Noosa Life

Bush Turkey - seen everywhere here!

We've settled quite nicely into our little place here in Noosa.  This is definitely a surfers beach town.  Lots of tourists, lots of hotels along the waterfront, stores and restaurants galore.  The people here have managed to keep a small- town feel to the place - there are no high-rises, and there's a big beach-front park at the end of the main street in town.

Walking trail in Noosa National Park

Typical tree on the cliffside

There are rocky shores as well as sandy.  Definitely more sand though!

Glen agreed to be photographed with me! This is above Hells Gate
with Alexandra Bay in the background. One of our longer walks.

I just love these trees and their root system

Interesting tree bark. It's very soft.

How did that happen???

Yes, the rock really is this colour!

It's been nice to wake up each day and go for a walk on the beach or down to the river.  Sometimes we'll go for a short drive along the coast, or inland a few miles to see if I can find a kangaroo!  In our first week here, we happened upon a surfing competition being held at Noosa Heads.  The shoreline was crowded with spectators, so we had a seat on a rock and listened to the announcer calling the scores out.  Each surfer in a division wears a different colour so they can tell who is who.  They sure make it look easy!

Spectators sitting along the rocky side shore of Noosa Head
watching a surf competition

New group heading out

Yahoo!

Kids surf class heading to the beach

The beach at Noosa

Surfers paddling out to meet the waves

Once the surfing was finished, we carried out along a beautiful boardwalk to the Noosa National Park.  I'm still a little nervous about the Australian spiders and snakes, so we didn't venture off the trail.  Didn't see anything to worry about, thank goodness!  This became one of our favourite walks - some days we'd do an hour, other days it turned into two or three hours.  The pathway goes a long way.  One day we got caught in a tropical downpour - we were soaked to the skin in about 2 minutes, and we were a good ten minutes from the car.  By the time we made it back to the car, the parking lot looked more like a swimming pool.  It was a bit scary driving home.  The moisture in our clothes kept fogging the windows, and the streets were virtual streams in places.  The sailcloth over our patio filled up quickly and caused a bit of a flood in the garden when we emptied it out.

This beautiful boardwalk follows the coast for quite a ways, and then
peters out into a gravel path through the forest.  Love the white
eucalyptus tree trunks!

A lovely spot to sit and contemplate the universe.

Looking back on the town of Noosa

A 'bottlebrush' tree.  

Close up of the flower - it's about 4" high 

Beautiful twisty tree trunks and limbs.  Kind of a spooky
feel to the woods here.

Turn a corner, find another remote beach.

These tree roots caught my eye 

There is an empty lot beside our townhouse complex, and each evening at about 5:45 pm, there is the most incredible bird noise.  A huge flock of lorikeets meets in the trees in the lot, and are they loud!  They're a beautiful bird - red, yellow, green, and as they fly and swoop around, the sun catches the colours in the feathers.  I tried really hard to get a good video of this - but because it's getting towards dusk, the light isn't great for a good picture. Turn up the volume to get a good feel for the sound.

Lorikeets gathering at dusk - hundreds of them!

This is a photo Glen captured of them one day - beautiful!

We often walk down to the river near the house.  It's about a ten minute walk, and there's a beautiful waterfront park and pathway to stroll along and watch the boats and paddle boarders.  If I get bored of beautiful scenery, then I can shop in the little stores across the street.  One day I decided that I really need something to do in the evenings, so I visited a wool shop and bought a couple of crochet hooks and crochet cotton.  It's such a great store - they have a drop-in fee of $5 and you can go sit in one of the easy chairs and do your knitting or crocheting with other like-minded people and chat and exchange tips and tricks.  Brilliant, and a variation on an idea I've had for awhile now - a drop-in creative space where people could come and do pottery or painting or sewing or glasswork.  I digress.  I went home and turned on youtube and did a little refresher on crochet stitches, and voila!  My first dishcloth!  Thanks to my Gramma Wilson who taught me needlecrafts many years ago - a gift that has kept on giving.

A little memory and a lot of help from
YouTube - et voila!

I'd forgotten how relaxing it can be to work with a crochet hook! Fun.

Ho hum.  Another beautiful flowering shrub
seen on my walk through the neighbourhood.

Pelicans down at the Noosa River

I really just took this for my nephew Matt!

The crazy camper vans from NZ are here too!

Jucy has different slogans over here - just as silly!

One day we decided to take a boat trip up the river to the Noosa 'Everglades' in the Noosa River Conservation Reserve.  It was a spectacular day travelling up the river, across two lakes and into an area of super clean water that is considered to be almost completely bacteria-free and is a very dark colour because it's stained from filtering through melaleuca and tea trees.  The area is also home to 7 out of 10 of the worlds most poisonous snakes.  Fortunately, we didn't see any.  Lots of bird and plant life to enjoy.  Crossing the lake is funny - there is a very specific channel the boat could go through as most of the lake is extremely shallow.

We got lucky and nabbed the front seat of the boat!

Colourful kayaks by the water lilies

Vegetation along the shoreline reflected so nicely in the
stained-black water.

Coming into a narrow part of the river - the water was glassy calm

That's where the deadly snakes hide.  Glad I'm on the boat!

We stopped in a state park for a walkabout, champagne & lunch

Remaining remnants of the last homestead on this land
before it was turned into a park.  The guy refused to leave,
so after he died the park became complete.  

The next day we drove inland to the Tewantin Forest.  On the boat yesterday, we saw a hill in the distance and we were told there are great views of the area from up there.  The views were beautiful - probably better on a sunny day though.  On the way back, we drove into the town of Gympie ( I LOVE that name!), and stopped in a local park to stretch our legs.  The trees here were FULL of white birds - on closer inspection, we saw they were some sort of cockatoo.  These guys were noisy!

View from Tewantin looking south.  It was
a long way down off this cliff.  Some
Swedish abseilers came along - I couldn't watch!

Pretty path through the woods to the lookout at Tewantin

Old Aussie-style house we saw on our drive

Old storefront in Gympie

White birds in Gympie park - noisy!

We did spend a lot of time playing in the waves at Noosa Heads Beach and Sunshine Beach a little further along the coast.  Anyone who knows Glen very well knows that he is definitely NOT a water baby (I am!), but the gorgeous weather and beautiful warm, clean water here enticed him in several times.  It's really fun to play in the surf, and it sure helps to cool off.  We were lucky not to have too many days when the jellyfish were a problem.

Sunshine Beach - big, beautiful, clean, quiet.

Love playing in the surf!

Glen giving me a bluebottle jellyfish lesson.

Funny feather-shaped seashells

Lots of these guys on the beach one day.  We didn't go in swimming!

They are really pretty

The path down to our favourite beach spot

Fraser Island was our one big trip while we were in Noosa.  That will be the next post.  I loved our time here in Noosa, and would happily come back here anytime.