Sunshine Coast

Just back from a really lovely weekend on the Sunshine Coast, about an hour north of Brisbane, or Brisvegas as it’s more commonly referred to by Sydneysiders. Not entirely sure why and according to this from Wiki, it seems no-one else knows either!

For possibly the first time ever, this was a weekend away where we did pretty much nothing – no diving, no bushwalking, no packed programme of cultural activities, zip, nada, nothing. It was bliss! The weather is a good bit warmer in this part of the world than in Sydney and while not quite bikini and shorts, it was good to leave the woollies at home!

We arrived at our boutique resort, themed with buddhas and incense and the gentle lapping of water features, later than we’d hoped on Friday evening, thanks to the horrors of weekend traffic leaving Brisbane. Nearly 3 hours to cover what should be just over 1 hour – yuck. However we were soon revived by a good meal and a few glasses of red at Castro’s in nearby Coolum Beach, before returning to our huge suite, managing another glass of wine and promptly crashing out at about 10.30! K has had my lurgy and I’m still not totally over mine (thinking it maybe was swine flu actually!), so still feeing slightly lethargic and needing lots of sleep to feel half-human. This is our excuse anyway for not waking up for about 11 hours!!

After a late breakfast the next day, we drove up to Noosa which is the main beauty spot around here. It was indeed lovely but a bit over-developed for our liking – too many hotels right on the beach front, too many people chasing parking spaces, too little peace and quiet. I can see why it would be great for families but as we don’t have any ankle biters yet, generally prefer to avoid them!!

So we then drove the 20kms back to our little bit of nirvana and wandered down to the beach near our suite – about a 4 minute walk to emerge onto a deserted expanse of sand stretching out for a good few miles in either direction – much more like it!

Unfortunately the wind was a bit on the nippy side so after an hour or so of picnicking, strolling and watching the huge waves dumping and cross-currenting and generally looking ferocious, we headed back to our place and took advantage of our heated plunge pool, with the obligatory chilled glass of white to top it off – ah, the decadence!

Sat night was a bit like from the sublime to the ridiculous as we ended up having dinner and spending the evening in the local Surf Life Savers Club. If you’ve ever seen Home and Away, just think of Alf and the Surf Club and you’ll pretty much have the right mental image. Not quite the romantic dinner for two that we had in mind but it had the advantage (!) of coming with a free shuttle bus which meant that K could have a few drinks. Nights out in rural Queensland obviously don’t go on too late as we were on the last shuttle of the night at 10pm – along with a gaggle of eighteen year olds all quite a bit the worse for wear – the zoo bus, as the driver chuckled to us. Always good to experience local culture first-hand though!

A leisurely breakfast on Sunday, followed by more beach strolling and a much shorter return drive to the airport. All in all, a very relaxing and much welcome injection of winter sun.