After a couple weeks of road trips we decided to spend a few days in one place, so we booked a really spacious Airbnb in the beachy town of Noosa Heads, about ninety minutes north of Brisbane. This town has everything you could want in a vacation destination— a fun-loving vibe, loads of restaurants and bars, a couple National Parks, tons of watersport recreation opportunities, the only recognized everglades outside of Florida, and some spectacular beaches.
As you might expect, this place is very tourist-friendly. It does get crowded and parking can be hard to find, so on weekend days the town has several free bus routes to ease some of the congestion. On Sunday morning (yesterday) we took a free bus ride to the Noosa farmers market to grab some breakfast.
We found plenty of good things to eat. Some were reasonably healthy, like this avocado toast on multigrain bread. We also bought a couple of papples, which I had never tried before. As the name indicates, they are a cross between a pear and an apple. And then of course we found the French baker and treated ourselves to a not-so-healthy pain au chocolate. We definitely did not leave the market hungry!
We took the free busses all around town and explored a bit on foot, but by early afternoon we were dripping with sweat! We are now in the Australian state of Queensland, which is much closer to the equator than the other Australian states we’ve been to so far (New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania). It's a tropical climate here and when the temperatures are in the 80s (Fahrenheit) it feels very muggy with the humidity. Luckily our Airbnb has a refreshing pool! It was so relaxing to spend the afternoon cooling off with a swim. The trees in the garden were filled with colorful rainbow lorikeets chirping away, and we saw an enormous monitor lizard climb through the fence from our yard into the neighbors’. Sorry no wildlife photos this time; we were swimming and couldn’t get to our phones quickly enough!
A long trip like this isn’t all glamorous leisure activities all the time. We did have to spend an hour or so this morning catching up on our laundry at a laundromat across town. But after folding our clothes, we stashed them in the trunk of our rental car and drove a couple blocks to the marina so we could hop on the Noosa River ferry.
The 45 minute trip down the river was really pleasant. The captain provided interesting commentary about the town and the river. Noosa Heads is a pretty well-heeled place, and there are some very fancy and expensive homes right on the water.
We got off the ferry at Hastings Street and, inspired by our high-end surroundings, treated ourselves to a fancy brunch at one of the bustling bistros.
After our meal we splurged again and rented beach chairs and an umbrella at the Noosa Heads main beach to soak up some of the sunshine here on Australia’s “Sunshine Coast”.
The sand was so soft and the water was the perfect temperature. Usually I don't enjoy swimming at the beach because I don't like wet sand between my toes, but I had to make an exception for this beach!
From the beach we had a great view of the headlands of Noosa Heads National Park. The waves were crystal clear - you could see the fish swimming around at your feet. Luckily we only encountered small friendly fish — no sharks, box jellyfish, or venomous octopi! Whew, we survived a swim in the the dangerous waters of Australia…this time!
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