute Harbour. There is a car park, drop toilets, electric BBQ’s and picnic tables at the trail head.
Gallery
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About the region
Conway National Park spans approximately 75km of coastline, taking in the entire Cape Conway peninsula. The park includes the rainforest-clad Conway Range, which protects the largest area of lowland tropical rainforest in Queensland outside Tropical North Queensland. Hoop pines grow on coastal ridges and in damp gullies, emerging above the rainforest canopy. Rugged, steep, rocky cliffs provide a spectacular 35km-long backdrop to the Whitsunday Passage and islands.
Dry vine thicket, mangroves, open forests with a grasstree understorey, paperbark and pandanus woodlands, and patches of lowland rainforest with twisted vines grow in the park. It is home to 2 of Australia's mound-building birds, the Australian brush-turkey and the orange-footed scrubfowl.
Rising steeply behind busy coastal settlements, the Conway Range appears impenetrable. Through climate fluctuations over tens of thousands of years, the rainforest has persisted here, providing a continuous refuge for wildlife.
The park's vegetation is very similar to that on the Whitsunday islands because thousands of years ago the sea level rose, drowning coastal valleys and creating the islands. For thousands of years, the Ngaro and Gia people roamed these forests, harvesting riches of the land and the adjoining sea country. Today the adjacent waters are protected in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
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Gear to consider

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Acknowledgement of Country
Trail Hiking Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we hike and pay respects to their Elders, past and present, and we acknowledge the First Nations people of other communities who may be here today.