Noosa - hmmm
August 5, 2001
Noosa wasn't much to look at in the dark, and we were glad the Koalas hostel bus was able to take us to the resort from the Greyhound as we were shattered by this point, and the hike up the hill might well have done for me!
Fortunately the hostel also had a mini-restaurant as we couldn't have been bothered cooking. We got something to eat and made our way to the room we'd booked from Surfers - a double.
We thought they were a really helpful hostel, giving us two keys when we arrived. When we were scrabbling around trying to get the key into the lock, we thought there'd been a mistake - we could already hear voices from inside our supposedly private room.
Turned out our room was beyond theirs: one key got you into a 6 bed dorm, the next into the double room, which only had a bed, a bag rack and a chest of drawers and TV in it! We had to share bathroom facilities with the dorm. Not exactly what we'd imagined, especially as the double was more expensive, but we'd had enough of dorms for a bit, and wanted our own space. We also felt happier being able to lock our bags away when we weren't there. The room wasn't great, but it was a bed and it was clean, so that did us for two nights.
Bit crusty round the edges for the money
Stayed here in August 2001 while backpacking up the East Coast of Oz. We'd been recommended Koala's and because Noosa was a bit of an unplanned stop - we' decided to stay after friends told us how much they loved it - we were happy to take recommendations. Koala's is also a pretty well known name in Oz.
We booked in advance and decided to go for a double room for a bit of peace and quiet. It was about $60AUS per night, which was OK - just more than what we'd pay combined for a dorm room, so it was fine. We arrived in the evening and were picked up at the bus station from the Greyhound. This is one of the best things about hostels in Australia - the majority will pick you up at the bus if you've booked ahead and let them know when you're coming in. Also a lot of them send mini-buses to meet incoming Greyhound Busses to tout for business which is good for everyone - the hostels pick up people who haven't booked aheaed and if you're said person it's pretty easy to find a room. They will push for the business, but just trust your instincts: most of the drivers have boards with them showing facilities and rooms, as well as a room rate!
So we arrived pretty late on in the evening, around 7pm if I remember correctly. We checked in - and were warned there was a census taking place the day we were due to leave and that we'd really have to fill it in. We'd booked for two nights so we could get a full day and not have to leave in the middle of the day or at night. We were scheduled on a bus leaving town around 11am in two days time for Hervey Bay. We were given our keys - two of them. We thought it was so we'd each have one - WRONG! Turned out the double room was a TINY room off a dorm with a double bed and a storage unit and a tv. It meant we had to go through the dorm to get to our room and had to share bathroom/ shower room, which was OK, but we didn't expect to be in an annexe, and it literally was a room wide enough for a double bed - we had to crawl over it to get it! - and about 12 feet long. There was a ceiling fan but it was pretty ineffective, as was the aircon and we got pretty hot both nights because we didn't want to popen the window in case bugs got in...the showers weren't massively clean
The facilities at Koala's are OK - but the first thing to note is that Koala's is billed as the Koala's Noosa Beach Resort. It's not on the beach!! It's about a five minute walk to the beach, up a hill and along the main street. The actual resort was nice - there's a freeform pool, a big kitchen and there was food available the night we arrived. Some of the hostels put on food like pasta or pizza some nights and you can just pay for it or cook yourself if you'd prefer.
The staff were pretty helpful- they happily handed out little maps for the beach and there was also a laundry in the hostel, and you collected soap powder from the front desk for something like $1 per wash. There were movie nights and the staff confirmed our onward transport for us - there's something on for entertainment pretty much every night, so you won't struggle to be amused!
Noosa is famous for it's beaches, for being close to the National Parks, and for it's outdoor pursuits, ranging from scuba and surfing to sky diving. We pretty much just spent the day crashed out on the beach, but I can highly recommend the ice cream shop at 75 Hastings Street called Massimo. It's frequently queued out the door, and has a huge range of flavurs and toppings, plus you can pile on the whipped cream as high as you want!
