It might be off the beaten track, but the Noosa North Shore Beach Campground is certainly one to see!
Here's everything you need to know about the Noosa North Shore Beach Campground - what the facilities are like, the best spot, and most importantly; how to get there! (Trust me, it's not as simple as you might think!)
My travel buddy Emma and I were making our way from Brisbane to the Noosa North Shore Beach Campground for the first night of our road trip around the Central Coast of Queensland. We plugged the address into the GPS and set off for what I was hoping would be a stunning and wild place to spend the night.
Our trusty GPS was going along just fine and everything was going great, until we reached the end of the road, literally. Ahead of us was a barge across the river. Cue instant panic attack. I'd done my research meticulously and I knew nothing about having to catch a barge to our campground! I checked Google Maps to be absolutely sure there wasn't another way across, but nope, the barge was it. What was making it worse was that I had no idea how often it ran, and every other vehicle we'd seen were 4WD and our poor old campervan was most definitely not a 4WD (hence the look of terror on my face below...)
Emma jumped out and spoke to the guy running the barge station and turns out that it was fine for all vehicles and we were on the right track. Also, luckily the barge runs all day every day so we only had to wait about 2 minutes for it to return and pick us up. So after paying for our $9 ticket, with a lot of hesitation I very carefully drove our van up onto the barge and parked.
Once we arrived safely on the other side, we set off for the campground. Now here's the thing, it looks like you're driving to the very end of the world and that you're going to get completely stuck without being able to get back out (if you have a 2WD like us). The truth is, the bitumen road takes you all the way to the campground. Just keep following it along and don't turn off! If you turn off for anything else you'll end up bogged in about 2 seconds flat (and definitely do not drive on the beach with anything other than a 4WD). All the other camping areas are for 4WDs only for a reason. Below is a shot of what the road to the campground looks like, so if you see this you're on the right road.
After arriving at the grounds, we were directed to our site. Just an FYI here - the gate is locked at all times and you have to leave a $20 deposit with the office for one of the keys. I'd luckily done some research and chosen the perfect site, with the back of our van looking straight out onto the beach.
The whole campground is built on a flat behind the sand dunes so it's quite protected. It's a really short walk to the facilities, and as you can see in the pic above, you're right on the beach. There are only about 8 powered sites and then everything else is just free camping (basically you drive in and pick your site). I'd booked site 1 because I wanted to have the best view of the water, so if you're planning on staying on a powered site I would recommend you book the same site as it's really the only one where you can see the beach. There were only a few other campers there at the same time as us which was perfect.
We were absolutely desperate for showers after a long hot day climbing a mountain (you can read about that in my post Mt Ngungun, Glasshouse Mountains), so that was our first point of call. The facilities aren't too bad, although everything uses bore water so the toilets look pretty gross. If you're not sure what bore water is, it's pumped up from the within the ground and looks very yellow/brown so gives the illusion of being dirty when you see it in the toilet bowl! They do have washing machines and dryers as well as a clothes line so if you need to wash some clothes you can.
There are heaps of kangaroos that come out to play at sunset and they come right up to the campers. There are also huge toads, but they tend to stick to the long grass (thank goodness).
Usually people are allowed to drive and camp on the beach, but luckily this section of the beach is no driving so you're guaranteed some peace and quiet.
All in all it was a fantastic location for some camping - beautiful location, good facilities and heaps of wildlife. I would highly recommend the Noosa North Shore Campground for anyone interested in a little hidden hideaway.
Until next time,
Nat x