Sunshine Coast Day 3- Noosa Heads

 

Today we ventured by city bus to Noosa Heads in the Noosa National Park. For $10 an adult and $5 a child we received a day pass to hop on and off the city bus as we wished. First stop, the Cotton Tree Market. One small city block and the market was over, but we did happen to find some nice rings to purchase for family members back home. The rings appear to be oil slick! We were under the impression the markets were a big deal on the Sunshine Coast, but we were wrong.

Back on the Bus we travelled about an hour through the suburbs, over some motorways (highway in Canada), and along some narrow streets before arriving at our destination. Noosa is filled with niche eateries and shops at the main bus junction station as well as shops all along the Noosa Heads section where we hopped off. Meandering our way past small stores and through eateries we found the main beach of Noosa which is lifeguard patrolled within the flags and the beach was filled with many families for a Sunday morning swim and surf.

We did not stop there, we turned around, decided we needed a gelato to start our soon to be hike through the National Park. MMM gelato is so yummy. Assimilated and ready to hike we found our way to the information booth to collect our map and be on our way. The path was a beautiful boardwalk with holes cutout for trees, handrails bent to go around trees, and benches along the path for resting. I love the natural preservation that took place in developing the access along the Ocean. The next part of the path was paved, where we came across fairy pools (small pools of water atop the rocks formed when the tide goes out), private beaches (for public access by foot only), and a boiling pot (the way the ocean crashed into the rocks from all directions made the white swirls of water appear like a boiling pot of water upon a cookstove).

After making it as far as we wished to walk, we turned back to access one of the private beaches along the pathway. Thinking this was going to be the best dip in the Ocean of the whole trip. Excitedly we’re trying to take off our socks and shoes and race to the water to be the first one in. Erik won! We ran in dove in the water splashed in a few waves and then kind of looked at each other and stated coincidently, “I feel like I’m being bit.” Now it was a race to get out of the water. So much for the best little beach around.

Back at the main beach we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shade then made our way to the bus station. Once the bus halted at the station all passengers exited Grandpa decided we were close to a store called Silly Solly’s. So, on an adventure to find this place we went. We walked into a mall which appeared to be alongside a canal waterway, after taking a few more steps we could see that there were many bridges all along the canal that went over to the other side which was all part of the mall. After confirming from the directory that Silly Solly’s does exist in this mall we needed to find it! The mall was huge! At Silly Solly’s we purchased candy as this store is a dollar store and Erik’s eyes lit up for candy.

After having dinner at the apartment, we decided our bus day passes were still valid, so we hopped on a bus heading to the Sea Life aquarium/Marina area to experience some night life on the town!