Day 36 Seventeen Seventy to Noosa Qld 10 Aug 2016 420km +
We got away from 1770 at about 8 am and decided to do the Paperbark Forest Boardwalk down at Agnes Water.
We were so glad we did (thanks to Paul Kelly for suggesting we do it). It is a short walk, about 10 mins through a swamp and Paperbark Forest. A good portion of the walk is on boardwalks that seem to be almost floating on the swamp and then on concrete stepping stones (the tops of concrete posts set into the swamp). It felt primeval, the paperbarks with climbing maiden hair ferns on their trunks and palms dotted amongst the paperbarks. There were a few mosquitos at the start of the walk (Deb had read that there are usually lots) but after we past into the forest they were left behind. We enjoyed it so much we did the walk a second time. A great experience.
Paperbark Forest Walk
We then got into the car for the 420km drive to Noosa. Rather than go all the way back out to the highway, we followed a sign pointing to Bundaberg, thinking we would save a bit of time. Bad idea LOL.
Turns out that road was a secondary road and it set the theme for the majority of our drive to Noosa. Let’s just say we took the road less travelled, and saw things and beautiful countryside that you just wouldn’t see if you took the highway. We had one lane roads, gravel roads, cows roaming by the side of the road and very little traffic (I think they were all zooming along on the highway!).
When we finally hit the Bruce Highway, we noted that the sign pointing to the road we just left was titled “The Great Bunya Tourist Drive”, and you have to be a proper “Bunya”to drive it. 🙂
During our travels Deb has been taking photos of the roads we have travelled on, I am really looking forward to seeing it all in an album. The landscapes and country sides we have travelled through have been so diverse, so different and all amazing. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful country.
We got into Noosa and our caravan park at about 2:40pm. The van sites and roads within the park are pretty tight, so I took up the offer of van parking assistance. We got to our site and the parking assistant guided me onto our site in a matter of minutes, without him it may have been hours!!
After we settled in we took a quick drive to the shops to get some fuel and a bit of top up shopping.
A long day but glad we got here.
Day 37 Noosa Qld 11 Aug 2016
We had a slow start to the morning, dominated by the Olympics. We watched the Rugby 7’s (we lost) and the Boomers V the USA Basketball game. What a great game, the Boomers played so well going down by 10 in the end. They were competitive until the last Quarter. Really enjoyed messaging Georgiana in Minnesota while the game was on.
We then headed down to the Noosa Marina and bought an all day Ferry Pass. It wasn’t until we went outside that we realised that the girl at the counter in the shop had given us the tickets at “Seniors” prices. We both laughed and had a high-5. LOL Do we really look “that” old, mmmm obviously!
The cruise into Noosa was fun. The Ferry skipper, Johnno, was very informative and “funny”. We got off at the Sofitel Hotel and walked over to the beach. We had a bit of a walk around the beach area and then headed down to the surf club for lunch and to see the mens 100m freestyle swimming final. The club was very good, a big dining/bar area upstairs and a huge deck overlooking the beach. We had a nice lunch there and caught the very exciting swimming race. A young Adelaide swimmer Kyle Chalmers won it, the first time an Australian had won the race since the 1960’s.
We then headed out for a walk around to Hells Gate. About a 4km walk each way along the coast from Noosa Beach to the headland above Alexandra Bay Beach. It’s a beautiful walk, so many beach, coastal and forest views. We got to the end of the walk, and the view from Hells Gate down on to the beach was amazing and worth every step of the walk alone.
Looking in from “Hells Gate”
There is a lot of wild life in and around Noosa. Bush Turkeys are everywhere, from the main street to the beaches and in the bushlands. There are lots of birds and we even saw a green python sunning itself coiled up in a tree. There were whales off the coast, and even though they were kilometres out to sea (and all you could see was the occasional water spout when they breathed), but they still drew significant crowds.
We got back into Noosa and had a refreshing gelato before catching the 4:30 ferry back to the marina. The sun was just starting to head towards the horizon and with all the clouds in the west the sight was great.
Noosa Sunset
We have seen so many great and very different sunsets this holiday.
Number of Views :1965
