Australia, Noosa: Fake Snakes and Walking with Goannas in the Park

To travel north up the east coast of Australia from Brisbane, we decided it would be best to take a bus rather than a train, with the ease of hopping on and hopping off a bus offered at a good low price. With Dan stopping at multiple destinations along the east coast, it was better for him to purchase an unlimited stop ticket. The company we ended up choosing when we were still together in Brisbane was Premier Motor Service, whose hop-on, hop-off ticket sold at $219 AUD (£97, or $194 USD), the discounted rate available upon presentation of Youth Hostel Association (YHA) cards, which we had bought before booking the bus ticket.

Having saved $80 AUD (£35, or $70 USD) by using his YHA card, Dan was the first of us to recoup the money we spent on the cards themselves. Actually, he saved enough money to cover the cost of both of our cards, which was excellent because there would surely be more savings as our six weeks in Australia progressed. Now, we need to let you know why it was only Dan who purchased a hop-on, hop-off ticket; Kyle had to travel back to the US for a week to see his family, who had unfortunately undergone a couple of tragedies over the past few weeks, and Dan was going to continue working his way up the coast until Kyle returned to meet him in Mackay.

The lizard was huge, over 4-1/2 feet in length, and to see such a creature climbing the trunk of a tree was a very unusual sight

Dan's first stop up the east coast was the small beachside town of Noosa in the beautiful area known as the Sunshine Coast. The region of Noosa was actually made up of three parts: Noosaville, Noosa Junction and Noosa Heads. The main tourist area was Noosa Heads, where access to the national park was situated at the town's eastern edge; that was also where Noosa's main beach area was located. Hastings Street was the main strip of bars, restaurants and small shopping centres that ran parallel to the incredibly picturesque beach.

For his accommodation in Noosa, Dan stayed in an excellent converted old colonial building made completely out of wood; the name of the place was YHA Halse Lodge. A large complex with many private rooms and dorm rooms, and a large lounge with a separate TV room provided him with a home for a few nights. There were outdoor seating on a large deck and an upstairs balcony area, both overlooking the surrounding trees. Without Kyle being in Noosa, staying in a dorm was the most economical option; however, if the two of us had been there, we would have been able to afford a private room.

The dorm was a 6-person room, modern and very clean. It was a joy for Dan to stay there because it was one of the best hostels he had stayed in this year with a really comfortable feel to it. During his time, he met some interesting people, too. One annoying thing about the place, though, was not the fault of the hostel, but the fault of Mother Nature; a gang of cockatoos living in one of the trees outside the building made so much noise early every morning that it was impossible to get back to sleep. Another annoying occurrence was the fire alarm going off at 4:10am, a deafening and much too loud noise. Not many people got out of bed to gather in the safety area but, luckily, the alarm was a false one and only lasted for about 10 minutes before everyone (those who heeded the alarm) went back to their rooms to get some more sleep.

Spending a lot of time in Noosa National Park was the focus for Dan's trip to Noosa, so he could enjoy walking around and exploring what the park had to offer. Whilst there, he had hoped to see many different types of wildlife and he wasn't disappointed. On his first visit, after setting off on an early start with a backpack full of food (a sandwich and chocolate bar), water (three bottles!), sunscreen (SPF 15), a beach towel (actually, a trek towel that could be sat upon on the sand), a book (Widow of the South) and, of course, a camera (Canon PowerShot SD850 IS), he was eager to get hiking.

To get to the national park entrance, Dan walked past a roundabout in the opposite direction of the main shopping street in Noosa. Instead of following the road to the park, he strolled along a boardwalk on the coast for a mile - the boardwalk ran next to the road - and then arrived at the park entrance. Many homes were situated on the opposite side of the road from the boardwalk, each with excellent views of the South Pacific Ocean from their living room windows. Next to the boardwalk, he was able to appreciate Noosa's main beach and see many people surfing on moderately sized waves.

