August 2010 (ROTM #20) Noosa Heads, NSW Australia

Noosa Heads is a pretty popular tourist destination on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Waves from the south bend around the headland creating some amazing surfing breaks. If you go to Noosa, you'll also find a pretty strong longshore current flowing to the north. You wouldn't get very far because you'd hit the groyne in the foreground of this picture.

 Noosa has a history of some pretty dramatic coastal engineering. The mouth of the Noosa River is in this picture, but it's not in its normal position. Years ago, it used to come out to the south (at what is now called Main Beach), but was physically diverted there years ago. Not surprisingly, this screwed up the whole beach so now they have to dredge sand from the river mouth and pump it back to the southern end (where all the resorts are funnily enough). This sometimes leaves a giant hole in the beach next to the 2nd groyne!

 Anyway, there are 2 rips in this picture between the two rock groynes. Both appear as classic dark gap channels sandwiched between sand bars. The picture was taken during a spring low tide and all the people in the foreground are part of a learn to surf class (they are sometimes taught how to use the rips as an easy way to get out the back). You can also see some weird dark channels heading offshore around the 2nd groyne. Any time you build a structure on a beach, it really messes up the nearby environment.

They don’t talk about the groynes and rips in the Noosa brochures