Noosa - A beach, a river and an amazing sunset
It was the second day of my 2016 New Year Eve's break on the Sunshine Coast. After our morning visit to the beautiful little town of Maleny, John and I took off to Noosa through Kenilworth. It was an almost 100km drive with varying vegetation and geography; from green picturesque mountains of Maleny to flat arid lands with stunted vegetation as we approached the coastline. Except for a small stretch of road which was quite narrow and had to go off road to allow for the on coming traffic, the drive was smooth. Coming from a developing country, the very well maintained Australian roads always take me by envy, even the rural ones. We finished a bag of cherries and sang along to a few pop albums, me in my hardcore Asian accent and John in his Aussie, well Aussie city (to be exact) accent, which he's very proud of. As we approached Noosa the road network was quite complex and we had to use my new Garmin navigator which I got for 25 dollars less as it was a display unit just weeks before. For a newcomer to Noosa it's best to use a navigator as this place has got quite a few complex roundabouts, rather than just depending on sign posts. Finally after a few twists and turns we reached the Noosa Beach around 3pm.
Hasting Street is the happening street of Noosa which runs parallel to the beach and the river sandwiched between the two. It is packed with tourists and many different shops, from souvenirs to Indian food. Keep driving down the Hasting street and you get to this car park in the Noosa woods - a paved open air car park surrounded by tall trees and shrubs, well literally parking inside a bush. Being a busy tourist spot finding a parking spot was not easy and we finally got one quite a way inside the bush. We tracked back to the main beach from the car park. It was quite a busy beach. I wouldn't say it's one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen, but I guess it serves the purpose - sun, decent sand and waves to ride. Probably the overcrowding took away its beauty.
I can't swim and John didn't want to swim, so we sat on a bench and watched as life unfolded in front of us. Two kids, probably a brother and a sister, were busy picking sea shells. Another little boy was screaming with a bucket in his hand, looks like he hasn't found any sea shells today, or maybe those two siblings stole his. A father was helping a toddler to build a sand castle, cute. A little girl was practicing her somersaults while a proud dad was capturing it on his phone. Two women were trying to put up this tent fighting with the wind and finally they gave it up. A little girl held firmly to her dad's hand as they marched to meet the waves. In my head I went back to my small days where my grandfather used to take me, sister and my cousin to the Kingrose place beach in Colombo. How much has life changed since then... life is a strange thing and it's indeed beautiful.
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Watching people always interests me and time flew without us knowing; and it was almost time to catch our pre-booked Noosa river sunset cruise. Sunset cruises on the Noosa river is a popular thing and you need to pre-book them always, either online or over the phone. There are different companies some providing finger food and some without. We picked the Noosa Ferry Cruise Company (http://www.noosaferry.com), which was the cheapest at 25 dollars per head for no food with bring your own drinks and they would provide glasses and ice for you. The ferries with finger food can cost around 40-50 dollars per head. For me enjoying the nature is more important than eating finger food and drinking wine on a ferry. We left the beach and took a stroll down Hasting street buzzing with tourists, up to the Sofitel hotel, through the small alley between the shops and hotel and we were at the Sofitel hotel pier. There are no fixed times for the sunset ferries, well obviously time depends on which time the sun sets! Therefore if you are booking 3 days before the date of the cruise, you need to call the day of the cruise and confirm the time the ferry would be at the pier. For us it was 6pm and it's recommended you be at the pier at least 10 mins before. When the ferry arrived there was a group of eight Italians before us in the queue, I was praying they would go to the back of the deck, and they did, allowing us to sit at the front of the deck, which is the best place in any short cruise like this, so you get the best views. I am sure they cursed in their heads the 'bloody Indian' in front of the deck for picking the best spot when the amazing scenery started to play in front of us. Please remember not to be late, as you may miss the top deck and your plight on the bottom deck would be worse than of those Italians :)
So the cruise began. Slowly the ferry found its way through the other boats and yachts to the main river. Sun was still shining bright with an orange glow, rays reflecting off the river gave it a silver hue. The glare of the sun rays was trying to hide the beauty it cast on the river and the backdrop of the forest and mountains.Straining your eyes was well worth it to take in that beauty.
Ferry slowly glided through the main river and it's canals. Pelicans, egrets and herons perched on tree tops basking in the evening Noosa sun. I rested my chin on the rail and let all my senses absorb the beauty of this amazing sunset, one of the most beautiful I have ever seen.
 |
 |
After about 1 hour of sunset scenery we were dropped back at the pier. Just 100 feet away from this surreal sunset Hasting street was in complete contrast, with chattering hungry tourists gobbling down beer, fries and chicken legs. I just wanted to run to the car away from the noisy tourists and linger on my fresh memories of the beautiful Noosa sunset but John was hungry and wanted to eat Indian. Fortunately there weren't many tourists in this restaurant, Kali, right at the end of Hasting street just before the car park in the Noosa woods. We had one of the best Beef Madras and Baramundi dishes with rice I have ever had in Australia. Now people, this is real Indian spicy food, not the bland food by the Miss India chain. Sure it's more expensive than an average restaurant, two dishes with plain rice cost 80 dollars, which explains the less crowd, but it's well worth it. What a perfect dinner to end the day.
Nightmare began when we approached the car park. Remember this car park is in the bush? Well to make things worse there were no lights beyond the first 10-20 feet! It was pitch black beyond that and you could almost touch that darkness. It was a nerve wracking experience trying to find the car which we parked somewhere well inside the bush. My phone battery was dead, but thankfully John's wasn't and finally we found the car with his phone's light. Noosa council really has to do something about this, before someone gets mugged or bitten by a snake.
Tips
- Car park in the Noosa woods doesn't have light at night. Make sure you carry a torch or have enough battery power in your phone if you are returning at night.
- Book the Noosa river sunset cruise beforehand. You can't just walk in and join a sunset cruise.
- Pick the top deck front seats for the best views.
Timing
- Time of the sunset cruises vary. Therefore always confirm the time with the company you are traveling with.
- Be at the pier at least 10 minutes before the cruise starts, to make sure you get a good seat.
- Cruise lasts about 1 - 1.5 hours.
- Sunset cruise without finger food is AUD 25 and with finger food AUD 40-50 at the time of writing.
Amenities
- There are enough eateries with bathroom facilities down the Hasting street, you will never be starving.
Comments
Post a Comment