Noosa

Monday March 21^st

Our day started as per usual, with Mark on a bike ride and me having a walk. We met up for a coffee on the main street before getting on the road to make our way to Noosa. We had an hour up the highway to Coolangatta to have breakfast at the Rockleigh Cafe. This is where we had stopped the year before, catching up with Ali and Brett, on our way to Noosa in 2021.

We were staying at the same accommodation settings, The Hastings at Noosa, But in a smaller apartment (apartment 24) given there were only two of us this year. It was a pleasant enough apartment but nothing like the luxury that we had the year before.

It was a beautiful sunny day for our walk and so Marc headed for a dip in the ocean but I opted for the sun beds and the pool at our complex. We later headed down to the surf club for a drink before heading to Boardwalk Bistro, just beside the also popular Bistro C, for dinner.

Noosa is absolutely packed at the moment; there were loads of families with school age children and couples and small groups of all ages. It was like I image Christmas must be! The waitress at our restaurant told us that it’s been packed ever since restrictions eased, she said many families feel they’ve had two years of interrupted school so what’s another few months off school!

We had an early night as Mark had a 5.30 am start the next day for a group bike ride.

Tuesday March 22^nd.

Marks set off just after 5:34 to catch up with the other people doing his group ride and I set off for a walk. Mark was lucky to be joining a group of about 30 other riders for his outing but my walking buddy, Colleen, was on her way back home due to Covid. The Noosa coastal walking path was very busy this time, much busier than I’d previously ever seen.

We both caught up later and headed to the beach for a swim. It was my first beach swim for the year and Mark’s second. The water was a little brackish this year but nothing like what Bondi has been of late. It was then back to the lounges by the pool at our apartment to dry off in the shade.

Our original plan had been for Colleen and me to have a facial in celebration of Coll’s recent birthday. I still went along but the experience was much marred by the change of events. Instead of us girls browsing the lovely design shops and boutiques after our facial it ended up being a quick sushi lunch followed by a stop at Coles! It was then back home to escape the heat of the middle of the day before heading back for an afternoon swim and pool time.

Dinner tonight was at one of our favourite Noosa venues, Miss Moneypenny’s. This ended up being a bit disappointing though, like so much of our trip thus far. The service was good but the food was well off the usual standard so much so that I would not bother returning at this rate.

Wednesday March 23^rd

Our day started much the same as the day before with Mark heading out early for a group bike ride and with me taking a morning coastal track walk and coffee at Aromas. Aromas do the best skim iced latte I have ever had!

We’ve at least been lucky with the weather as it was another warm and sunny start to the day. It was then back down to the beach for a quick dip along with nearly every school age kid in Queensland. The school holiday vibe continued!

We decided to head out for a drive and set Mapleton as our destination. This was about a one hour drive from Noosa and we did a 45 min rain forest walk once there. There was a quick lunch stop after the walk before we headed home and back to the pool for a swim and some serious lounging.

Dinner tonight was down in Noosaville at the Boathouse but I had a stroll around the shops before we set off. The Boathouse offers great views over the river and the food was ok as well. It was then back home for s troll down through the Village and an ice cream, before heading home for another relatively early night.

Thursday March 24^th

There was a slightly different start to our day this morning. mark went on a solo bike ride as I went on my solo morning walk and we both went to Aromas for coffee afterwards. It was then back home before some beach and pool time before having breakfast at home.

This was our last full day in Noosa as we had decided to cut our visit short by a day once we knew we were were going to be here on our own. We had exhausted all the delights of Noosa, given we have been a few times over the last two years, and wanted to visit Brisbane for one night on our way down to start the second leg of this trip; our week stay in Burleigh Heads.

We headed out late morning to the Sunshine Beach Surf Club to have a small bite to eat whilst soaking up the glorious view. This was another place we’d been to previously with the family and this made us both a bit lonely for them all. We shared a Caesar Salad and then headed back to the Hastings to start to pack up and spend the afternoon by the pool lounging on the sunbeds.

Dinner for our last evening was at another restaurant we’d been to a few times and this was the “refined Italian” venue of Locale.We thought we would try out a new pre-dinner drink venue and mark was keen to try the bar at the front of the Sebel so that is where we headed. It turned out to be a great idea to go to Bang Bang and we wished we’d come here instead of Miss Moneypenny’s! It will definitely be on the list for any future visit. Bang Bang was new to Noosa in Jan 2021 and there is a Bang Bang in Byron Bay as well but the staff assure us the Noosa one is much cooler! Dinner at Locale was great too so another venue to stay on the list for next time. I will definitely be back as their cocktail, ‘The Amalfitano’ was so delicious I can’t wait to return for another!