Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast

Lying about 100km to the north of the Gold Coast is the capital city of Queensland, Brisbane. The city is part of the rapidly growing south-east Queensland growth corridor and is busy vying for its place amongst the other famous cities of Australia, but with one major disadvantage: the city is not an oceanfront city and has no natural beach to call its own.  In order to remedy this, the urban planners designed a shnazzy little area known as South Bank in which, amongst many bars, cafes, restaurants, parklands and entertainment venues, exists a man made lagoon style swimming area overlooking the Brisbane river as it winds like a snake through the CBD.  Now it claims to be the only capital city in Australia with a beach within the confines of the CBD.  Clever stuff.  I’ll admit to you, Kayleigh and I weren’t all that impressed with the first glimpses of the city, with its industrial clutter, coffee brown river, urban sprawl and ya know, lack of a beach.  I can tell you first hand however, that South Bank puts on the charm hard and was the beginning of the transformation of my opinion of the city.

To be fair we did something of a whirlwind tour through the city, visiting some 5 different neighborhoods with our only experience of the majority consisting of what we could take from the window of a moving vehicle.  From the hills and views of Paddington to the historic Kangaroo Point, my perception of the city slowly changed.  There is clearly something stylish burgeoning here.  By the end of the day I felt I hadn’t seen enough but unfortunately we hadn’t the time to dilly dally in the city, so begrudgingly I moved along.  I’m not sure when if ever I’ll be able to revisit the city, but perhaps by the time I do that bud I witnessed will be in full flower. 

South Bank Parklands Beach

Skyline from Kangaroo Point 

Another 100km or so to the north, completing the Brissie beach sandwich is the Sunshine Coast.  The Sunshine Coast is the northern end of the busy SE QLD growth corridor and is a more mature and relaxed answer to the rambunctious Gold Coast.  Our first stop here was the Glass House Mountains, whose peculiar name comes from the legendary James Cook who fancied their likeness to the stacks of glass houses back in England.  They are a striking set of “mountains”, whose grey and green peaks rise sharply from the flat farmlands forming narrow spires.  Given their geography hiking to the top of one of them without special equipment wasn’t feasible, so I had to resign myself to climbing a nearby hill for a panoramic overlook.  From there we raced towards the coastline, but unfortunately as has often been the case while driving the east coast on the verge of winter, the weather turned on us the first day and our time that was suppose to be spent sunning and swimming on a nice beach turned to hiding from the wind and rain in our house (aka Major Tom).

The Glass House Mountains 

The second day we had a bit more luck and found ourselves on the northern border of the Sunshine Coast in the town of Noosa.  This beautiful little resort town has the blessing of a north facing beach which is sheltered from the large swells coming up from the south.  We spent most of the day splashing around in emerald waves of the main beach.  In many ways, Noosa is the Sunshine Coast city responsible for the Sunshine Coasts reputation.  Its green leafy streets are beautifully landscaped and lined with sophisticated clothing retailers and diners.  To balance it all, a old-school surfer ethos flows like an undercurrent through the city.  The Noosa Heads National Park stands testament to it, being one of the only headlands in all of SE QLD that has retained its natural character due to the efforts of locals in fighting off a real estate developer.  Thanks to them, it remains one of the most intact ecosystems in the region and is home to one of the largest populations of koalas in Australia.  It was here that I got my first look at a koala in the wild - now if only I had a telephoto lens! 

Noosa Heads 

It looks more like a teddy bear than a real animal!