Alexandria Bay Beach Noosa, Report

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Alexandria Bay Beach, Noosa, Australia.

October 2007

The second half of October 2007 I returned to Australia for my 6Th trip. In 2005 I visited Sydney and the surrounding area and wrote a location report for NetNude on some beaches at that time. This time I visited the 'Sunshine State" of Queensland and the holiday town of Noosa, where I lived when I first stayed in Australia for a year in my twenties.

Noosa is in southeast Queensland state, about a 3 hour drive north of state capital Brisbane. It is easily reached by multiple coach services from Brisbane such as Greyhound Australia and Premier Motor Service, many of which also stop at the airport after leaving the city Transit Centre. Flights serve Brisbane (BNE) from many parts of Australia, and international destinations as well.

Noosa has lots of holiday rental homes and bed and breakfast operations there, plus a couple of backpacker hostels, which is my choice for budget accommodation when not camping. There is even a Sheraton off the main street in Noosa.

There are many beaches in the Noosa area. Noosa Main Beach is behind Hastings Street, the main street full of overpriced shops and restaurants. During the course of my multiple visits over the years I have noticed the percentage of ladies sunbathing topfree at this beach go from about three quarters in the 1980's to perhaps one or two on the whole beach today. It is a dramatic and noticeable reversal of topfree sunbathing practice. I honestly do not know the reason for it. It is not anyone telling ladies to stop, it is just happening this way. It is not really like this on Sydney beaches by comparison. Queensland besides Tasmania, is the only Australian state to lack official nude beaches, but that has never had anything to do with topfree sunbathing, which Australian females used to practice as frequently as Europeans. Almost any Australian beach can be used topfree so it is very strange to see this prudishness in trendy Noosa.

The nude beach in Noosa is called Alexandria Bay Beach, and is inside the boundary of the Noosa National Park. The park, along with Hastings Street, is what brings the tourists to this area. It is a beautiful park, with Koalas in the trees and birds and beautiful walking tracks. From Hastings Street and Noosa Main Beach you walk along a well kept boardwalk into the park. Once at the park entrance there is an information office staffed irregularly with maps. There are restrooms behind it. Take all water and lunch with you, there is nothing for sale in the park, which is a good thing as it is a place of natural beauty. Keep on the Coast Track, the most scenic, and pass Tea Tree Bay, which was always topfree in the 80's and today sometimes has one or two topfree ladies, and Dolphin Point, a high up vantage point where you can sometimes see, surprise, dolphins, swimming below. In season humpback whales are seen breaching and spouting from this viewpoint as well. Continue on and eventually you will come to a green signpost with yellow lettering for "Alexandria Bay 420 m" Under it a sign says "To Tanglewood Track."

Alexandria Bay sign.

Go up the stairs to the right of these signs. You will quickly come to another sign this time "Alexandria Bay 320m" Keep on the track which turns to sand now. You will come to a juncture with another sign, this one "Alexandria Bay 120 m" A blue sign saying "emergency radio 200 m" is above this sign. Go right at this sign and descend the trail. You will hear the surf and see the beach through the Casuarina (Ironwood) trees. The trail comes out at the north end of Alexandria Bay with a final set of paved stairs to descend. Once on the sand you can be (unofficially) nude any place on the beach. Over the years it seems more nude bathers congregate at the southern end, opposite of where you arrive on the beach.

Alexandria Bay looking south.

It really does not matter, but of course, the people who come to look at the nude bathers will reach the north end of the beach first, so some who like to go nude would rather be as far from there as possible.

North end of Alexandria Bay

I more often than not stay near the northern end to indicate that it is a nude beach by my nudity, and usually others who arrive are more apt to go nude seeing someone nude already so they don't feel the need to walk all the way to the south end. And, of course, some turn around and climb right back up when they see nude persons. It only takes 10 or 15 minutes to walk to the other end of the beach, and makes a nice walk after sunning in the hot sun. Many take an umbrella as there is no natural shade. Although some people do set up in the dunes, it is a bad idea ecologically, as humans walking on the dunes causes some damage leading to erosion, and walking on dune grasses and other delicate plants can easily kill them. If there is a very strong breeze blowing off the water people will seek shelter in the dunes anyway.

In the 1980's there were possibly a couple of hundred nude on a regular basis at sunny weekends, and most who came this far did go nude. Now those numbers only happen with the naturist carnival that happens once per year in the summer. I counted about 40-50 on weekdays and 70-80 on weekends in October and November. There were young couples including surfers, older couples, some singles of both sexes, and as usual single males. It seems gay males at this beach do not go nude for the most part but wear speedo suits and congregate in the center of the beach, unfortunately up in the dunes where no one should be anyway as mentioned. Another change from the 1980's I noticed was some ladies today would keep their suits on, including bikini tops, even after that long hike to such a remote beach. That would have been very strange looking indeed in the 80's to see a girl at "Alex" wearing a bikini top, but I saw it a lot in 2007.

Alexandria Bay is a beach of extreme beauty and well worth the effort to get to. It takes me about 40 minutes brisk walking from Hastings Street. Take 4 liters of water per person if going for a full day of it, you will need it. I am personally disappointed to see the smaller numbers of naturists from what used to be, but the beach is still just as nice.

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