The way home

We meandered down the coast road on our way to the airport. First a look over Noosa from its highest point.

 We also stopped at Peregian Beach, which seems to continue for some kilometers. A fitting farewell to Noosa.

The Sunday drive

We revived the traditional custom of a Sunday drive to explore the surroundings. The selected road trip passed through Doonan, Eumundi, Cooroy, Lake Macdonald and Mount Tinbeerwah. 

Not much found  to see in Doonan, so we passed through. Eumundi makes much of its Wednesday and Saturday markets, but this was Sunday. It had a selection of tourist shops (Specialty honey, Leather) and a BerkelouW  bookshop as well as quaint Imperial Hotel (1911). 

Cooroy and its environs offered the most interest. The town had an arts precinct including a small art gallery currently showing an exhibition of artworks in various media from Bundaberg artists for purchase. Nearby an area was set aside to celebrate the town’s early sawmill days. Part of the old mill has been retained

There is also a clever reproduction of timber types rendered in coloured concrete.

Nearby, my eye was drawn to a tree, genus unknown about to burst into a fountain of  golden flower clusters

We explored Lake Macdonald, which now hosts some suburban large homes. At a picnic spot a music group which included a didgeridoo was practising.

I saw a bean vine which was rampant at the Everglades: whether good for bush tucker I know not, and was not inclined to experiment

The Noosa Botanic Gardens were nearby on the shore of Lake Macdonald, and worth passing a pleasant hour or so strolling.

 Finally we drove up Mount Tinbeerwah to survey greater Noosa before returning to home base

Friday 9 August

This record is for a time before the previous entry

To mark the inauguration of my 80th year we enjoyed a good breakfast at The Deck on Sunshine Beach. 

 https://www.thedecksunshinebeach.com.au/ We then took another walk along the beach; I tried to locate some pippies without success , but W grabbed one- it was a bit small so we restored to its ocean bed.

Later in the day, which was Queensland perfect we actually had a shortish surf swim. Not so short that a large rogue wave couldn’t take me by surprise with a whump on the back and a dumpful of seawater mouthwash.

For dinner we went to Quamby Place, which has a selection of up-market restaurants. Our pick was Rock Salt, which is  byo.

https://rocksaltnoosa.com.au/

We recommend both eateries,  and have returned to The Deck.

More walking

We set out bright and early for Hastings St side of the Park entrance and secured a rare car park.  Our mission was to cover most of the Coastal Walk from that side. Apart from being as crowded as an Everest conga line with walkers joggers and fisherfolk, it is in stark contrast to the Sunshine beach side - a cake walk, concreted for the benefit of any pushers or other wheelchairs as far as Dolphin Point. An easy gravel path continues to Hell’s Gate. Between those two points we were rewarded with a sight in the distance of whales, seemingly mother and calf- spouting, and a couple of times jumping. From Hell’s Gate it is 500m to Alexandria Bay, which we have already visited twice, so did not need the walk down and back up. Perhaps about 6k easy walking round trip.

View at Hells’ gate

On the way

View.of Alexandria Bay from Hell’s Gate

The Everglades

Noosa claims to have one of only two Everglades in the world. So we had to see this thing. In Noosa’s case it is a narrow section of river running parallel to the coast. 

We drove up to Boreen Point, had lunch at an “ecotourism” place and went on a boat trip up river, entered by crossing a wide and shallow (1.5m) Lake Cootharaba, Queensland's biggest natural saltwater lake. The lake is 10km long and 5km wide .

In the salty section there were black swans, pelicans, cormorants, and probably other bird varieties unseen. 

But in the fresh water the banks were lined with tea trees, giving the water a brownish colour, and excluding much fish insect, or  avian habitation. The river had a glassy surface making for excellent reflections.

It was dark when returned to our Seaview flat.

Walking

We have spent plenty of time walking over the last few days.

We have sauntered along most of Sunshine Beach below the surf boundary, allowing ourselves to get wet up to the knees. The water feels warm enough for a full dip and we will aim for a fully sunny day for that. Sunshine Beach has a quite different terroir to Main Beach, dog home at our house end, lots of friendly surfing at the flags, real waves, only a small group of shops, surf club being rebuilt to open in December. The last is a pity because we hoped to dine there more than once. Just out of the flag area a young chap was catching pippies as they popped up their noses in the waves, bringing back childhood memories for me. I asked him what he was going to do with the two handfuls he had-“eat them” he replied,  “but how are they done?”  I was glad to let him know that boiling for a short period is appropriate. 

Realising that the Coastal Walk starting at the Hastings St end is much easier than the steep climb at Sunshine beach, we drove hoping to do the Coastal walk  from that end to Dolphin Point, but parking is a frustration - none left  at the Park entrance. We found a 2 hour spot 1.5km away among the houses, so chose the walk up Noosa Hill- quite energetic enough for me.

Another day an early start let us grab  a short park in the hub of Hastings, and partake of the upmarket ice cream. 

 A pleasant stroll is available up the riverside .

An  easy trek through the Park to Alexandria Bay starts near our house. I took the opportunity to examine the flora, which had several distinct zones. Bird calls are heard continuously and in great variety, but no visibility.

Getting organised in Noosa

Noosa is a widely strung out cluster of villages.  Having safely arrived and settled into our accommodation near the northern end of Sunshine Beach  (precisely, a few metres steep walk up from entrance 27, which is also the boundary line between dog and no-dog beach territory), we had to forage for groceries for the first days. Too late to buy fancy bread, we found a Bakers Delight in one village. Also in the cluster an excellent fish shop where the daily offering is cut into fillets, along with various crustaceans. All self select and carry to the cash register to be weighed and paid, which I have not encountered in a fresh fish shop before.  Standing and mulling some unfamiliar names, one of the managers explained the choices, and on his telling us that the coral trout was rarely available, it was a natural choice. Coles,  Woolworths, and Aldi give each other wide berth, not in easy walking distance between each, but we visited all of them to acquire fair trade coffee, Norwegian smoked salmon,  quality raw muesli, blueberries, and European cheese. I was expecting tropical fruit but it’s not in season . We got bananas (well they are tropical ) and a not quite fully ripe section of pineapple from a small fruiterer. The next day we found a place offering baguettes to French standards .

The holiday laze began.We took an exploratory walk along our end of the beach up to the bathing flags. The next day we made a supposedly modest beginning of the recommended coastal walk around the headland which stretches from Sunshine Beach to Main beach 5.4 km  one way; we went 1km going as far as Alexandria Bay  (it was 2 hours tough going return). The beach had rough surf ; it is reputedly nudist, though there were no such sightings by us, nor of dolphins or whales. The bush turkeys are prevalent, but they also stroll through the shopping precincts.. Below is the rising path from our end of the beach. Entrance 27 is the scoop into the bush in the middle distance showing houses above.

Our first meal out was the very lyrically reviewed Pasta Pronto, diners competing to find higher superlatives. The pasta, home made,  and sauces were indeed of excellent standard, portions sufficient to feed a platoon , and since I am trained to eat everything and W was defeated by her serve, we found ourselves unable to order the equally revered tiramisu. Perhaps this is a mild dampener on Acolytes of TripAdvisor.

However the chap on the next table opened a conversation by asking whether I was Sir Ninian Stephen

I

I’ll take that question as a compliment, even though my doppelgänger is no longer with us. On receiving my denial he said I had some QC look about me. How to make a friend!

Alexandria Bay