Surfers & Sailing in Noosa Heads, Australia

Noosa is an area that seems to encapsulate that perfect idea of modern Australian life. Coastal living, barbecues, surf shops and boutiques filled with art, and boho Australian fashion.

I was staying here with family, and after arriving into Brisbane on a Saturday evening, bleary eyed and with a thoroughly confused circadian rhythm, we immediately headed North to Noosa Heads where we would be staying for a few days. Beautiful homes line the waterways and the boutique filled high street

CURRENCY | Australian Dollar
TIME NEEDED | 3 days – 1 week
SEASONS & WEATHER | Warm in winter, hot in the summer. Queensland has the kind of climate where you really can visit anytime.
LANGUAGES | English
HOW TO SAY HELLO | Hey! or G’Day!
TRANSPORT | Walking and bicycle are best! Although boat/kayak/SUP board hire is a great option to explore the water!
NEAREST AIRPORT | Sunshine Coast Airport 
NEAREST BUS STATION |Noosa Junction Bus Station (for Greyhoung buses etc.)

THINGS TO DO…

Noosa National Park | After spending all of a year in Australia, my first and only wild sighting of their most cuddly marsupial happened on day one on a walk through Noosa National Park. Honestly if I was a Koala I think I’d hang out here too. A boardwalk lines the coastline, with viewpoints and steps down to various bays and rock formations like ‘the fairy pools’. It really is a beautiful place. Just watch out for all the morning joggers!

Look out for whales! | It’s the whale migration season from July to October. We were here in April and strained our eyes to the horizon to see if any really early whales happened to be migrating past, but didn’t spot any!

Surfing | The surf culture of Australia is incredibly strong and the dedication is real! Noosa often has a great swell so you’ll likely see lots of surfers out in the waves. It’s a perfect place to have a go yourself! Just hire a board or sign yourself up for lessons.

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The main Beach | It was a Sunday in the April Easter holidays, and the main beach was already packed at 8am, the sea full of surfers and swimmers. We stopped her for a coffee and to watch the morning waves and surfers roll in.

Sunshine Beach | Often called ‘sunrise beach’, this is the place to come if you’re seeking a bit of space away from the crowds. The beach is enormous and a perfect place to watch the sun rise, like most beaches on the east Australian coast!

Hastings Street | A beautiful, treelined street, full of brightly coloured Vespas lined up along the main high street, with a handful of eye-wateringly pricey sports cars too. We had lunch at Noosa Beach House and browsed small boutiques filled with handmade jewellery and art, and clothes shops filled with that effortless bohemian style of Australian fashion.

Head out on the Noosa River | We hired a small motorboat from Pelican Boat Hire to head out into the waterways of the harbour. There are paddle boards and kayaks available for hire too. Houses and hotels are perched along every available space at the waters edge, most with their own small jetty. At every ‘for sale’ sign we saw plonked at the end of the small gardens, we joked at picking which one we would choose as our future home. Most of them were pretty impressive, others… well, had some questionably bold design features.

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If you have the time make sure to plan a visit up to the Noosa Everglades too. We didn’t visit here but the photos look incredible and it’s an extremely special and unique eco-system to explore.

Just as we turned to head back to the pier and boat hire, we got caught in the rain from a pretty ominous looking cloud. But were then treated to a rainbow. Apparently there’s a jet ski at the end of rainbows, not a pot of gold. Who knew!

Australia is incredibly vast. Almost every bay, river, island, city, forest and landscape of this continent country worth your time. Noosa is a place for those who love the water, and it’s definitely worth a trip a little further up the coast to visit here if you’re stopping in Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast.