However, we hadn't reckoned on this being the weekend of the Noosa Half Marathon and the Hastings Street area being closed down for this event. The agent we had booked through was right in the middle of this area and we ended up parking further away than our apartment had been from the agent. This was our first obstacle soon followed by trying to find somewhere for breakfast, which ultimately proved too hard and we headed over to Sunshine Beach to grab a few baguettes, fruit and take away coffee.
Talking to a few surfers while we breakfasted over looking the beach we also discovered that access to Alexandria Bay was possible from Sunshine Beach and was a far shorter walk than from the Noosa side of the National Park. So we quickly headed off and found a parking space from this side of the park.
The walk in was shorter, only just more than 1km but had none of the dramatic scenery of the Noosa side. Anyway by 10:00 am we stepped out onto the beach and started looking for a space to settle for the day. To the right and south end of the beach there was already a group starting to form but it seemed to be predominantly male and past middle aged so we headed back towards where we had camped the previous day.
The site was easily located as the branch Shani had stuck in the sand the previous day was still there. As we stripped down Angela and I were quickly out of our clothes and settling out on our towels. Shani was still fully clothed and shuffling around in her backpack – she then pulled out her bikini and draped it over the branch, then the towel was carefully laid out, she sat down and started to disrobe stopping when all she had on was the tiniest lace thong I've ever seen. I asked her if she was going to take that off, and she explained that she might get nude later in the day, if her confidence came again.
We laid there and sunned and chatted for about an hour before a swim was suggested, we looked up and quite a few people had gathered in our vicinity and along the entire beach. Shani slipped out of the thong and into her bikini bottoms, and the three of us headed off into the water, Angela and I both naked. When we got out onto the sandbank the water was about waist deep and we stood there and crashed against the waves as they rolled in, soon Shani removed her bottoms and tied them around her ponytail.
When we turned to return to shore there was a line of five guys just standing on the water's edge watching us frolic. None of these men had been there when we had entered the water and we would have to walk past them to get back to our towels.
Lying in the gutter (the deep water between the sandbank and the beach) we waited for these guys to move on before leaving the water. After a few minutes this had not happened so Angela used her usual diplomatic style and yelled at them, “Would you #$*%#ing perverts, piss off!”
She had an immediate effect and the men scattered, allowing us to walk straight up to our towels and settle back to some serious sunbaking. We had been settled for a while when a female voice interrupted our silence.
It was the girl from yesterday, who had been naked but her boyfriend had stayed dressed. She introduced herself as Sarah, from Melbourne and was asking could she sit with us. We didn't have a problem with that and conversation easily followed.
It seems she and her boyfriend were having a ten day break and he had suggested Noosa for the surfing and really liked surfing in the very light crowds at Alexandria Bay. She had found the place suitably isolated that she had started sunbaking topless and on their fourth day (yesterday) had decided that nude was fine.
We asked if the boyfriend (I don't remember his name, but I think it was Nick, Rick or Mick) had had a problem with her being nude. Sarah went on to explain that he had a problem with anyone looking at her and he believed she was getting naked to upset him. Apparently Nick, Rick, Mick was surfing at Coolum that day and so she had walked in by herself hoping to find some female company and they would meet up later in the day.
Sarah didn't say it but it was obvious that possessiveness was a real issue between them. Anyway the day glided on and we watched people come and go, we had a few swims, the pervs stayed away from us, or at least remained invisible. The four of us remained naked for the rest of the day and Sarah and I walked the length of the beach together, and took a few photos of the beach – respecting naturist photo etiquette. Sarah is 19 and unemployed and not studying and really doesn't know what is happening with her life, except a vague plan of marrying Nick, Rick, Mick when he finishes his apprenticeship and moving to Queensland. It is a life plan I struggle to understand.
At three we packed up to head home. As we were flying and we remembered the second rule of travel (the one after always carry a towel) “always wear fresh underwear” we all had the novel experience of getting dressed into proper underwear, on a beach surrounded by twenty or thirty people. I asked Sarah if she intended following the nude thing when she got home and she said she would, but I suspect it is just a holiday thing for her.
The trip home was uneventful except that Shani had burnt her bottom just at the top and her thong was rubbing and giving her hell, so in the Qantas Club she went into the toilets and removed the offending item and flew home commando.