There’s nowhere else on earth quite like Noosa. It has the best of both worlds as a buzzing holiday centre but also has pristine natural assets.
We’re not just talking about the beaches either, there’s an entire hinterland haven to explore.
What better way to discover a region than with a knowledgeable and very passionate local? That local is Joel, a proud tour guide for well over a decade.
“I love meeting a lot of different people,” Joel explained. “It opens your mind up a lot and gives you a good insight into where they come from and their cultural background but also selfishly, I really enjoy going to the places that I take people as well.”
“There’s something in showing someone something for the first time, whether it be a location or their first koala, or just teaching them something that they didn’t know.”
It’s this passion that saw Joel’s Journeys come to life with a variety of Noosa tours on offer such as the Noosa Hinterland Tour.
The tour begins with a locally made coffee at Lake Cootharaba, the largest lake in the Noosa Everglades, then into the charming town of Kin Kin. Here there’s plenty to discover including Jo and Max’s Kin Kin Depot with lots of locally made wares, jewellery, paintings and plenty of treasures and trinkets.
Amarita Meadery is next on Joel’s menu with plenty of mead! Andy and Nicola are the busy little bees behind the meadery where they do everything from making to bottling!
“We’re Queensland’s only meadery, cellar door and tasting room so we make mead which is an ancient alcohol, one of the first alchoholic beverages using honey as a fermentable sugar source,” Andy explained. “Some of them are a little bit sweeter, we do dry styles and sweet styles. It’s not fortified so there’s straight fermentation so there’s no alcohol added, no sugar added, it’s just honey, water, yeast and local and in season fruits.”
Amarita Meadery, like most of Joel’s destinations, is part of Slow Food Noosa, an initiative encouraging the use of “good, clean and fair” ingredients from the local area.
Zenita from Pomona Village Kitchen also meets this brief beautifully.
“We bake everything in house, we get all our veggies next door at Kays at The Little Pantry, we get our chorizo made next door at the butcher,” Zenita explains. “We use the local hardware shop for our gas, we’re just local small businesses supporting local small businesses really.”
Pomona Village Kitchen is also where tour goers can fuel up with a delicious lunch – we recommend the Shakshooka which is actually Joel’s favourite too.
After lunch, it’s on to a scenic drive to a secret lookout – but we can reveal it won’t disappoint.
Finally, you end up at the beautiful Dingo Creek Vineyard where it’s all about good wine and serious grazing platters!
Throughout your tour, Joel sprinkles a bit of passion into the mix with his commentary on the region and each spot as you go.
“It’s a nature lover’s heaven you know there’s such a great legacy in Noosa,” Joel said. “There’s so many passionate conservationists and so on that have fought really hard in a lot of instances to keep the place the way it is.”
“You’ve got the good surf beaches as the headland allows the surf to be good no matter which way the wind’s blowing. You’ve got beautiful forest, the everglade system, one of only two everglade systems in the world, the lakes are fantastic, good for kayaking, some really good mountain biking and there’s some really good trails in Tewantin there and also the Noosa Trail Network with good hiking.”
Joel’s Journeys are about discovering the lesser-known side to Noosa so do yourself a favour and book a tour with him today.
Don’t forget, Joel offers set tours like the above, but if there’s something else you’re really keen to see, you can also create your own adventure.
