This time - Maroochydore.
I still quite like the place - some early memories are of beach holidays there in a great smelling canvas tent along the strip of camping that seemed to run from Alexandra Headlands right up to Maroochydore - but maybe the camping grounds weren't quite that long? By the way, do other people love the smell of canvas? I always have, but if you have not enjoyed camping in childhood, do you still like it as an adult?
It also makes me feel a bit old to be able to tell my teenage kids that when I was a child, you could walk right up to Pincushion Island - the rocky outcrop on the other side of the river you can see here:
But now that I check, it was only in the 1990's that the river mouth moved from the north of that spot to the present south side. So it's not so ancient a change after all.
Anyway, despite somewhat dirty looking beach water due to the recent heavy rainfall water coming out of the Maroochy and Mooloolah Rivers, we managed an enjoyable surf swim at Alexandra Headlands on Saturday; fished in the fish empty Maroochy River that day too, and then fished in the much more productive Noosa River at Noosaville on Sunday. Caught a couple of whiting that were at least nearly legal size to keep - next time I've got to have one of those measures from a tackle shop so we can feel certain of legality and actually keep them. They are an attractive fish, whiting...
The Noosa River was a bit brown too, but it runs through more sand than does the Maroochy River, so it always looks cleaner than the latter, even after rain. It remains my favourite river in the country.
As for your basic, and very cheap, pub food for lunch, you can't go past the Irish pub at Noosa Junction, which for some reason is called the Sogo Bar. (There is another Irish pub up the hill, which I have never been to, but I see Sogo is a much bigger favourite on Google reviews.) If you're just after a $12 burger and chips, or a $10-12 9 inch pizza for one, or a "breakfast burger" available all day with an egg, heaps of crispy bacon and some bbq sauce for $7.50, it will suit you perfectly. I always feel it should be very popular with backpackers, but I never see them there at lunch.
As regular readers can tell, I do love the Sunshine Coast and Noosaville in particular. The only reason for not wanting to live there permanently, in retirement (which seems very far off, given that the 50's are the new 40's), is that I did live there for a couple of years in the 1990's, and you can just get too used to beauty and beaches such that you can't be bothered walking down to the beach because you know it will still be there the next day. I really like the effect of only being there for short stays, and reminding yourself each time how much you like it.
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