“ I have come to realise what is it about Noosa that attracts many people – locals and visitors alike. This morning was a classic example – Jan & I arrive at the Noosa Main Beach 0615, as we do most mornings. Jan goes off an her walk with the dog down to Noosa Woods and takes around 40 minutes…acknowledging many dogs (and by association their owners), on the way! It is amazing how people are recognised by the colour, shape, size and breed of their dogs.
So while Jan goes off on her walk, I go for a swim and it is here that it gets interesting. Noosa enjoys all year round swimming conditions and today was perfect. The water temperature was 21c and air temperature @ 0615 was 22 c. Clear blue skies, little wind and a surf that instantly appeals to swimmers, surfers, boardies and paddle boarders. Oh, and I almost forgot the “lookers”, those who actually make up the majority of the people at the beach.
The locals stand apart as they are always chatty, usually with each other, catching up on all the latest gossip in and around Noosa – the local Shire and Mayoral Council elections are the topic of this week; they arrive in many forms…driving, walking, riding, and from some distance away. The thing about the locals is that they spend more time over at the coffee houses in Hastings Steet than they actually spend swimming – but that makes the Noosa what it is.
The visitors are the real Noosa, a kaliedascope of age, shape, size, colour and degree of adventure: to go into the water or not? Is it as cold as it looks? Will I get swamped by a wave? And any number of options that they need to consider. One of the real sure signs of somebody being a visitor is their surprise and delight at noticing all of the fish that swim along the shoreline – visitors point, exclaim, laugh and generally are very pleasantly surprised to see such a thing.
Grandparents with kids, Mums & Dads watching on, teenagers being brave, couples hand in hand walking along the beach…and not to forget the wafting of the coffee, bacon & eggs aroma that permeates from along Hasting’s Street cafe’s that hour of the morning.
It all leads to a wonderful start to the day – I enjoy my swim along the beachfront to the 17 Sign and the walk back along the waters edge…can it get any better than this? And the good thing is that we can do it all again to-morrow! The visitors might change (rotate?), some locals go off on trips on a regular basis – but the beach and all that comes with it will be there for evermore.”
