Hells Gates & Alexandria Bay, Noosa National Park - October 2005

We had a fairly late finish to today's stroll.

I had some company on this stroll for a change.

Way back in 2005, Sam, Belinda and I were meandering our way down the Queensland coast after a walk on Hinchinbrook Island. After stops at Townsville, Airlie Beach and Bundaberg, we pulled into Noosa for a couple of nights. Noosa was a bit of a Feral favourite back in the 1990’s, Sam and I had quite a few getaways up there. Now while Sam’s favourite spot in Noosa was no doubt Hastings Street, but my best memories were of the nearby Noosa National Park. This national park was first gazetted as a national park way back in 1930 and has been added too quite a few times since. Now days Noosa National Park provides a natural antidote to the bustling shops, cafés and hotels on nearby Hastings Street.

The views down to the turquoise water from the Coastal Track are pretty sweet.

For this walk we decided to head out to Hells Gates and Alexandria Bay along the Coastal Track and then retrace our way back into town along the same path. Setting off in the late afternoon we were never going to get back before dark but with a lot of this walking track paved we weren’t too worried about walking in the dark. The Coastal Track passes behind a series of beautiful little beaches, each beach beckoning us to stop and explore for awhile. With all our collective willpower we resisted the pull of the turquoise water and eventually our path delivered us to Hells Gates, the most easterly point on our stroll.

Hells Gates

Hells Gate features some nice views along the coast but the eye is drawn waves crashing into the black rocks below. With Alexandria Bay visible above the surging water to our right we set off from Hells Gate and dropped down to the wide, sandy Alexandria Beach. This beach is one of only a couple of spots that nude bathing is tolerated in Queensland, being so late in the day now the beach was virtually deserted though, so there was no frolicking with my free balling mates this afternoon;) After a quick swim we were soon retracing our way back to Noosa.

The locals hanging out at Alexandria Bay.

The walk back was a highlight of this little stroll as it turned out, with the sun going down the soft light gave everything quite a different look to our walk out earlier in the afternoon. I’d like to regale you with all the names of the idyllic little bays and coves that the track passes, but to be honest I’d be making them up if I tried to match them with my photos, my Feral memory struggling to remember details from a walk we did 13 years ago.

Conditions were getting fairly dark on the walk back to town.

Here's my arty blogger wanker shot.

Eventually the lights of Noosa came into view and with the moon rising over the water we meandered our way the last few hundred metres back into town. After grabbing a bite to eat we headed back to our room to recover from another tough day in paradise. This is a pretty civilised way to walk I reckon, although unfortunately my beer budget doesn’t stretch to this champaign style of walking all that often.

The moon was lighting things up a little.

The Dirt.
We walked 8 kilometres and climbed around 150 metres I’m guessing, on this easy walk. Noosa National Park is a really nice spot I think, beautiful beaches, big boulders, cliffs and plenty of sub tropical coastal vegetation - what’s not to love? I’m not aware of any published notes for the walk as we did it, but John & Lyn Daly have covered it as part of a loop called the Noosa Headland Circuit in their Take A Walk in South -East Queensland book. I’m guessing the Qld Parks people would have some stuff on-line as well.

Relevant Posts.
Forest Lakes Hiking Trail, Fraser Island National Park, 2002.
Fraser Island Great Walk, Fraser Island National Park, 2010.
Thorsborne Trail, Hinchinbrook Island National Park, 2005.

You would never guess that we'd spent the last three weeks bushwalking in Queensland.