dead whale
When Matt Stoker and his camping friends were driving down the beach at Coonarr on Monday, what they thought were logs in the distance turned out to be something much bigger.

The friends had come across a giant whale carcass washed up at the Theodolite Creek end of the beach.

"It definitely wasn't there when we arrived but the next day, as we were driving back down the beach, we saw what looked like logs in the distance," he said.

"As we got closer we realised what it was.

"None of us have ever seen anything like it - it was massive."

Campers found the humpback whale carcass washed up on Coonarr Beach on Monday.
Campers found the humpback whale carcass washed up on Coonarr Beach on Monday.
The 26-year-old Bundaberg man said the carcass was that of an adult humpback whale and he estimated its jawbone to be about 3m long.

"We got out of the car and had a closer look," he said.

"The smell was unbearable.

"There were a few shark bites over the carcass."

It's definitely not the first time humpback whales have been found dead on Bundaberg beaches.

Last year, three juvenile humpbacks washed up at Fraser Island, Woodgate and Moore Park.

A Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service spokesperson said deaths were normal, as humpback numbers had been increasing by an estimated 10% each year.

It's not known what caused the death of the humpback at Coonarr and the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection are investigating.