Townsville Boat Ramps - Cungulla
Cungulla is a small beach-side community to the south of Townsville. It is accessed by first turning off the highway toward AIMS, and then turning right about 5mins down the AIMS road. From town allow about 45mins drive.
There are actually two boat ramps located at the small township of Cungulla. One is easy to find and most people know about, but the second is more hidden and difficult to get to. The first is in town and clearly sigh posted. Basically turn left as you arrive at Cungulla and then right just over the little creek. The ramp is a single lane concrete ramp on a small creek that snakes its way through Cungulla Beach. The ramp is only suitable for small tinnies on a half tide an up. The creek that winds through the beach is shallow but loosely marked. I would guess there is ocean access on a reasonable tide. But I suspect the ramp is mainly used to fish the sand flats for bream, whiting and flathead. The photo below was taken on a very low tide. You can see the makings of the creek. There are no amenities here, and there is barely enough parking for a couple of cars!
The second ramp is of much greater interest. It provides relatively easy access across to the mouth of the Haughton River! I have traversed the small creek that runs to the Haughton in my 3.86m tinnie on a 0.9m low. It was tricky, but we got there. To access the ramp you need to drive a very short distance along a beach track. I'm not sure a 4x4 is a definite requirement, but I would want one for the track. To locate the track you need to drive to the southern end of the Cungulla township. Here you should see a sandy track run off into the bush. The track then runs along the top of the mangroves and soon opens up to a sand area with a house. I have tried to indicate this to the best of my ability on the Google Earth map below.
This short video shows the quality of the track into this ramp. The drive only takes 5mins and is mostly on firm sand.
The ramp itself is a reasonable quality concrete block ramp. Its a bit rocky and broken up at the bottom, making it a little less user friendly at a low tide.
But, right beside the ramp, is a lovely stretch of nice firm sand that makes beach launching a better option. This is where a 4x4 is needed. Again there are no amenities, but parking is sufficient for most days. This is by no means a busy ramp! On a good tide 5mins will have you at the mouth of the Haughton.
