We spent so much time in the water while we were in Noosa! Noosa Main Beach was an amazing spot for stand up paddling (you can hire paddle boards from the Adventure Sports shop in Noosaville) and surfing, especially long boarding.
If you are a beginner there are lots of surf schools that make it so easy to try it out, and from talking to the locals we discovered that Noosa National Park and First Point are the best spots for experienced surfers.
We were lucky enough to be in Noosa the Noosa Festival of Surfing, and this was amazing! It made us want to surf every day. One of the highlights was the dog surfing competition.
Hastings Street has some beautiful shops and so many restaurants and cafes – it made us want to stay long enough to try them all. We also visited the restaurants at Noosa Junction which are better suited to a backpackers budget, but the two places we really enjoyed on Hastings Street were, El Capitano for pizza, and Gaston for a romantic night out.
Away from the beach we ended up exploring the Noosa River by kayak, and caught some stunning sunsets at Laguna Bay, Noosa River, and Noosa Hill lookout. You can hire them from Kayak Noosa.
Fraser Island is so close to Noosa and worth the day trip to see. There are also some great tour companies that take you along different stops on the drives, and the cars travel along the sand the entire journey. We did a day tour with Nomads Fraser Island and highly recommend it!
We stayed in Noosa River Holiday Park, and it has amazing camping spots. It is right on the river so you can experience the most beautiful sunsets. Another great place to stay is a backpackers called Halse Lodge, which also has food and a bar priced especially for backpackers. We spent many lazy afternoons hanging around this beautiful historic building. Halse Lodge is a Noosa must do!