Noosa to Hervey Bay

3 days. 3 stops. No time for lie ins or days off here, we meant business.

Firstly Noosa. It lies a couple of hours north of Brisbane and is a world away. It’s a quaint seaside town with a small high street and everything you’d expect from the beach beach- ice cream shops, surf shops, cafes, beachfront restaurants. It was a really ‘holiday’ vibe. After the disastrous cyclone surfing in the Gold Coast, we grabbed some free surfboards from the hostel and decided to give it another go. This time the waves were too small though… maybe surfing isn’t my thing after all. It was such a warm day so we decided to leave the hike to the famous Noosa fairy pools until mid afternoon, when it was cooler. It didn’t get cooler. The hour long walk each way felt like days and I sweated from places I didn’t even know that I could. Finally we arrived but the waves were too strong to be in the pools safely. My travel mate Pihla risked it to get a pic for the gram but I wanted to make it to Fraser Island so for the first time since arriving in Australia I was the sensible one. The walk was actually beautiful, through the National Park, and we saw dolphins swimming in the ocean along the way! After our mammoth trek we treated ourself to dinner out before heading back to the hostel for what I can only describe as THE WORST night’s sleep of my life. There was no air con for starters so I was hot and bothered. I worked myself up so much that I went to shower at 2:30am. On leaving the room there was a homeless woman outside our bedroom door, asleep on the veranda (the outer doors to the hostel didn’t lock and it was all open aired anyway). She kept turning the veranda light on so I’d go and turn it off, only for her to turn it back on. This passive war went on for about 20 minutes before she finally gave in – I could’ve gone on all night as there was no way I could get to sleep in that stuffy room. When I finally got back in bed I felt something on me. Trying to stay calm I picked it off… and… it bit me!!! Cheeky little b***er!!! Turning the light on, to my horror I saw a massive cockroach-beetle-thing had decided to join me in bed for the night. Throwing all my bedding outside onto the veranda with the homeless woman, I went to shower again before lying awake for what seemed like days.

I could not wait to leave and get to Rainbow Beach the following day. Smaller than Noosa, it literally consists of only the essential shops you would find in a village back in England. This said, I enjoyed it. It was peaceful and the beach was virtually empty. The hostel was only 5 minutes from the beach and also had a couple of pools. We spent our time here between the beach and the pools and of course, visited the rainbow steps! I also sand-surfed! (I was 10x better at this than actual surfing). The walk to the top of the sand blows was tough and the sandflies were viscous but the experience and views was definitely worth it. Thoroughly worn out we crashed here for the night before heading to Hervey Bay for some rest before we stared our trip to Fraser Island!

Annabel x