Hastings Street

Gulgoa Point Beach Resort

Noosa Lookout

Noosa Heads Beach

Noosaville

There was a time not long ago when Noosa, at the northern end of Queensland's Sunshine Coast, was a sleepy village surrounded by tropical rainforests and nestled beside the Pacific Ocean. Those days are long gone. Noosa is today a glitzy high-end resort town, where up-market shops, outdoor cafes, restaurants and beauty salons line its iconic main thoroughfare - Hastings Street - and five star resorts line the beachfront, however the rainforests and sandy beaches are still there.

In the late 1960s, developers, looking to create a more up-market alterative to the Gold Coast on the Sunshine Coast, saw the potential of Noosa and began transforming it into the iconic tourist destination it is today. And while the older locals bemoan the changes to their beloved Noosa, the idyllic location that attracted the developers here in the first place remains intact and is as much a drawcard for visitors as the glitz and glamour that characterises the resort town today.
It was Noosa's golden ribbon of beach, or more particularly, the legendary break at First Point that first attracted outsiders to Noosa. Hayden Kenny, the father of former Ironman, surf lifesaver, canoer and successful businessman, Grant Kenny, is credited with being the first surfer to discover Noosa. Kenny told his surfing mates and the rest is tourism history.
More than 1.7million tourists visit Noosa annually. Plenty still arrive in Kombi vans with not much more than a longboard and boardies on board but the Lexus four-wheel-drives far outnumber them these days. In March 2009, Kenny was inducted into the hall of fame at the annual Noosa Festival of Surfing, an event held to celebrate the surfing lifestyle that first took shape in Noosa.

Noosa Heads: Noosa Heads is the name given to the town situated on the southern shore of Luguna Bay and on the far western side of Noosa Headland. The area has a small population that is growing rapidly as newly established residential centres such as Noosa Springs are developed. Tourism provides the foundation to the local economy which now flourishes due to the visitation of over 250,000 holiday makers a year.
Noosa Head is situated at the northern end of Alexandria Bay, forming the north eastern most tip of the Noosa National Park. The Noosa River which once flowed through an unreliable entrance to the Coral Sea at the north western end of Noosa Main Beach is now limited in its annual south westerly pilgrimage by a groyne that was built in 1978. The town of Noosa Heads is 160 kms north of Brisbane, 1100 kms north of Sydney and 20 kms east of the Bruce Highway.
Noosa Heads' sub-tropical climate is tempered by the ocean so it is never blazingly hot and rarely cold enough to demand more than a pullover or cardigan. The average annual rainfall is 1709mm and lightning storms are common in the summer months. The temperatures are mild to hot ranging from 17 to 28°C in the height of Summer and 7 to 22°C in Winter.

Noosa National Park: Occupying the headland at Noosa, the National Park encompasses a dramatic rocky coastline dotted with sheltered beaches and coves. A series of tracks through the National Park offer visitors a chance to explore tranquil rainforest, open forest, Wallum headlands, scrubland and grass lands. The park entrance is located a short distance from Noosa town centre. More >>

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