As 2022 comes to an end Noosa Today looks back this week on the highs and lows, the events and activities of the year just gone.
January
Teens flock to Noosa for New Year’s Eve
Teenagers adopted Noosa Main Beach as their favoured destination for New Year’s Eve with about 5000 travelling from across South East Queensland to celebrate.
Covid takes toll
The iconic Noosa Surf Club was forced to close its supporters club at the busiest time of the year and Sunshine Beach Surf Club cut its hours as Covid took a heavy toll on hospitality staff across Noosa as staff found themselves either infected or a close contact of someone infected current restrictions required they isolate.
At Sunshine Beach Surf Club restaurant, bar and management staff numbers reduced from more than 110 to just 21 because of Covid issues.
Mayor calls on state help
“Our community is increasingly concerned because case numbers are escalating at a rapid rate and our businesses are worried they can’t continue to function,” Cr Stewart said in a letter to the Premier asking for assistance after the Queensland borders opened and people and Covid flooded in.
There was limited Covid testing in Noosa and what was available was stretched beyond capacity.
A vaccination clinic had opened at Noosa Leisure Centre, but again as a result of a combination of factors, the clinic had limited capacity.
Cr Stewart said although Noosa had a very high vaccination rate, there were fears that health system was unable to cope.
“With our age demographic and the influx of interstate visitors, Noosa is very much at the tipping point,” she said.
Noosa businesses hurting
Challenging was a word that kept coming up when Noosa Today asked business associations how their members were dealing with Covid repercussions.
Noosa Junction Association president David Langdon said it was “obviously a challenging time”.
“Most businesses are trying to adapt as they can,” he said.
“Some are trading reduced hours. Some restaurants and cafes are going to takeaway. Not a lot are fully closed but there have been some closures. Some are operating at 50 per cent.
Noosa Chamber of Council president Ralph Rogers said with government foresight it didn’t need to be like this.
“We have no rapid cash flow, no rapid support for employees that find themselves out of work,” he said. Covid was not a disaster for everyone but for businesses that it is a disaster, it’s horrible, he said.
North Shore crisis
As one of the most hectic summer holiday seasons on record draws to a close, locals, councillors and stakeholders are predicting that the Noosa North Shore, gateway to the Great Sandy National Park, is at a dramatic cross-roads.
Faced with peak period ferry queues that extend all the way back to Tewantin, a low tide sand highway clogged with speeding 4WD drivers which are forcing swimmers, fishermen and walkers off the beach, and camping areas littered with human waste and refuse, despite new state government regulations, many families who have enjoyed their slice of paradise on the other side of the river for generations are saying enough is enough.
February
Noosa Council’s Short-Stay Letting Local Law came into effect on Tuesday 1 February with an aim to protect residential amenity for Noosa’s residents, not about stopping guests clapping, singing or cheering, Mayor Clare Stewart said.
The law had been controversial in its creation and the response to it was also mixed.
River speed review
Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) sought public feedback on a proposal to reduce speed limits on the Noosa River’s busy downstream reaches.
Maritime Safety Queensland General Manager Kell Dillon said a permanent, six-knot zone limit was proposed from Thomas Street to the mouth of the river.
Noosa chefs earn hats
Noosa’s top restaurants were recognised as Australia’s best in 2022, earning themselves a prestigious Chef Hat Award. ALBA by Kuruvita receiving an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat for the first time at a high level in 2022. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded a 2022 Chef Hat to a number of other Noosa favourites including Sum Yung Guys, Locale, Alba, Miss Moneypenny’s, Noosa Waterfront, Embassy XO, View, Sails, Noosa Beach House, Sumi Open Kitchen, Rickys and third-time award winners, View by Matt Golinski.
Review of signage
After Noosa made national and even inter- national headlines when Council demanded the Great Moscow Circus deflate clowns advertising its arrival, councillors voted to review the signage laws introduced by previous councils.
Call to ease pain
After two years of Covid impacts, Noosa businesses joined forces to call on the state and federal governments to provide financial assistance and relax some Covid requirements to assist recovery and prevent more businesses closing.
