Noosaville

I'm not supposed to tell you anything about Noosa. At least three separate people today have told me not to tell the tourists about it and I suppose with such an enormous continent to explore, it's no surprise the aussies feel they can afford to keep a few parts of it for themselves.

Problem is, there's just something about Noosa I can't put my finger on, something I want to jump up and down about because this is the only place in Australia I've found that truly makes me consider emigrating.

Sydney - too unfriendly, too expensive
Perth - too remote
Brisbane - not on the coast
Cairns - too hot and wet in summer;
Orange - too small
Darwin - also too hot and wet - and crocodiles in the sea

But Noosa has it all; friendly locals, great scenery, cheaper house prices (we could afford a large open plan house with a pool - and an annexe for visitors) and year-round temperatures averaging 25 degrees.

Noosa's an odd place to describe. Firstly, when people say Noosa, they might be referring to Noosa Heads, Noosaville or Noosa Junction. Noosa Heads is the flashy end of town where the posh hotels are (including the Sheraton and the Sebel; both high-rise and built before the authorities put a ban on anything over two storeys). This is where the main shopping street is (Hastings Street) as well as the main beach (pictured). Hastings Street has some very nice shops, some of them so posh that the women on the desk don't even bother to greet you, they just carry on flicking through style magazines.

Behind the main beach lies Noosa national park, which is the hilly part you can see in the photo. If you drive through here you find more beaches as you hit the main section of the Sunshine Coast, the Pacific coastline. The park also has wild koalas in the trees.

Moving inland, the beautiful Noosa River winds away from the coast; the colour of the water is like something from an aerial postcard shot; bathers bobbing about along the sandy shores, kids fishing, the ferry to Noosa Heads passing along every so often.

Further along the river is Noosaville, an hours walk from Noosa Heads, where there's a friendly yacht club doing great food. This is where the locals seem to live, at least, the ones who don't have ridiculous amounts of money to spend.

We're staying at Noosaville, so last night we had dinner at the yacht club and today we walked into Noosa Heads, had a browse along Hastings Street and stopped for a few hours at the main beach, where the water was a balmy 20 degrees (it's still 17 in Sydney). Then the surf lifesavers used their tannoys to tell everyone there were reports of a storm further down the coast and the beach emptied slowly, or at a much slower pace than it would empty in Sydney at any rate.

This evening Ella's been swimming in the pool long after it went dark. She gets into the pool independently now and this evening she's been jumping in when it's been empty, which marks a real increase in her confidence in the water.

This is a great place, much better than Port Douglas, much cheaper as well.

Just don't tell the tourists.