Noosa Heads Things to Do

Hastings Street is the posh centre of Noosa. It is located in Noosa Heads, parallel to the main beach. You find many, many cafés and restaurants here, as well as a lot of fancy shops and boutiques. It is not really a place for budget travellers - but on the other hand, you can also order a sandwich and a coke, and people watching is for free :-)

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Sunshine Beach is a very nice beach in the district of the same name. It is a very long beach which is a bit rugged. I was here at about noon, and there were not many people. This is also Noosa's beach with the highest waves. It is very natural and stormy and I just liked it very much - the wind, the feeling of the elements, the solitude... I walked the whole length of it which took quite a while.
You can access this beach from Noosa National Park if you walk here from Alexandria Bay on walking track No 4. It is a patrolled beach, however, swimming is not advised - which seems very sensible to me when I remember the waves and gusts of wind.

It looks as if VT totally blurred up the colours of my second picture - sorry :-(

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Noosa National Park is what really made this town special to me. It is located right next to the district of Sunshine Beach and can be reached easily by foot from there, or by car or bus from the other districts of the town, within a few minutes. It includes an area of 4000 hectare and is thus not very big, but I found it very fascinating because there are many different kinds of vegetation, beautiful beaches and bays, and great walking paths.
This area already became a protected area in 1879! It was declared a national park in 1939.

I walked here in the morning and it felt almost enchanted - the bizarre and wild trees, the sandy pathways and small flowers, and then the windy and loneley beaches... Hard to believe that such a place existed so close to the hustle bustle of the town with all its fancy luxuries!

There are several walking tracks that lead through the park and along the beaches. This is a map of the tracks:
http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/noosa/pdf/noosa-headland-map.pdf

If I remember rightly, I walked track No. 5 and then back to town on track No. 4.

You can find more pictures attached to this tip and in the travelogues.

Please do also read my Warnings or Dangers tip!

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Alexandria Bay is located in the east of the National Park. It is a wonderfully long and wide bay. While my guide book said that it is popular with surfers, nobody was here when I did my walk - but maybe I was just too early!

As it was such a cloudy and cool day, the beach just looked very wild, the waves were big and it was very stormy. I imagine that it must be perfectly blue ocean on sunny days. As you can see on the map, the tracks No. 2, 4 and 5 lead to this beach.

The beach is not patrolled!

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If you have visited Alexandria Bay and then continue south on track No. 4 you get some wonderful views of the bay. You have to walk besides the big rocks and as this was such a stormy day and the waves were so big and the sea so roaring, I felt almost a little uneasy walking here - it was not in the least dangerous, but I am just felt a little overwhelmed by the elements!
I think that this view must be absolutely stunning on a sunny day, when the sea is blue and the sand of the beach looks white in the sunshine!
I still loved it, however, because the rocks looked great and the waves were fascinating.

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If you continue on track No 4, you will get to a lookout where you have a great view of Sunshine Beach - the beach itself and the district of the same name. Again I must say that this would look so much better on a sunny day, but still, I liked it. For me, it is always an overwhelming feeling to see the ocean from above, how huge and wide it is.
The path then leads you down to the beach itself so that you can enjoy it, or walk into town, where you can catch a bus to the other districts.

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Fraser Island is of course a highlight you should not miss if travelling to Queensland!!! Most tours start from Hervey Bay, but you can also go from Noosa. The tour busses go to Rainbow Beach, meet other passengers there and then take the ferry to the island.

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island and a very special place. Although there are a lot of tourists, there are also lonely and unspoiled places. The beach and rainforest are spectacular, and especially the secluded lakes are a true highlight.

I will include a link here once I've built my Fraser Island page, meanwhile, please have a look at the pages of other members!

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"Noosa National Park features spectacular coastal scenery and provides an important refuge for native wildlife including the koala, glossy black cockatoo, ground parrot and wallum froglet."

This is how the Department of Environment and Resource Management of the Queensland State Government describes Noosa National Park. The coastal scenery is indeed magnificent and if you are lucky you may see a koala in the trees at the start of the walk. Keep your eyes aloft. I once saw whales breaching out to sea. There are also some fine example of Pandanus Palms.

There are a number of walks available in the park. The most popular walk is to Hell's Gate. You can return the same way (5.4km at Class 2 & 3 {Aussie Standards}) or continue to Sunshine Beach (5.4km Class 2,3 & 4). For the Australian classification please check the website below.

There is assisted wheelchair and stroller/pram access to Dolphin Point (1km)