Great - especially if you are travelling in a group (Melaluka & Bella Costa Backpackers (Noosa))

Member Name: arrnoosa

Product:	Melaluka & Bella Costa Backpackers (Noosa)
Date:	08/06/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beatiful location

Disadvantages: might be a bit dirty

I have stayed here twice, for a week each time. The first time was in 2000 and I had a brilliant time as I was with 5 mates and we had a whole apartment all to ourselves. The second time was still good but felt the place had been run down a bit.

Back in 2000, they had the Melaluka apartments and the non advertised apartments next to them (not Costa Bella, there are other apartments on the other side of the Melaluka ones). We stayed in the non advertised ones and they are absolutely lovely. Very spacious with 3 bedrooms can sleep 6 people easily. There is a shared swimming pool that the back bedrooms lead out onto if you are on the right level. Come with dishwasher and all the kitchen kit you need. The front bedroom has a balcony which has stunning views. We have watched many whales swimming in the morning and a couple of amazing thunderstorms from the balcony! The beach is literally 2mins walk across the road. You can use the hostels bodyboards for free but the waves there can be pretty huge, so be careful.

Our second stay here was in 2006 and even though the Costa Bella was finished by then we wanted to stay where we were before. However they seemed very reluctant to admit that they were available for some reason. Costa Bella were too expensive so we had to make do with the Melaluka apartments. These would be nice if they maintained them a bit better. During the first night, mice munched through most of our newly bought food, and when we complained they just denied that it could be mice and laughed it off. We demanded to move and eventually got our wish to stay in the non advertised apartments again. The rest of the stay was brilliant.

As the accommodation is in apartments, you will probably end up sharing with other people, most likely couples.

The apartments used to be run brilliantly by the mum, but now the twin sons have taken over it really seems like they have let the place go. They even forgot to pick us up from the bus stop so we had to wait ages for a lift.

I would still recommend this place especially if there is a group of you. The location is away from the main part of Noosa and the stretch of beach is HUGE. You can take a lovely walk through the national park which is at the end of the beach and end up in the main part of Noosa. This takes about an hour but is well worth it.

Summary: This could be the best hostel in Australia if they put a bit more effort in