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Best Outdoor Activities on the Sunshine Coast
Noosa National Park, Glass House Mountains, and the best outdoor experiences on the Sunshine Coast.
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The Sunshine Coast's outdoor lifestyle combines ocean, hinterland, and national park in a way that few Australian coastal regions can match. The Noosa National Park coastal walk, the Glass House Mountains volcanic peaks, the Kondalilla Falls rainforest in the Blackall Range, and the ocean beaches from Caloundra to Noosa provide outdoor activity of exceptional variety within 90 minutes of Maroochydore.
Noosa National Park, the Noosa National Park headland walk (11km circuit) is the Sunshine Coast's iconic outdoor experience, traversing clifftop tracks above the Pacific Ocean, passing through tea-tree coastal heath, visiting the koala habitat at the Boiling Pot, and providing views of Hell's Gates and the Alexandria Bay nudist beach along the way. The walk begins from the Noosa Heads main beach car park.
Glass House Mountains, 60 minutes south of Maroochydore, the volcanic plugs of the Glass House Mountains National Park provide dramatic escarpment walking at Mount Beerwah, Mount Ngungun (the most accessible summit walk), and Mount Tibrogargan. The views of the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, and the Blackall Range from the higher summits are exceptional.
Kondalilla Falls, in the Blackall Range Hinterland (30 minutes inland from Maroochydore), Kondalilla National Park's 90m waterfall walk through subtropical rainforest is one of south-east Queensland's finest short walks. The rock pool above the falls provides swimming in a rainforest setting.
Eumundi and Noosa River kayaking, the Noosa River from Noosa Junction upstream through the Noosa Everglades (one of only two everglades systems in the world) provides multi-day kayaking and camping in a unique freshwater-to-ocean system managed by the Noosa Biosphere Reserve.
Surfing, the Sunshine Coast's surf breaks from Mooloolaba to Noosa Point (a famous right-hand point break at Noosa Heads) provide surfing across all skill levels, with the National Surfing Reserve at Noosa protecting the wave-forming conditions at the Point.
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