If you think the title of this article is a little strange for a fishing magazine, let me explain. Noosa North Shore Tourist Park is the place to go for the ultimate ‘pets allowed’ experience as well as some great fishing. All of your four-legged friends are welcome, including horses, for which there are excellent stables provided. However, if you just wanted some old-fashioned fishing, the ocean beach and Noosa River are both extremely handy.

This is a truly magnificent camping and fishing destination, and you don’t need a 4WD to access it. The Park is almost totally surrounded by virgin bush, with magnificent eucalypts and lofty paper barks dominating the skyline. Although the bright lights and shopping centres of Noosa are only fifteen minutes away, all you can hear from the Tourist Park is the gentle roll of surf and the call of native birds.

The Tourist Park is located on the eastern side of the well-known Noosa North Shore Retreat, which has a general store, hotel, various kinds of accommodation, a large conference centre and other attractions. There’s even a wedding centre if you’re interested in a fishing honeymoon!

While the Tourist Park is certainly part of the same complex, it caters for people who enjoy roughing it and being close to nature - wallabies and other wildlife regularly roam the grounds. That said, the benefits offered by the store, pub, stables and other facilities are certainly there for campers to enjoy as well. In all, it’s a very convenient set up with the Retreat complimenting the Tourist Park and vice versa.

There is a pressure car wash nearby, which is frequently used by drivers who have just traversed the magnificent ocean beach that extends north and up to Double Island Point and Rainbow Beach. It is a very popular excursion with fishing possibilities virtually all the way along. The famous Teewah coloured sands are a strong draw-card as well.

Back in the Park, visitors will find there is something for everyone. There are on-site cabins, clean and level sites for both caravans and campervans, as well as plenty of sites for tents. It is a very expansive camping area and keeping a boat on-site shouldn’t cause any problems.

There are excellent modern cabins with crockery, cutlery and major appliances, including a television, provided. Each cabin is set up with a comfy double bed and bunks. The Tent Village within the Park offers group accommodation within well set up tents.

All guests are free to enjoy the very clean amenities, coin operated showers and laundry, BBQs, children’s playground, games room, mini golf course and swimming pool. And, of course, the hotel at North Shore Retreat is only a couple of hundred metres away and has a restaurant, bar, bistro, pokies and pool table. You can buy your basic food requirements along with bait and tackle at the general store. Stables and a horse arena are located in the northern corner of the Retreat, close to the car wash.

The main non-fishing activities for guests at either the Retreat or the Tourist Park are bush walking, canoeing in adjoining Lake Cooroibah, horse or camel riding, swimming and bike riding. Horse riding through the native bush of the Great Sandy National Park is very popular and reliable, quiet horses can be hired for specified times. A camel riding attraction is set up opposite the Tourist Park and beach tours are very popular. The major attractions of the north coast are virtually within an hour’s drive of the Tourist Park as well.

Fishing is undoubtedly the most popular activity at the Park and with the Noosa River and beautiful beaches so handy it should come as no surprise that this is the case. While a four-wheel drive is not essential, it will make beach access a reality. On the weekend I was there, the beach entry at North Shore was very workable and a number of soft-roader vehicles were accessing the beach with ease. It pays to walk the entry area first to make sure that there are no nasty surprises half way between gravel and firm sand. A permit to drive on the beach should be obtained from the Visitor’s Centre, just before the ferry on the mainland side.

Beach fishing in autumn should see some whiting still about, tailor on the make and dart virtually a nuisance. Fishing the beach still comes down to picking just the right spot, where a deeper hole or gutter has formed and which will attract fish. If you don’t have a four-wheel drive, you can certainly enjoy catching bream, whiting and flathead in the Noosa River without much effort. For live bait anglers, mangrove jacks are a real possibility.

To get to the Noosa North Tourist Park, make your way to Tewantin via Cooroy from the Bruce Highway. Watch for the Noosa signs, which will lead onto Noosa -Tewantin Road. As you approach the main centre of Tewantin, turn left at the Shell service station to go down Moorindil Street. This leads directly to the barge across the Noosa River (a small fee applies here). Then, drive about 2km along Maximillian Road, onto Beach Road to the North Shore development.

Alternatively, you could travel from Noosa Heads to Noosaville and into Tewantin on the main connecting roads, then turn down Moorindil Street to the ferry.