Public Trails Computed from official land records

Gold Coast · Saltwater Creek

Saltwater Creek from Esplanade

entry is a road 30 m of climb chain confidence Statutory inference — evidence class saltwater-creek-29513--from-esplanade

Access verdict · Lawful, with caveats · weakest evidence in the chain: statutory inference

A lawful approach from Esplanade, with caveats.

The chain below runs entirely across land the public has an established right to be on. It is a legal line, not a path: nothing here has been surveyed on the ground.

What this verdict means · what the evidence grades mean

On-ground signage and temporary closures override this page. Always.

Getting to the start The trailhead coordinate, not the feature

The start is at -28.13824, 153.49088

That is Esplanade, where the walk below begins — 2.9 km of it. Every link here goes to that coordinate and never to the feature itself, because a driving route to a waterfall is a driving route into the country above one.

-28.13824, 153.49088

The record does not say what reaches the start The roads layer leaves trafficability unstated on most of its rows, and it is unstated here. That is an absence of evidence, not an ordinary road: treat the last stretch as unresearched.

The coordinate is where the recorded way begins, read off the same layers as the walk. What the record says about a vehicle is above, and it describes this point rather than the drive to it. Whether the road is sealed, gated, or open today, and where a car may lawfully be left, are none of them things these records say — so treat the last few kilometres as unresearched, and the mapping service's route to them as its own work, not ours.

The chain, leg by leg Computed from cadastral geometry; never walked

Legs of the computed corridor, in order, with the grade of the record that made each one lawful
# Runs along Parcel / reference Mapped along it Distance Bearing Evidence
1 Watercourse bed 511679 nothing mapped 194.2 m 33.3° NNE Statutory inference — evidence class
2 Watercourse bed 149119 nothing mapped 815.8 m 332.5° NNW Statutory inference — evidence class
3 Road reserve 484699 nothing mapped 290.0 m 328.3° NNW Official spatial — evidence class
4 Watercourse bed 2703641 nothing mapped 523.3 m 231.5° SW Statutory inference — evidence class
5 Road reserve 489601 nothing mapped 112.5 m 232.4° SW Official spatial — evidence class
6 Road reserve 534365 nothing mapped 57.9 m 221.0° SW Official spatial — evidence class
7 Road reserve 534517 nothing mapped 42.3 m 238.5° WSW Official spatial — evidence class
8 Watercourse bed 2790129 nothing mapped 813.8 m 227.3° SW Statutory inference — evidence class
9 Watercourse bed 569705 nothing mapped 9.6 m 145.5° SE Statutory inference — evidence class
Total no way mapped 2859.4 m Chain confidence Statutory inference — evidence class

Every leg above is computed from cadastral geometry. Nobody has walked it, and no part of it is a path on the ground: it is the line along which the public record establishes a right to be. Where a leg names a way, that is what a managing authority has mapped down the same ground — it says nothing more about your right to be there, which the parcel already settled.

Caveats — what has to be said before walking this

  • Watercourse crossing. The chain crosses a watercourse bed. The bed is State land by statutory inference, there is no structure, and the crossing is off in high flow.
  • Measured crossing. The gap between the parcels either side of this crossing could not be measured from the geometry, which is a reason for more caution, not less.
  • Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 511679 and 484699 is 749.95 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
  • Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 484699 and 489601 is 469.63 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
  • Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 534517 and 569705 is 779.88 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
  • Measured crossing. The gap between the parcels either side of this crossing could not be measured from the geometry, which is a reason for more caution, not less.

Following it on the ground No published way to follow

at least 1 hour out and back

at least half an hour there at least half an hour back

30 m up and 30 m down on the way out — so the return leg climbs 30 m.

Walking only — nothing is counted for rest, water, photographs, navigation, or the state of the track.

Naismith's rule, and what it does not account for

No directions are published for this approach. The chain above is a statement about permission, not a path, and turning a run of parcels into "walk north-east for 380 m" would tell you where to walk on evidence nobody holds — including where a way is mapped along it, because what was measured is the chain and not the way. Steps appear here only for a route that follows a surveyed way end to end.

How much climbing Read off the published contour layer

Distance along the route, 0 to 1986.6 m · height 5.0 to 30.0 m Read off 5.0 m contours along the route's own line Official spatial — evidence class
Total climb
30.0 m
Total descent
30.0 m
Steepest sustained
37.3% over 53.7 m
Contour interval
5.0 m
Every height the contours record along this route
Contour crossings along the route, in order, as distance along the route against mapped height
Distance along Height
58.9 m 5.0 m
73.2 m 10.0 m
120.9 m 10.0 m
134.7 m 5.0 m
230.3 m 5.0 m
244.7 m 5.0 m
321.4 m 5.0 m
345.7 m 5.0 m
356.3 m 5.0 m
549.9 m 5.0 m
551.9 m 5.0 m
566.0 m 5.0 m
1345.7 m 5.0 m
1358.7 m 10.0 m
1363.4 m 15.0 m
1368.5 m 20.0 m
1399.4 m 25.0 m
1448.8 m 30.0 m
1480.8 m 30.0 m
1496.5 m 25.0 m
1508.4 m 20.0 m
1526.8 m 15.0 m
1544.3 m 10.0 m
1553.5 m 5.0 m
1827.6 m 5.0 m
1986.6 m 5.0 m

The profile is the height the contour layer already records, read along the same line the legs above describe. It is not a survey of a path: nothing here says the ground between two contours is even, and a layer of 5.0 m contours cannot evidence a step smaller than the gap between them.

The line on the ground

Map

Route map: 9 legs from Esplanade, 2859.4 m in total.

Every figure the map would draw — parcel references, distances, bearings and the crossing gap — is written out in full on this page, so nothing is only visible on the map. If the map does not load, nothing has been lost.

What this verdict rests on Grades compose to the weakest link

  • The destination sits on the parcel below Official spatial — evidence class

    Parcel 4SP230615, recorded tenure "Reserve". Being at the destination and reaching it are separate questions, and this page answers only the second.

    Cadastre and protected-area estate layers Attribution licensed

  • Leg 1: 511679 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class

    194.2 m at 33.3°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.

    Leg reference 511679 Grade statutory_inference

  • Leg 2: 149119 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class

    815.8 m at 332.5°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.

    Leg reference 149119 Grade statutory_inference

  • Leg 3: 484699 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class

    290.0 m at 328.3°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.

    Leg reference 484699 Grade official_spatial

  • Leg 4: 2703641 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class

    523.3 m at 231.5°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.

    Leg reference 2703641 Grade statutory_inference

  • Leg 5: 489601 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class

    112.5 m at 232.4°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.

    Leg reference 489601 Grade official_spatial

  • Leg 6: 534365 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class

    57.9 m at 221.0°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.

    Leg reference 534365 Grade official_spatial

  • Leg 7: 534517 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class

    42.3 m at 238.5°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.

    Leg reference 534517 Grade official_spatial

  • Leg 8: 2790129 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class

    813.8 m at 227.3°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.

    Leg reference 2790129 Grade statutory_inference

  • Leg 9: 569705 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class

    9.6 m at 145.5°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.

    Leg reference 569705 Grade statutory_inference

  • The chain is only as strong as its weakest link Statutory inference — evidence class

    Confidence is not an average. It is the weakest class in the chain above, which is why a single inferred leg holds the whole route at statutory inference.

    Composition rule: weakest grade wins Applied at build time

If something goes wrong

Emergency reference — read this to 000

Location
Saltwater Creek
Lot on plan
4SP230615
Coordinates
-28.13722, 153.47472 (WGS84 / GDA2020)
Feature
watercourse