Located in Queensland, The Sunshine Coast couples stunning beaches with breathtaking scenery, and funny sounding town names. It is one of Australia’s premier holiday destinations and contains over 100 kilometres of spectacular beach, lush hinterland, and the road trips between coastal towns provide some of the most impressive views of Australia’s beaches. For many holidaymakers, the Sunshine Coast is usually restricted to the upscale Noosa, or bypassed entirely for the further north tourist havens of Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay.
Seeking respite from the typically multi-seasonal summer in Melbourne, I decided to take a trip and go on some Sunshine Coast adventures to indulge in some much-needed sand and beach time. My Sunshine Coast résumé was previously limited to days spent listlessly bored by the lake in Maroochydore, and being well below the driving age, my ability to enjoy and explore was thoroughly impeded.
Coaxed by my ever-young 89 year old Polish grandmother, who spends three months of every winter hibernating there, I booked a flight and prayed for, at the very least, the opportunity to see sunshine this summer.
“You won’t even recognise it. Beautiful,” my Nana promised.
So, holding my grandmother to her word, well over the legal driving (and drinking) age, and imbued with a desire for adventure, I set off with high expectations of radical transformations and a suitcase full of books, just in case.
Bright blue skies and intense heat greeted me at the Sunshine Coast airport. The welcome arrival of a summer in the middle of January was warmly received and according to my iPhone weather forecast, the skies would hold true the city namesake for the duration of my stay. Already the Sunshine Coast exceeded my expectations.
Maroochydore has indeed undergone basic transformations to deftly hide the fact that it is still the little town by the lake. A shopping plaza or two, fast-food/restaurants and real-estate agents litter the main strips of Duporth Ave, and the Cotton Tree Esplanade opposite the Maroochy River has grown to encompass several nondescript cafés and small boutiques.
On my previous trip, the local RSL, fish and chip shop and fast-food restaurants were paid many a visit. I have since developed a food addiction that spans outside the needs of a daily McDonalds fix, and while a three-course $12.95 meal at the RSL was certainly a bargain, I was concerned that my bathers would no longer fit after a fast food workout.
“Ah,” my nana told me “you go to Volvoorths, you buy a chicken, you make a salad, you invite your friends over. Beautiful.”
Mercifully, it turned out, the chicken and salad from Woolworths was not needed as Maroochydore has expanded in a way of culinary offerings. The Fish and Chip take-out shop still serves the dedicated masses – providing the fare to the Australian summer necessities of picnics on the beach. Several standout restaurants and cafés have also opened up in the town centre and along the beach.
Sister in Cotton Tree served my desperate pleas for an up-to Melbourne standard skinny latte and contained a fantastic menu of organically grown and locally sourced food. Saltwater on Duporth Ave is a brilliant Japanese restaurant with exceptional service, and The Boat Shed, situated as a beach-side deck bar and restaurant in Cotton Tree, provides wonderful tapas food. With lounge chairs scattered underneath a huge tree, it is a wonderful respite for all those sunburnt bodies to allow their peculiarly placed tan lines to recover whilst still enjoying the incredible views of the Maroochy River.
If the surrounds of Maroochydore prove to be a bit too much of a quiet retreat, the pristinely white sand leads to Mooloolaba. It is a short hike and a zigzag between the jellyfish that litter the beach to get to the next town. Or you could heed my Nana’s advice and avoid the walk.
“Vat for you vant to valk to Mooloolaba, you crazy. You take zee bus outside the RSL. Beautiful.”
Mooloolaba is a livelier and more tourist-friendly destination, judging by the Starbucks and the slightly more developed main strip. It also features a beautiful beach and a busy Esplanade filled with outdoor cafés.
Also located just off the Esplanade is Underwater World, an enjoyable experience in all things underwater and fishy. Being unexplainably terrified of mysterious ocean life and of the opinion that fish can only be enjoyed raw and rolled between sheets of seaweed and rice, I found myself shuddering my way through the giant glass displays of anything with fins and large teeth, however, those with me did let me know that I was missing out on fascinating things.
Other semi-aquatic mammals did provide a boost to my personal entertainment – with an adorable live ‘performance’ by the resident seals, and an enclosure of otters that left me wondering the easiest way to slip one in my bag to claim as my own.
Between days spent lulling on lounge chairs under the large tree, and avoiding sharks and sting rays trapped behind glass, several day trips were taken along the Sunshine Coast highways and its many roundabouts that would certainly provide the most seasoned road-tripper with a Wolf Creek type terror unarmed without a GPS.
On every Wednesday and Saturday from 8am – 6pm throughout the year, the Eumundi markets are held. A wonderful mix of eclectic Australian crafts and international cuisine, there are many eccentric gems to be found amongst the stalls, and many stallholders proudly display ‘sourced, made and owned in Australia’ signs. The Eumundi markets are unmissable for those seeking something different in locally made goods.
A little further down a winded freeway flanked by only minimal lighting, the road to Spirit House in Yandina is a slightly petrifying voyage in navigation. Nestled in the middle of nowhere (or so it seems in the pitch black of night), the horse-paddock turned Thai cooking school and award-winning restaurant is one of the well-hidden secrets in Australian restaurants.
The magnificent ambiance of Spirit House is created by the open air dining canopies, surrounding a large tranquil lake, and lush gardens filled with traditional Thai carvings, offering diners the experience of being in a place much farther than the Sunshine Coast. The contemporary Thai food was absolutely worth the heart-plummeting drive, but be warned; reservations are needed weeks in advance, especially if wanting to avoid the highways at night.
Believing, as I previously had, that any trip to the theme park Mecca of Queensland was incomplete without a fun-filled, wallet depleting day at one of the variously themed ‘World Parks’ and despite my Grandmothers protests (“Vat for you need to drive all zee vay there? You go to zee Shopping Plaza, you get your nails done. Beautiful.”) I coerced those with me to pay a visit to DreamWorld and discovered far too late that my childhood memories had not been serving me well. Ruefully I spent $75 to stand in the hot, hot sun for two hours to wait my turn for a twenty second ride, that was so anti-climatic I spent it counting the number of mosquito bites I had acquired (22). Even the Dingoes and Kangaroos in the animal enclosure looked unimpressed to be in the surrounds.
So an ‘I swear on my life I will never make you come back here again’ declaration and a two hour drive later, I set back to The Boat Shed to reclaim my chair under the tree to enjoy the last moments of my holiday, and drink my misplaced childhood memories away.
