Any one know what beach at Double Island is like at Present?

Great - thanks ;)

no permit required

I am not sure when the permit system starts but this is from their web site
Vehicle Permit

http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/park_alerts/10150.html

Cooloola Recreation Area commences this Sunday 17 October 2010
This alert applies to the following parks:
* Cooloola Great Walk
* Cooloola Recreation Area
* Cooloola Section, Great Sandy National Park
* Northern Cooloola, Great Sandy National Park
* Southern Cooloola, Great Sandy National Park

Changes you should know before heading to Cooloola
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The recreation area stretches from Noosa North Shore to Rainbow Beach and covers 61,750 ha. It includes national park, roads, esplanade, beaches and other lands to the low water mark. The recreation area will provide continued protection of the environment and improved access and facilities for the tens of thousands of people who visit each year.

Vehicle access permits ARE required for the following areas:
* from north head of the Noosa River to Middle Rocks south-east of Rainbow Beach
* inland along the Freshwater Road between Bymien and the eastern beach
* inland on the Kings Bore Circuit track (locally known as Pettigrew Road, and the eastern and western firebreaks)
* the Leisha track

Vehicle permits will NOT be required for:
* 3 km of the unsealed Freshwater Road from Rainbow Beach Road turnoff to Bymien picnic area
* the Cooloola Way
* Harry's Hut Road
* 4WD track to Poverty Point camping area
* road to Elanda Point Campground
* any privately owned freehold land
* sections of Great Sandy National Park south of the Noosa River
* Inskip Peninsula Recreation Area.

You are quite right Bazooka. Lucky we were'nt pulled up by rangers. Presumably they would have been lenient as the changes had only started a few days prior. Come to think of it we had a ranger right behind us on the Leisha track but he was pre-occupied like us with the Navara and boat that had got tangled up with the carpet on the north exit.