Boutique hotels
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Spicers Clovelly Estate
- Style
- So Frenchy, so chic
- Setting
- Hilly hinterland hideaway
Self-catering properties
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Glass on Glasshouse
- Style
- Bauhaus goes bush
- Setting
- Rustic Glass House Mountains
Sunshine Coast Overview
Queensland
- Coastline
- Blissful beaches, mighty mountain ranges
- Coast life
- Splashing, shopping, people-watching
A tropical playground for Australia's style set, the Sunshine Coast offers a swoon-worthy line-up of sun-kissed beaches, lush hinterland havens, chic stores and a stellar restaurant and bar scene.
Australia's answer to the French Riviera, the Sunshine Coast has become a destination du jour for designer-clad city folk seeking sun, sea and free-flowing champagne. The region's hedonistic heartland, Noosa serves up a sassy mix of soft-sand beaches, riverfront retreats, flashy eateries and bijou boutiques. If you need to detox after all that decadence, escape to the hinterland, where the towns of Maleny and Montville and the majestic Glass House Mountains offer a host of wholesome pursuits, from walking to wildlife spotting.
Suitably Sunshine Coast
Not all shipwrecks tell a sorry tale… In her final act, the HMAS Brisbane (or The Steel Cat as she was known to those who trod her planks) was scuttled and sunk off the coast of Maroochydore in 2005 – all in the name of ecology. Today, this retired warship is one of the region's premier dive sites, featuring a man-made coral reef and marine park. Thanks to some strategic blasts through the hull, you can dive from stern to bow. Scuba World (The Wharf, Parkyn Parade, Mooloolaba; +61 (0)7 5444 8595; www.scubaworld.com.au) and Sun Reef (110 Brisbane Road, Mooloolaba; +61 (0)7 5444 5656; www.sunreef.com.au) will kit you out for your aqautic adventures.
Local Knowledge
- Taxis
- A stay on the Sunshine Coast is all about indulgence, so keep these contacts handy: Suncoast Cabs (+61 131008; www.suncoastcabs.com.au) for seaside jaunts; Range Taxi Service (+61 (0)418 711 989) for hinterland journeys.
- Tipping culture
- As with the rest of Australia, tipping's not expected, but it is appreciated. For good service, 10 per cent will do nicely.
- Siesta and fiesta
- Shops and cafés open seven days a week, 9am–5pm. For restaurants and bars, hightail it to Noosa – this night owl knows how to party. Banks are open from 9am–4.30pm ans there are ATMs around town.
- Packing tips
- You want a wardrobe that takes you from beach to bar and back again – movie-star shades, floaty kaftans and beaded sandals for her; cool cottons, designer boardshots and a straw trilby for him.
- Recommended reads
- Australian poet Judith Wright's collection, Birds, is an amusing, thought-provoking look at the native birdlife she encountered while living in the Glass House Mountains, a stint that paved the way for her later work as a conservationist.
- Regional specialities
- On the coast, seafood is king – order platters of spanner crabs, prawns, snapper and Moreton Bay bugs (prehistoric-looking crustaceans that taste like lobster). Inland, seek out tropical fruits, such as mangos, pineapples, pawpaws and passionfruit, as well as ginger, avocados and macadamia nuts.
- Currency
- Australian Dollar (AU$).
- Time zone
- GMT +10. Sunshine Coast and the hinterland operate on Eastern Standard Time (EST). Like the rest of Queensland, they don't observe daylight saving.
- Dialling codes
- International country code for Australia: +61; Sunshine Coast area code: 07 (drop the zero if you're calling from overseas).
- Do go/don't go
- The name says it all, really. The Sunshine Coast is blessed with balmy days year-round. In summer, the mercury edges towards 30°; in winter, it happily hovers around 20°. Food lovers should time their visit for May, when the Noosa Food & Wine Festival (www.celebrationofaustralianfoodandwine.com.au) gets into full swing.
Don't go home without...
eating like a local. Stop off in the sleepy surf town of Mooloolaba for a pint of prawns straight off the trawler. Or, grab a nutcracker and get stuck into a sack of macadamias.
