My next stop on Erica’s Great Australian East Coast Tour (™) is a tony seaside community called Noosa.

To give you a perspective on this area of Australia, here is my route. So far I’ve been to stops A (Byron Bay), B (Surfer’s Paradise), C (Brisbane), and now D (Noosa). I have scheduled about four weeks to get to E (Cairns). Along the way I’ll stop at Fraser Island, Hervey Bay, Agnes Waters, Airlie Beach, and Mission Beach. It’s 1250 miles (2000km) from Byron Bay to Cairns and would take about 22 hours to drive it straight through.

And here’s a larger perspective:

By the way, Australia is HUGE:

[image via]

But back to Noosa.

I wake up to an overcast day. It’s not ideal weather to walk the big loop around Noosa Head (see map below) but it’s time to make like a Newsie and seize the day. Coffee in hand, I begin.

I round the bend to beach #2. This entire coastal walk meanders along beach after bay after cove.

That guy in the distance is as naked as the day he was born. I don’t realize it when I snap this photo, but it becomes apparent as I get closer and pass by him. There are families around so it’s very odd that he’s the sole nude sunbather.

Here’s the view from the other side of this particular bay. Naked man is gone.

The edge of the peninsula:

And onward to the next set of beaches.

About 2.5 hours later I arrive at the main Noosa beach (I stop often for photos so it could easily be done in under 2 hours).

I catch a local bus and ride a short distance inland along the river. I’m told this is a pretty area to check out.

There is outdoor exercise equipment available in public parks throughout Australia. So if you can’t afford a gym membership, there are free workout opportunities in the great outdoors. This is one of many sets of equipment I see along this stretch of park.

It’s a pirate playground! How fun. There’s overhead shading that resembles the sails of a ship.

I bus back to downtown Noosa and walk to a look-out point just before sunset. I wish I had time to stick around but there’s a free shuttle back to the hostel just before sunset that I plan to catch. The pre-dusk lighting is gorgeous though.

View from the look-out:

As I climb aboard the shuttle van back to the hostel, I’m so bummed to catch only a glimpse of this spectacular sunset. Now I wish I’d stuck around the look-out longer and made my own way back.

That wraps up my short stay in Noosa. My next stop is the HIGHLIGHT of my time on the East Coast — three days on magical Fraser Island. I’ll recap that trip starting next week. Tomorrow I have a special update in store!