A Honeymoon in an Historic Queenslander

Noosa is only a short 25 minute bus ride from Mooloolaba, and it was great, we actually saw a giant bald eagle swoop right in front of the bus. We arrived in Noosa without any reservations for the week, as I mentioned in the last blog, so we stood at the bus station for about 5 minutes before I pulled out our ever so handy Lonely Planet guide (thanks Becky and Lisa). We had basically two options, we could try the cheaper traditional backpacker hostel we had been staying in or try for the "perpetually booked" (Lonely Planet's words) Halse Lodge, which is still technically a hostel. We went for the Halse Lodge and they convenientally had only one room open, which was a double room with one double bed. The women assured us that after two nights she could move us into a dorm where we wouldn't have to share a bed and I think she was a bit taken aback when we said we actually preferred to stay in a double. We were just looking forward to having our own room for a week. The Halse Lodge was beautiful, it's a huge old Queenslander house that has been converted into a hostel, set in two acres of rain forest, and a five minute walk from the beach, hence why we felt like we were on a honeymoon. Our room was on the second floor of the main house, and there were huge verandas with comfortable lounging chairs, and the halls and rooms all had hardwood. The only downside was no electrical outlets or bathrooms in the bedrooms, but what this hostel was lacking in conveniences it up for in charm, plus the bed was finally comfortable. The property was also filled with at least a dozen different species of birds ranging from mag-pies to parrots, this was great for the most part except that they seemed to live outside our window and woke up about three hours earlier than Lindsay and me.
On our second day in Noosa Lindsay and I decided to go for a walk in the National park just down the road. We had read that koalas can sometimes be spotted in the park, but we didn't expect to see one within the first minute of entering the park. Right at the entrance there was a koala sitting up in the tree. We were so excited it was our first koala spotting in the wild. We took tons of pictures and stood there staring at it for ten minutes even though it really didn't move at all. The walk through the park was beautiful, we walked up a ridge that overlooked the ocean the entire way.
While in Noosa Lindsay and I cooked almost all of our own meals despite the fact that the kitchen was disgusting. The kitchen was pretty small and with he entire hostel using it I suppose it was inevitable that it would be as such, I was mainly grossed out that people were walking around the kitchen barefoot.
We went to the beach pretty much every day in Noosa. We had the intention of surfing while there, but on the day we borrowed surfboards the water was literally as flat as a lake and freezing. We also kayaked along the Noosa river one afternoon, we got out of our kayak on a sandy little island and waded through the water, of course we later found out that the river is where bull sharks breed. I suppose considering bull sharks are extremely aggressive it was fortunate that Lindsay and I are both too big of wusses to have gone any deeper.
I am embarrassed to say that while in Noosa Lindsay and I also went to see the new Hannah Montana movie and I am more embarrassed to say that we LOVED it.
Noosa was so beautiful, the National Park was gorgeous, the beaches lovely (even though I hear they were destroyed in a cyclone), Hastings street was great for strolling and it looked like there were tons of fabulous restaurants (regrettably fabulous restaurants are definitely not in our budget).