Rainbow Beach at high tide is a different place. The wide, flat corridor of sand that most visitors photograph shrinks to a narrow shelf, and the coloured cliffs press right to the water's edge. The crowds thin. The rock platforms emerge and then disappear again. It's a rhythm the beach has kept for thousands of years, and most visitors miss it entirely because they plan by weather, not by tide.
Understanding the tidal cycle on the Cooloola Coast takes about 10 minutes and repays you every visit. The Sunshine Coast Tides app (or the Bureau of Meteorology's tide charts