Elusive Rays in the Everglades

​On the way from Fraser Island to Brisbane, I spent one night in the chic town of Noosa in the Sunshine Coast region. This fashionable coastal destination is a cluster of villages in a scenic part of Queensland, nestled between the ocean, the hilly Noosa Heads, and a system of lakes and rivers known as the Noosa Everglades.

​The Greyhound bus from Rainbow Beach took a rest stop in Traveston, where I discovered an enormous statue named Matilda the Kangaroo. Matilda was the mascot of the 1982 Commonwealth Games hosted in Brisbane and surprised the audience with her moving head and blinking eyes. I was excited to finally encounter one of Australia’s famous “big things” – enormous roadside sculptures of food items or animals that have become local icons.

​The bus dropped me off at the village of Noosa Junction, one of many “Noosa” prefixed local names. At the station, I was greeted by a representative from my hostel, called Noosa Flashpackers. They offered a courtesy shuttle to their location in Sunshine Beach, a 20-minute walk. It reflected well on Flashpackers and demonstrated the importance of the Greyhound bus circuit to the Queensland backpacker community. Near the front desk, a TV monitor had a live tracker showing the location of approaching Greyhound buses so the staff could efficiently time the shuttle departures.

Flashpackers could have been the poster child of the modern hostel. The room door was unlocked using a digital key on the Goki app. The dorm had 10 beds that were evenly spaced, with accessible outlets and lockers. By the entrance was an alcove with two toilets and two showers, all with their own doors. There was a large kitchen with free breakfast. The hostel dog Spider, adored by all, earnestly presented a ball to potential playmates or lounged by the pool.

​Once check-in was open, I dropped off my bags and ventured out on a coastal hike around the perimeter of Noosa National Park. I did the route in reverse, starting at the uncrowded Sunshine Beach and heading anticlockwise around the peninsula towards the Main Beach. 

​The terrain was varied, with forests, rocky bluffs, and a long stretch right on Alexandria Beach. Bookending this beach were two sets of eroded rock formations, patterned into striking reliefs and triangular tidepools. Alexandria beach itself was decorated with constellations of sand dots excavated by tiny crabs. Interesting tropical plants were on display too.

​The various landmarks had great names, like Hell’s Gates, Tea Tree Beach, and Boiling Pot Lookout. Tea Tree was popular with surfers, who made the pilgrimage from town with their boards balanced on their shoulders or heads. Along the way, I spotted butterflies, lizards, noisy friarbirds, brush turkeys, kookaburras, and a dolphin. There are some koalas that live there too, but I didn’t see any.

​It was a hot day, and I was relieved to reach town and refill my water bottle. I rested on the Main Beach for a few minutes underneath a rainbow. It started to drizzle, so I moved on.

​Noosa’s downtown shopping area was extremely pleasant, with quirky independent art galleries, high fashion stores, and large outlets from beach-aesthetic brands like Rip Curl and Billabong. At an artisan deli, I picked up gifts for my Servas hosts in Brisbane including a local chai tea mix. By then it was early evening. The brush turkeys stopped busking for food and roosted on low branches. The lorikeets noisily mustered in the treetops. Many of these same trees were illuminated with festive lights, giving the town a welcoming atmosphere.

​Continuing my 8-mile loop, I walked to Noosa Junction and had a sushi dinner and a refreshing beer. It was a nice contrast to my crude lunch of naan and baked beans, chosen for their shelf stability and portion size. In the dark, I completed the final leg of the journey back to the hostel.

​The next morning, I took an Uber to Noosaville for a kayaking tour on Lake Weyba. “Weyba” means stingray in the local indigenous language, and stingray spotting was a selling point for this particular tour. It ended up being just myself, the guide, and a Scottish couple. We got along well, though I ended up being the slowest kayaker, as the couple had a tandem.

The lake was part of the Noosa Everglades system, the only officially certified everglade outside of Florida, though similar non-certified places exist. Noosa’s building codes protected the lakefront from development, so the edge of the lake was mangroves as far as the eye could see. The lake’s water level was low, and exposed sandbars were occupied by pelicans and black swans. A few times, we got stuck and had to get out of the kayaks. The soft mud was like quicksand and almost ripped off my sandal.
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We crossed the lake and headed up a tributary, checking the edges for stingrays, but didn’t see any at first. There was a suspicious log that looked like a crocodile, but the guide explained that it was generally too cold for crocs this far south, and the historic population had been culled. Floating on the glassy water was a pleasant and peaceful way to spend the morning.

​On the way back, we crossed through a shallow section where the stingrays finally appeared. I’m usually pretty good at wildlife spotting but had trouble with these rays. They were camouflaged against the dark patches of sand, could change direction very quickly, and could go flying off in an instant. The murky water and cloudy weather didn’t help with the visibility.

Can you spot the stingray? This was a typical sighting!

We eventually formed a staggered formation, walking on the sand and dragging the kayaks behind us with our paddles. The guide shouted out the rays’ position and trajectory as he spotted them, so the rest of us looked in the right place at the right time. In the end, we saw around a dozen.

​Happy with these sightings and out of time, we returned to land. The guide drove us partway back, and I walked the rest of the way to Noosa Junction. I had a satisfying post-kayaking noodle lunch at a local Chinese restaurant.

28 hours after I arrived in Noosa, I departed on a bus to Brisbane. It was a quick but worthwhile visit. Noosa merits its reputation for being a quaint resort town with easy access to nature.