Noosa Heads

Who would’ve known? Noosa Heads was a dream.  Yes, a little too perfect perhaps, but we fell in love with the “free” overnight parking in Noosa Woods, where you could wake up in the morning and go straight from you campervan for a walk to the beach for a surf.

Then it was back to the campervan for breakkie looking over the trees while our surf stuff dried out in the sun. Digesting was done on the beach in the shade after breakfast, where we whiled away the hours playing guitar…

 

admiring the view…

and showing off Ben’s wicked surfer tan.  Surf’s up, dude!!

Then back for another go at surfing in the afternoon!  

It was a perfect arrangement, and things got off to a tremendous start when on our second visit to a surf shop at Noosa Junction we met the owner of Underground Surf, Ondi.  A teddy-bear of a guy, super cool, who not only kitted us out with our gear (8ft foamie longboard and 6’3” Dempsey Fishtail) plus wetsuits, but also helped us with some great advice about surfing in the area.  He pointed us to Noosa Woods with the usual caution: “If the rangers come up to you, just tell them you are on your way north and needed a place to “stop, revive, survive” for the night, and cross your fingers you don’t get a $400 ticket”. And it was thus that the adventure began!!

Our campervan was amazing – we made every meal there, from breakfast to dinner, and rarely splurged on coffee and a beer at the bar. Who would need to when you can ensure a near bottomless supply of wine with a 4L box for $15! We swear it wasn’t terrible.

We got used to the cold outdoor showers and daytime public toilets on the nights where we parked for free in Noosa Woods, and this allowed us to stay clean despite living in a van with no bathroom.

Noosa downtown was very posh, and we generally avoided it because we couldn’t afford much, but enjoyed driving past and looking at all the locals – the rich, blond and beautiful of Australia. Very entertaining! This was more than compensated for by the beauty of Noosa National Park, where we saw our first Koala at a distance of two arm spans – crazy luck!! For some reason it decided to make its bed on a fork of a tree just overhanging the park trail – a very strange decision if privacy was what it craved. We even saw it move (!), which apparently is as rare as hen's teeth.

Also, the Park is where we found Tea Tree Bay, our first wicked point break in Australia that Ben fell in love with when we first discovered it through word of mouth. It was never that good again, but it always kept us coming back for more despite the fiften minute walk with gear and supplies from the car park. It was fun to walk with our boards along the coastal path, admiring the view and getting some exercise before surfing to our hearts content.

We were lucky with perfect weather, and on the last day Patricia went for an unforgettable jog through the National Park and saw whales cruising just off of the lookout. The sunsets from the parking lot were unbelievable, a molten rose gold of beauty.

We did go out a couple of nights, on the search for good nightlife, but really didn’t find much! Let’s just say Noosa is not the best for going out, but if you have to, the Surf Club on the main beach strip and the Irish Pub on Noosa Junction are good bets for a pint.  The best hang out we found was a cool restaurant called Mooshka, where we spent a relaxed afternoon catching up on our emails during a brief afternoon rainstorm.

The Surf Club did provide one interesting night out where we were wowed by a 40 something cover band that rocked all of the big hits of the 80’s. Our Canadian crew will be proud to know that “Summer of ’69” drew the biggest dancing crowd. It was there that we met two hilariously matched friends in “Tap” and his friend “big Rugby guy”. The big dude spent most of the time pumping his fist to the music while encouraging Ben to do the same (or else!). He turned out to be something of a big rugby star back in the day and was hanging out with “Tap” as they were in town for a conference and had both gotten into fights with their wives that night. They then proceeded to wander into the same bar where they met and decided to drown their woes together. Luckily “Tap” made up for his friend in being a great guy and he shared with us a hilarious anecdote regarding his name. He apparently has a twin brother with the exact same first name except with one letter different, pronounced the exact same way, along with the identical middle and last name...Hippie parents can be funny that way. The four of us drank beer, chatted, pumped fists and had a very random night indeed.  

We ended up leaving Noosa twice – the first time after a 5 day stay to go up north, and then the second time after a five day stay on our way back down south. Obviously, we fell in love with it, and this first place we visited ended up being the spot where we stayed for the longest. 

Noosa is also the place where, on our very last day, Patricia had the most epic surf session on her long board, while Ben waded into the water to capture the magic on film. Those longboarding waves were to be some of the best on the entire trip! Patricia only left the beach once her arms could no longer hold her up, and she had caught waves to her heart’s content.

Ben was already looking forward to the day when the surf would be big enough for his short board, when he could also have an epic day catching the perfect wave! This story is yet to come…

On our last day we went and said goodbye to Ondi and had our first delicious Aussie meat pie. What a great way to end this fantastic chapter of our trip!