After checking out the various treks possible in the national park, he decided to walk the Coastal track that day, a 3.5-mile hike one way, which would be 7 miles in total by the time he returned to the main beach in Noosa. The path skirted the shoreline from the main park entrance to northern Sunshine Beach, and it passed over several headlands and provided many spectacular coastal views along the way. Towards the end of the track, Dan had to climb many steep steps to work his way up to an overlook and see amazing views of Sunshine Beach. He also had to walk an additional mile or so to go down to Sunshine Beach where he bought a drink at the bar at Sunshine Beach Surf Club and refilled his water bottles, since he had finished all of his water by the time he made it there.

Once he started on the trek, he passed a couple of small coves with sandy beaches (Winch Cove and Picnic Cove), sunbathers trying to get some sun and people surfing, trying to catch some waves. Even though the route ran along the coast, the trail had been shaped through heavily forested land, but the walk nearly always provided excellent views of the water. Blue-tongued lizards and colourful birds were in abundance that morning; Dan spotted many of them whilst walking along the trail. It was his first time to see brightly-coloured birds in the wild in Australia and he was really happy to have been able to watch rainbow lorikeets flying about in the trees above him.

When he tried to take a photo of one of the blue-tongue lizards, which was proving difficult because they never sat still long enough, Dan heard one running towards him at his right on a steep grassy bank. It felt like a great opportunity to capture a photo and he took out the camera, ready for action. The rustling sound he heard became louder and louder as the lizard approached the area where Dan was frozen, still and quiet. Finally, the creature ran - slid, actually - down the steep bank in front of Dan and it was directly before him on the trail, ready to pose for its photo shoot.

To his amazement, when the lizard came flying out of the grass onto the trail, less than a metre in front of him, Dan was shocked to see that it wasn't lizard, but, in fact, a snake. It wasn't small, either - crikey! It startled him quite a bit because he hadn't been expecting to see a snake, and we had learnt about many different deadly Australian snakes a couple of days earlier at Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo outside Brisbane. There were many thoughts running through Dan's head then, mainly those trying to identify which type of poisonous snake was in front of him. Was it a taipan? A fierce snake? A brown snake?

Being within striking range of the snake, and being completely on his own for that hike, he had to be extremely cautious when taking a few photos of it, a necessity to capture since we hadn't seen many snakes in the wild this year. If you don't believe the story, you can check out the photo album for this journal entry, but you will then learn something we found out later, that the snake was apparently a common scaly-foot lizard, one of the strange legless lizards living in the country. We're not sure if we believe the government agency representative who reviewed the photos we submitted because the reptile was large and rather "snakelike", as you will see.

When Dan made it around the northeastern tip of the peninsula he had been walking around, he spotted another fearsome animal, a goanna (a really large monitor lizard), climbing a tree. The lizard was huge, over 4-1/2 feet in length, and to see such a creature climbing the trunk of a tree was a very unusual sight. It was exciting to catch a glimpse of such a large reptile, and Dan continued walking along the trail with a smile on his face after taking a photo of the goanna.

The first major beach, after Noosa's main beach, that Dan encountered on the trek was Alexandria Beach. The views of the beach from Hell's Gate, an overlook at the northern end of Alexandria Bay, were spectacular. The beach itself was large with trees lining the back of it, waves were high and the sea was rough. The Coastal track led him down to the beach and then he walked along the beach to the southern end, where he continued hiking, but in a more vertical direction. As soon as he left Alexandria Beach, the path began a steep ascent and he made his way past Lion Rock and Devils Kitchen, getting closer to Sunshine Beach.

Climbing up and over a large rock outcrop to get to Sunshine Beach was tiring; the steps up the path were jagged and steep. After many minutes of walking along the steep path and through a thick section of the forest, the path opened up at the other side of the outcrop and Dan received his first sighting of the massive and impressive Sunshine Beach. There were many steep steps leading down to the beach that he walked down before finally alighting on the golden sand. The beach was almost deserted and Dan decided it was a good point to refill his empty water bottles and relax with a drink before making his way back to Noosa.

