Noosa Heads is in the Sunshine Coast of Australia in Queensland. Noosa Heads’ main attraction is its beaches.  Instead of staying in Noosa we chose to stay in Peregian Beach, an upscale suburb only ten minutes driving from Noosa. Peregian Beach has won the best suburb in Australia award every year since the award has existed.  

The house we rented was on the rim of  Noosa National Park in Peregian Beach.  This meant we could look out into the backyard and see an endless national park with trees and wildlife.

During our stay, a huge blackbird landed on the deck every morning looking into the house. I made contact by feeding him chips and bread for breakfast. It wasn’t until later we found out the owners sometimes feed them ground beef by hand.

The native laughing kookaburra stopped by for a quick visit on the fence, in the yard. The name laughing refers to the sound of their call, a person laughing.  I love listening to them. I later found out they also eat meat from the owner’s hand.  The kookaburra is native to Australia so it’s not likely we’ll see them when we leave the country. I just stood there staring instead of grabbing my camera.

Noosa beach is my favorite beach in Australia (so far). This beach is in a cove easing up the waves and blocking the wind. The sand is on an angle which makes it great for laying out on the beach.

The Eumundi Market is open Wednesday and Saturday during the week.  Crafts, food and clothing are featured by local artists and restaurants.  This is the first time I’ve seen an ATM machine on a trailer hitch. This market was huge and lots of locals flock to it each week. It reminded me of a really organized swap meet with new items.  We bought a king size sheet (from a wholesaler – $7.00)  to lay out on the beach. This turned out to be one of our best purchases of the trip.

Noosa Farmer’s Market is held every Sunday and features fresh fruit and vegetables from local farmers. There are so many different types of stalls at the markets from fresh organic produce, drinks, homemade marinades and sauces, natural skin care products, nuts, seeds, olives, fresh herbs, fresh seafood, freshly baked bread and homemade butter and cheese.

One of the things I found strange was the cost of garlic in the grocery stores. It is the highest priced garlic I’ve seen during my travels and no one in the supermarket could explain why. The prices average about $10/lb and the garlic is grown in Australia.

Speaking of shopping, some imported items from America are priced really high in Australia. Ben and Jerry’s is expensive, everywhere we went. Since we have been in Australia, we have eated mostly foods produced in Australia. Turns out the Australian made brands taste better than most of the imported brands in America.

Ben & Jerry’s prices

Australian brand chocolate covered honeycomb

Wildlife in Noosa is dangerous. Signs were posted about snakes at most of beach area pathways. This means the snakes are somewhere buried in the brush between the parking lot and the beach. Seeing the signs made me realize there must be a lot of snakes to warrant the signs everywhere, so just stay on the path.

Beware of snakes

Beware of snakes

The town is lined with beach shops and restuarants just outside of the main beach. Free parking is available all over the main area for people to leave their car and spend the day on the beach. This made it really easy to get to the beach.

Free parking

Surf board shop

I really loved the town of Noosa, it is a relaxed beach town with shops and restaurants all geared towards island life. Noosa is very clean and green. I really enjoyed the short time we spent here. This is a place I would gladly return to again.