Backpacking Noosa Heads – A Short Break in Noosa

Backpacking Noosa Heads was arguably the best thing for me after receiving some dreaded news. With some gorgeous beaches, intriguing markets, inclusive bars and oddly cooked meals, backpacking Noosa Heads was one of the highlights of my first trip to Australia.

I’d spent a few weeks on the road, making the trip from Adelaide to Darwin where I stayed for a few extra days (Wednesday flights are cheaper!). The day I returned to Melbourne was the one my granddad passed away. It’s tough when you’re on the other side of the world, and I don’t shy away from the fact I’ve never felt as helpless as I did then.

But what is there to do? Either fly home or continue my travels. Not everyone has a clear-cut answer, and my decision was influenced by a few words my granddad spoke before I first headed to Australia.

“Go out there and don’t come back”

Regardless of what a few witty friends might chime in here, it wasn’t to get rid of me but rather to eventually move and settle somewhere that I could live a better life. That stuck with me, and although I’m now back home in England, the sentiment remains.

And so I headed back out backpacking Noosa Heads. Two days later, I was on a flight to Sunshine Coast for a road trip with Sabine & Nicole. The 3 of us cooped up in the back of the spaceship. It did the trick and is why backpacking Noosa Heads is one of my highlights from that trip to Australia.

Anyhow, my time backpacking in Noosa began with the girls picking me up at a weird little arboretum on the way there. I spent a fair bit of time wandering around, taking some pictures and getting lost before my lift arrived. Now I’m no expert in how Aussies run their show, but it turns out that this spot, in particular, doesn’t allow nukes. Fair enough.

I managed to finally capture a few shots of pelicans which had eluded me since I first spotted them in Werribee, but since cameras and water sports don’t mix too well I missed that first opportunity.

Noosa itself is a small place north of Brisbane. It’s clean, peaceful, and has plenty of spots to camp, chill, sunbathe, or otherwise do whatever you like. After parking up we set about finding something edible.

I can’t recall the name of the place we finally decided to eat, but I can remember having a great pasta dish and a glass of red to wash it down. Living the backpacking high life.

Then we get to go shopping. I’ve never known two ladies that love shopping so much, but even shopping can be a laugh. Fast forward a couple of hours and we spent the rest of the night in a bar enjoying a few drinks and dancing like fools. That’s a pretty good way to take your mind off anything.

We spent the next day at the beach. It’s pretty standard really, you do beachy things, become lobster red and get more drinks. However, in Noosa, it’s slightly different in that it’s hella relaxing. It’d be great if I could pinpoint why, but the atmosphere is different to that of say, Bondi or Mindil. Backpacking at Noosa Heads just had a slower pace, a welcome one.

And then things get super-backpacker. Unlike most places in the UK, almost every beach in Australia has showering facilities. Spaceships don’t have showering facilities. 2+2=showers! But it doesn’t stop there.

Spaceships are pretty good at fitting loads of useful stuff into small spaces – they’re not particularly big but you still get some form of cooking facilities, a fridge, beds, and a bunch of seats. So this time we decided to save a bit of money by cooking our own dinner in the spaceship. Not that bad an idea, until we realised that we didn’t have any plates…

Pasta from plastic carrier bags is now officially a thing. A hilarious yet strangely practical thing. Besides, if you can drink wine from a bag, why can’t you eat your dinner from a bag?

Don’t judge us.

And then, having spent the daytime doing typical things you’d expect backpacking Noosa Heads, we opted for a night out. Little did I know at the time, but the British and Irish Lions were playing a three-test series in Australia, and the team were based in Noosa to train – the night I decide to head to a bar for a couple of blondes is the same night of the first test.

The minor issue here is that being the lone English guy supporting the Lions in a bar full of Australians is a wee bit intimidating – not helped by the fact that we won, albeit 23-21 (still counts).

Waking up on the beach the next day is something that I doubt will ever get old. It’s a great feeling stepping out of the camper a few feet from the sand on a warm, dry day, and the parking situation in Noosa is perfect for pulling it off.

I also encountered one of the Aussie’s weirdest ways to check if people were parking longer than their stay – the parking warden marking tyres with a piece of chalk. The idea is that when the warden returns if the chalk is still at the top of the tyres the car hasn’t moved and gets ticketed.

Not entirely sure how reliable this is when, as I mentioned before, there are showers around that you could get water from to wash the chalk off – or you could just drive around the car park and either rub the chalk off or have it on the bottom side of the tyre… to each their own.

And with that came the end of our short time backpacking Noosa Heads. From there it was time to head to Brisbane, but I’ll share that another day.

The point is, had I not taken my granddad’s initial advice, and stuck by what he told me, I would likely have flown home and missed the whole experience. I definitely made the right decision.