Dan had to walk a good way down the beach to see if there were any shops where he could stop for a drink; all he could see at the northern end of the beach were grand homes built into the hill behind it. A few minutes later, he came upon a small ramp that led up to some buildings, and it was there that he found a Surf Club, which had a bar. He was required to sign in and then made his way up to the outside seating area of the bar to enjoy a deliciously cold Coca-Cola. There's something to be said for an ice cold soft drink in the hot sun, especially after drinking a lot of water all day; Dan really enjoyed the drink, savouring every sip.

The bar also had a water dispenser and he refilled his empty bottles. Once rested and re-energised, Dan started making his way back along the Coastal track to the entrance of the national park, but he first stopped to read his book in the sun for an hour on Sunshine Beach. He didn't encounter any more animals, although a few other hikers coming his way had warned him about a few snakes that were on the path, and to be careful. Dan didn't see any snakes on the way back, but he was sure they were not very far from the track, eyeing him cautiously as he passed by them.

Dan second adventure in the national park was the following day, where he tried out a different trail, the Tanglewood track. The amount of walking he did that next day was around 4-1/2 miles. To complete the inland track, he had to first walk along the Coastal track before cutting inland near the northeast peninsula. The Tanglewood track was an isolated, inland walk through rainforest, open eucalypt woodlands and closed woodlands; it was meant to take him through the heart of the national park. Dan hoped that he would get the opportunity to see his first "wild" koala since both Kyle and he had seen them in Australia Zoo a few days before. He didn't see a koala and neither of us has since seen one in the wild, even though we are writing this journal entry at the end of our six weeks in the country.

After the snake incident the day before, Dan knew he should be more careful, and staring up into the trees looking for koala bears could prove dangerous if another snake decided to cross the trail, and was accidentally stepped on by his unaware feet. Walking the inland route was very pleasant, the air was cool and the trees protected him from the strong rays of the sun. Some parts of the forest were very dense with trees and some strange, fluffy-looking bushes; there was also some type of yucca plant, or what looked like a yucca plant, covering the ground.

Unfortunately, Dan did not see any more snakes during the hike; however, the walk was very enjoyable and he was able to see more large goannas walking in front of him on the path, or just off in the bushes. He also spotted brush turkeys, colourful birds and other small lizards. On the way back to the main Noosa town, the heavens opened up and he ended up getting drenched, being about a mile away from his hostel with no protection in the form of a raincoat or umbrella.

The rest of his time in Noosa, Dan lounged on the beach and perused the shops along Hastings Street. He also checked out the local cinema in Noosa Junction and saw a couple of films there. Noosa Junction was only a 20-minute walk from Noosa Heads, where Halse Lodge was located. Noosa had some great restaurants and bars and he decided to eat at a Mexican chain restaurant called Montezuma's on Hastings Street one evening, where he sat outside on an upstairs balcony overlooking the main street and people watched.

For dinner at Montezuma's, he ate a beef burrito, which was okay, but a little bland. One place where he really enjoyed a meal was Noosa Kebab. They made the best chicken and beef wrap for him; it was covered with a few different sauces and tasted delicious; plus, it was cheap! Every morning at the hostel, he ate a bacon and egg roll, and sat out on the patio deck with rainbow lorikeets that were waiting for free handouts or leftovers.

Dan's last day in Noosa before heading up the east coast to Hervey Bay was spent on the beach. The bus to Hervey Bay didn't leave Noosa until 4:20pm and the bus stop was situated right next to the hostel. The weather was okay that day, but it started clouding over and, before he knew it, it had started to rain very hard. It was around lunch time when it rained and the beach was cleared of people in just a few seconds as everyone ran for cover. Since getting sun wasn't possible the rest of that afternoon, Dan showered back at the hostel and spent time reading his book until the bus arrived, when it was still raining. He checked in with the bus driver when it turned up, handed over his luggage and took his seat for the short drive north to Hervey Bay.