The dorm rooms at Koala's looked OK, just the usual kind of thing you'd expect to find. They were about $25AUS per person per night which is good, so if you go for a double it's really only five dollars per person per night more expensive which is why we opted for the double. For the money it was OK - if there'd been a bigger price differential I'd have been pretty miffed at how small our room was put for the amount it wasn't even really worth complaining about. We'd got the last beds for that night anyway so they couldn't even have moved us.
As with a lot of hostels, Koala's was OK - and just OK. Not good, not great but adequate. It was tolerable for two nights, but if we'd been staying in Noosa any longer I'd probably have looked for somewhere else. Perhaps people have better experiences in the dorms, but for the double it really wasn't quite up to scratch.
We booked in advance and decided to go for a double room for a bit of peace and quiet. It was about $60AUS per night, which was OK - just more than what we'd pay combined for a dorm room, so it was fine. We arrived in the evening and were picked up at the bus station from the Greyhound. This is one of the best things about hostels in Australia - the majority will pick you up at the bus if you've booked ahead and let them know when you're coming in. Also a lot of them send mini-buses to meet incoming Greyhound Busses to tout for business which is good for everyone - the hostels pick up people who haven't booked aheaed and if you're said person it's pretty easy to find a room. They will push for the business, but just trust your instincts: most of the drivers have boards with them showing facilities and rooms, as well as a room rate!
So we arrived pretty late on in the evening, around 7pm if I remember correctly. We checked in - and were warned there was a census taking place the day we were due to leave and that we'd really have to fill it in. We'd booked for two nights so we could get a full day and not have to leave in the middle of the day or at night. We were scheduled on a bus leaving town around 11am in two days time for Hervey Bay. We were given our keys - two of them. We thought it was so we'd each have one - WRONG! Turned out the double room was a TINY room off a dorm with a double bed and a storage unit and a tv. It meant we had to go through the dorm to get to our room and had to share bathroom/ shower room, which was OK, but we didn't expect to be in an annexe, and it literally was a room wide enough for a double bed - we had to crawl over it to get it! - and about 12 feet long. There was a ceiling fan but it was pretty ineffective, as was the aircon and we got pretty hot both nights because we didn't want to popen the window in case bugs got in...the showers weren't massively clean
The facilities at Koala's are OK - but the first thing to note is that Koala's is billed as the Koala's Noosa Beach Resort. It's not on the beach!! It's about a five minute walk to the beach, up a hill and along the main street. The actual resort was nice - there's a freeform pool, a big kitchen and there was food available the night we arrived. Some of the hostels put on food like pasta or pizza some nights and you can just pay for it or cook yourself if you'd prefer.
The staff were pretty helpful- they happily handed out little maps for the beach and there was also a laundry in the hostel, and you collected soap powder from the front desk for something like $1 per wash. There were movie nights and the staff confirmed our onward transport for us - there's something on for entertainment pretty much every night, so you won't struggle to be amused!
Noosa is famous for it's beaches, for being close to the National Parks, and for it's outdoor pursuits, ranging from scuba and surfing to sky diving. We pretty much just spent the day crashed out on the beach, but I can highly recommend the ice cream shop at 75 Hastings Street called Massimo. It's frequently queued out the door, and has a huge range of flavurs and toppings, plus you can pile on the whipped cream as high as you want!
The dorm rooms at Koala's looked OK, just the usual kind of thing you'd expect to find. They were about $25AUS per person per night which is good, so if you go for a double it's really only five dollars per person per night more expensive which is why we opted for the double. For the money it was OK - if there'd been a bigger price differential I'd have been pretty miffed at how small our room was put for the amount it wasn't even really worth complaining about. We'd got the last beds for that night anyway so they couldn't even have moved us.
As with a lot of hostels, Koala's was OK - and just OK. Not good, not great but adequate. It was tolerable for two nights, but if we'd been staying in Noosa any longer I'd probably have looked for somewhere else. Perhaps people have better experiences in the dorms, but for the double it really wasn't quite up to scratch.
Koala's location to the beach
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