In direct response to the Covid crisis in 2020, Noosa Council convened a Noosa Business Roundtable with representatives from business associations, chambers, Tourism Noosa and government.
Four business groups, Noosa Chamber of Commerce, Hastings Street Association, Noosaville Business Association and Noosa Junction Association, put together a four-step action plan to help with recovery and strengthening the community, and others have since endorsed it.
The Great Walk debate
In the face of growing opposition to it, the Cooloola Great Walk was still on track to open in early 2023, according to its major commercial partner.
Although construction had not yet begun and was two years behind its original schedule, no partnership agreements with the Traditional Owners had been signed and environmental groups were on the warpath, the founder of the company that won the tender to create Cooloola Great Walk Ecotourism Project said he was “committed to bringing the Cooloola Great Walk and all the incredible experiences of the Sunshine Coast in the regions of Noosa and Gympie to life”.
However, the Department of Environment and Science, which took the lead for the Queensland Government on the Great Walk, one of four pilot projects of the Queensland Ecotourism Trails Program, was more circumspect on the timeline.
New hotel plans unveiled
An application for a five-star boutique hotel at Noosa Springs under approval consideration by Noosa Council met with local protests leading developers to responded with some proposed changes. They said the facility was needed to address a chronic shortage of luxury accommodation in Noosa.
The $50 million 106-room hotel spanning five two and three storey buildings is an initiative of GH Australia, the Australian arm of one of Hong Kong’s leading property and development firms, Golden Horse Group, which has owned Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort since 2014.
March
Wet wet wet
Flooded houses, businesses and cars, cut roads, swift water rescues, people left stranded, food shortages and death marked the past week as nature unleashed its fury on Noosa.
Noosa surf fest blasts off
Despite the best attempts of a two-year pandemic and the Hastings Street fun police, today the best surf party in the world went ahead.
For more than three decades, the Noosa Festival of Surfing has been a meeting place for surfers from all over the world, of all persuasions, colour and choice of surfcraft, from crusty old longboarders on the pension (yep, I know that lot) to the mega-rich pioneers of the multi-billion dollar surf industry, Phil Jarratt wrote. It’s nothing if not an egalitarian party, but wear your best thongs.
Landslip turmoil
Noosa Hinterland residents were impacted by a significant landslip that was expected to block their main road for up to six months.
An area near 359 Black Mountain Road, Black Mountain, experienced the landslip as a result of the extreme weather event experienced across the shire.
Clean up a long haul ahead
Clean Up Australia Day events were cancelled across Noosa Shire last Sunday but some individuals continued their efforts.
At Peregian Beach, the surf lifesaving club and its nippers put in a mammoth effort to reduce the rubbish and styrofoam from smashed pontoons that had been deposited on the beach during the floods.
Noosa councillor Frank Wilkie joined the crew at Peregian Beach and passed on his advice that the Moreton Bay Marine Park was full of similar debris which would continue to wash up on our coastline for weeks.
Manage vessels
Vessel management on Noosa River was identified as the Noosa River Stakeholder Advisory Committee’s (NRSAC) highest priority.
NRSAC delivered a report to the Noosa Council general meeting, one year after the committee’s formation.
Glossies despair
Shock, anger, despair and sadness were emotions expressed by Glossy Black Cockatoo (GBC) protectors when the Uniting Church gave the nod for a section of wallum habitat that supported the largest population of Noosa’s GBCs, recently listed as endangered by the Federal Government, to be obliterated.
For the past couple of years Spencer Hitchen, 11, and Glossy Team Sunrise have led a campaign to protect the Sunrise Beach habitat from being cleared for the proposed development of a residential aged care home and retirement village.
Thunder end undefeated
The Tewantin-Noosa Thunder First Grade cricket team was crowned the premiers in the Sunshine Coast Cricket Association competition.
The premiership, the trophy and the accolades that go with it were well and truly deserved as the team was undefeated in some 27 matches, winning 24 of them. It is believed that this is an association record, and no one can remember when a team went through the season without being beaten.
