East Coast: Odds and ends (and reposts)

Part 5: Noosa

Day 10: Rainbow Beach to Noosa

After packing up my belongings once again, I was off to Noosa! It was about a two hour bus ride, and I arrived about 10 am.  I had decided to rent a car while in Noosa because I had so much fun driving in K’gari, but I was sorely disappointed due to the school holidays and chronic lack of parking. The effect of my seemingly endless driving around looking for a parking spot resulted in my sour mood, feeling bitter about missing out on time at the beach during my limited time before moving to my next destination. But, it is what it is! And despite that trough of the day, there were plenty of good things that happened too:

• I won a free Egg McMuffin from Macca’s Monopoly and got to have raisin toast for brekky
• My laundry was fully dry when I packed up (✨ backpacker things ✨)
• I got to sit and enjoy listening to a street performer rocking out on the guitar
• I found some cute stickers to add to my journal
• Listening to the waves roll in at the beach was so soothing

One of the girls I got along with at K’gari and I went to the beach and enjoyed the Queensland sun for a while before we parted ways. I then went on a scenic drive around the area, and it felt quite Floridian. The roads were endlessly winding, with enough houses to feel suburban, but with plenty of bushes and trees. 

I ended up going to Coles to buy food for my next hostel stay, at Kangarooms YHA, about 30 minutes’ shuttle ride from Noosa proper. Then it was time to return the car and make my way to the 6 pm shuttle bus to the hostel. It was pitch black when we arrived, so I just ate some dinner and got settled in to my room. The YHA boasts a substantial population of resident roos, and I was ecstatic to meet my neighbours. 

The area that the hostel was at reminded me of a cross between Steep Rock and Hecla, with a restaurant/microbrewery, and an assortment of serviced, basic, and glamping campsites, in addition to the hostel. This hostel had individual cabins that held four people, and were perhaps the smallest hostel rooms I’ve ever been in. The two sets of bunks had maybe a meter of walkway between them and 0.8 meters at the end. But it worked! 

Day 11: Noosa Everglades

Today was an early start! I wanted to go for a sunrise hike before my Everglades tour, so I set my alarm for 5:00. I made my way to the trail head, then started down to XYZ lookout. Unfortunately, that was short-lived, because the trail was flooded once I was a couple hundred meters in. While evading the mozzies, I made my way back to the more built-up area, complete with campers, glamping tents, and those dedicated to their tents. I watched the sunrise over XYZ Lake, complete with some marsupial eye candy:

After the sky got lighter, I made my go-to hostel breakfast: instant oatmeal with fruit, nuts, and yogurt. It’s so easy to bring from place to place, because the oatmeal packets don’t get crushed and won’t spill. The yogurt and fruit I need to be more careful with, but since I was staying at the YHA for a second night I was planning to eat it up before heading down to Brisbane. The communal kitchen at this hostel reminded me of the Pavillion at Steep Rock Beach Park, being an open-air shelter with a concrete floor. The dishes were stored in plastic tubs to keep the dirt and critters out, but the sink and stoves were all open. That’s something about Australia, there is little definition between indoor and outdoor living spaces. Perhaps this has to do with the lack of snow?

Soon it was time to check in for my tour into the only other everglade system in the world outside of Florida. “Everglades” are effectively large systems of slow moving waterways. The Noosa Everglades apparently have 44% of Australia’s bird species, but because of the time of year, we hardly saw any! Guess I’ll just have to go back 😜

The tour started with a boat ride up to the spot where the canoes are stored, and we got suited up. I was paired with another traveller, and we eventually got the hang of it! Canoeing is definitely harder than I remember – paddling in a straight line proved to be quite the challenge. The water we were in was not the cleanest in appearance, but I learned it was because of the Manuka and Melaleuca trees, AKA tea trees and paperbarks (perhaps not in that order…) and the oils and tannins they release into the water. I had a hard time getting past the colour of the water, because it reminded me a lot of the spring thaw. It clearly wasn’t that hard though, because I ended up going for a swim once we made it to our destination and had our morning tea with some monitor lizards:

Only after I got out of the water did I see the sign that recommended against swimming due to there potentially being sharks in the water. Luckily they weren’t too hungry that day! Our boat had met us at the spot for tea with any guests who weren’t too keen on the canoeing, and then we traded the canoes to the second tour group that boated up the river first. On the boat ride back, we got to learn a little more about the history of the area and its wildlife from our guides. We hardly saw any birds, and even when canoeing up, it was eerily quiet. But so peaceful, absolutely serene. 

I spent the afternoon reading with the kangaroos, then sat in the sheltered area and watched the sky open up and add to the soggy ground. I ventured to the restaurant and had some sweet potato fries (~chips~) for dinner, the hot food just hit the spot with the dreary weather. Then it was into bed for me, because I had registered for stand-up paddle boarding in the morning before heading into Noosa to spend the day before my bus to Brisbane.

Day 12: Noosa to Brisbane

Another early start, noticing a trend? I’m very much a “let’s get this day started” person when I travel. There were I think four other women plus the guide who went SUPing, over towards where the everglades tour was the day prior. The Lake we were on is incredibly shallow, about 1 metre in most places, and since it was early in the morning, it was calm as. I’m still far from a professional SUPer, so it took a bit to get my bearings. We were out for about an hour, and paddled along the shoreline that gave us a pristine view of all the roos having breakfast and hanging out along the water. Our destination was Mill Point, a former logging site, though it was almost unrecognizable from any sort of industrial setup after years of returning to nature. 

After we were back, it was time to pack up, strip my bed, and check out. I took the 9:00 shuttle into Noosa, then dropped off my bags at a place I found (love the internet!) that does baggage storage, because I really did not want to be lugging around everything I had brought all day. I walked down to the beach, slipped, slapped, and slopped, then was off to hike in Noosa National Park. I started up the Coastal Walk, then made my way around to Sunshine Beach, with stops for pictures and snacks – only the essentials! Somewhere along the way, I missed the turn for the Devil’s Kitchen Lookout, but I think staying on the main trail was probably in my best interest anyways. 

After my hike, I made my way back into Noosa, and stopped for ice cream. I think Canada could learn a thing or two, waffle cones should be the default everywhere. Then it was time to pick up my bag, and go to the Greyhound stop to wait for my bus to Brisbane. I wasn’t taking any chances this time, I preemptively took some motion sickness tablets, because on the ride up from Sunshine Coast I was having a bit of a rough time. Luckily, this ride was uneventful. I also had the wits to ask the bus driver if I could sit not in my assigned seat, and there was room to make it work. 

I took a train to Fortitude Valley, or F’Valley, according to the signage in the station. We just love to shorten all the things. I was out early – my hiking caught up with me!