The new, luxurious Noosa

SPACE. Time. Relaxation. The Outrigger on Little Hastings Street is breaking all the Sunshine Coast capital's rules, but it's well worth it.

Outrigger

THE Outrigger on Little Hastings Street is breaking all the Sunshine Coast capital's rules.

The real Noosa, for me at least, has always been a chic, elegant and compact town. The emphasis is on compact.

Take Hastings Street as an example. It is a short, narrow street with shops, restaurants and resorts crammed together. Every spare centimetre has been turned into a money-making opportunity. Visitors, walking three and four abreast, troll the up-market street in search of anything from indigenous artworks to an artichoke salad.

Space is at a premium.

And then there is the Outrigger, which opened last year.

New luxury
Little Hastings Street climbs the steep hill at the French Quarter end of Hastings St. From the iconic berardo's restaurant it is about a seven-minute walk to Outrigger's reception area. If you don't fancy the walk, hotel staff will pick you up from Hastings St in a buggy.

The resort's 200 rooms spread out from the reception area in clusters. Each block has its own name. We stayed in the Treetop Villas, named because they were at the top of the hill next to the Noosa National Park.

The villa Treetops villa 5105 is about a 150m walk uphill from the resort's reception. The two-level villa has all the living area on the top floor, while the bottom level has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a separate spacious laundry with a washer and a dryer.

The upstairs area is open plan, flowing from the entry to the deck, which is a great place to sit and watch the sun set over Noosa's world-famous beach.

There are two giant flat-screen televisions upstairs with a satellite TV connection. The modern, fully equipped kitchen is the focal point of the living area and allows you to interact with the family while cooking dinner or, as I call it, "dishing up the takeaway".

Guests have a choice of pools, there's a resort shop (mini market), theatre, gym, games room and conference centre.

It's big. It has a giant footprint on the Noosa landscape. It is also just what Noosa needed. Interstate guests want to either stay on Hastings St, or at least be close enough to walk to it. The Outrigger gives you that, but with a degree of privacy, if that's what you crave.

The restaurant
The Outrigger's View restaurant can be set up to serve about 300 guests. Most of the time, however, it is in a far more intimate mode. The menu is inviting and creative.

There is a wide choice, perhaps more than you will find on the menus of other Noosa restaurants. The staff here, like the rest of the resort, are friendly and certainly earn any tips you might give them.

But you'd expect all this to be way out of your price range, right?

Well, on the night we stayed, an online accommodation site was offering a standard room for $190 a night. Now there's no excuses not to visit.

More: Contact Outrigger Little Hastings Street Resort & Spa on [phone], or visit their website.

Travel Tips: Queensland Destination Guide

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