Sea, surf and ... sand!

THE beach is back at Rainbow and it's wider and whiter than ever.

SAND'S BACK: Holidaymakers trudge across the sand to the water at Rainbow Beach. Just 10 months ago there was no sand left after huge seas and wild winds eroded the coastline. Picture: Craig Warhurst/Gympie Times

THE beach is back at Rainbow and it's wider and whiter than ever.

Perfect weather and tide conditions have bought hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clean white sand back onto Rainbow's patrolled beach.

The popular tourist destination was hammered by wild seas and gale force winds early this year when king tides combined with a low pressure system off Fraser Island severely eroded the fragile beach line.

Beachgoers had only 20 metres of sand to relax on at low tide but high tide saw sunbathers scurrying to the higher dunes to escape the water.

But that isn't the case anymore.

Swimmers this week had to walk over 150 metres to get to the water's edge giving them plenty of room to soak up the warm October rays.

The return of the sand couldn't have come at a better time for the coastal community.

Rainbow Beach is playing host to the first Queensland nippers carnival of the season this weekend.

Nearly 1000 nippers and their families will converge on Rainbow for the event, the biggest on the Rainbow Beach Surf lifesaving calendar.

Action gets underway Saturday.

Originally published as Sea, surf and ... sand!