POLICE are hunting a tourist who abandoned a car after it became bogged on Rainbow Beach more than a month ago.
The Subaru has been torn apart by the surf and vandals, and is now partly buried in the sand.
An excavator will be needed to remove the wreck, police said. The driver got into trouble on a notorious stretch of beach, about 120km north of Noosa on June 12, witnesses told police.
The 4WD Subaru wagon was bogged in soft sand below the high tide mark. Witnesses said the surf was rough at the time and many drivers had opted to park high on the beach until the tide dropped.
It is not known how the driver got back to Rainbow Beach township, but he was arrested there by police for allegedly damaging a phone box after calling RACQ, who said the conditions were too rough to tow him off the beach.
Police said the driver said he was from Western Australia and had borrowed the car from a friend. He said it was not insured.
Police said the man failed to turn up at a scheduled court appearance and they had been unsuccessful in tracing him through his supplied contact details.
Local RACQ tow truck contractor Robbie Rye said more than 20 4WD vehicles were stuck on rocks along Rainbow Beach since the start of the year.
URL for full article and pictures: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25800098-3102,00.html
