But today, in a state of near complete boredness, I shall attempt to recapture the last month and a bit of excitement on Queenslands' Sunshine Coast & beyond.
First, I'll start with our first (of three) road trip to Brisbane:
Maroochydore, or more precisely Pacific Paradise Mudjimba where we are staying, is laid back & quiet – well as quiet as can be when there aren’t any 737s, A320s or Lear 45s on final approach or taking off from MCY Sunshine Coast Airport, which is no more than 400 m away. It is nothing more than your stereotypical Australian suburb with the local shops and bowling club the epicentre and hub of activity. There’s the beach dotted with a few café’s and take-away lunch bars & the surf life saving club as it’s hotspot about 1-2 km away. In terms of structures – nothing too big due to the proximity of the airport – however, plenty of holiday apartments and resorts that stand at a maximum of 7 storeys (probably) line the coast from Coolum down to Maroochydore & Mooloolaba.
Sunshine Plaza @ Maroochydore is a 20 minute bus ride away, and that is your average shopping centre equivalent to Garden City or Carousel in Perth – but with a more interesting design in the water fall laced canal that runs through it and large shaded al-fresco areas for café’s and restaurants around this canal. A nice setting if you aren’t in the mood for shopping. This is where the buck stops. Apart from Bi-Lo at Mudjimba, Sunshine Plaza at Maroochydore, the endless beaches all up and down the coast from Noosa – there really isn’t much else.
This is really the equivalent of Florida in Australia – all the old retirees wanting a semi-tropical laid back existence. They’ve got it made! Lawn bowls around the corner, Golf course across the creek, Wellness centres and spas, strawberry farms and the Hinterland (a cooler name for the inland hills when compared to the Darling Escarpment). Yes, all in a Sunday drive. Sure, these things are enjoyable – but not day in and day out. That is why we felt the need to rent a car and drive on down to the fastest growing capital city in Australia – Brisbane.
Planning for this little day side-trip began a week prior with our schedule not really showing much at all – in fact nothing at all – for 7 days. So with IPT practice having been completed, and the acknowledgement that all work and no play will lead to eventual insanity, we rented a car.
Our day started not too early, with the car being collected at 0900 from the airport rental. At 0930, we were on the road and heading to the Sunshine Coast Motorway, thence the M1 motorway AKA the Bruce Highway (how Aussie can you get).
Sunshine Plaza @ Maroochydore is a 20 minute bus ride away, and that is your average shopping centre equivalent to Garden City or Carousel in Perth – but with a more interesting design in the water fall laced canal that runs through it and large shaded al-fresco areas for café’s and restaurants around this canal. A nice setting if you aren’t in the mood for shopping. This is where the buck stops. Apart from Bi-Lo at Mudjimba, Sunshine Plaza at Maroochydore, the endless beaches all up and down the coast from Noosa – there really isn’t much else.
This is really the equivalent of Florida in Australia – all the old retirees wanting a semi-tropical laid back existence. They’ve got it made! Lawn bowls around the corner, Golf course across the creek, Wellness centres and spas, strawberry farms and the Hinterland (a cooler name for the inland hills when compared to the Darling Escarpment). Yes, all in a Sunday drive. Sure, these things are enjoyable – but not day in and day out. That is why we felt the need to rent a car and drive on down to the fastest growing capital city in Australia – Brisbane.
Planning for this little day side-trip began a week prior with our schedule not really showing much at all – in fact nothing at all – for 7 days. So with IPT practice having been completed, and the acknowledgement that all work and no play will lead to eventual insanity, we rented a car.
Our day started not too early, with the car being collected at 0900 from the airport rental. At 0930, we were on the road and heading to the Sunshine Coast Motorway, thence the M1 motorway AKA the Bruce Highway (how Aussie can you get).
Being school holidays, there was plenty of traffic travelling southward and northward – but thankfully not any that slowed us down too much. The drive of 100 km was scheduled to last approximately 1 hr and 15 minutes, not including any stops to be made along the way. With the radio tuned to Nova (no one thought to bring any CDs – where’s Nash when you need him!), we were abuzz with the day ahead, discussing the various things we could do in and around Brisbane- deciding that this time would be spent more as tourists exploring the place, with the guidance of Mitchell who had previously studied in Brisbane at QUT.
Scenery along the drive included numerous Pine tree plantations, and amazing landscapes to the interior such as this mountain – forgetting the name. There is a tourist scenic drive that parallels the M1 known as “Steve Irwin Way”, after the famous late Crocodile Hunter. Not surprisingly, this drive passes through “Beerwah”, home of Australia Zoo – that shall be an adventure for another day. Interestingly named places I felt were “Deception bay” and “Danger Bay”. Imagine buying a place in those locales – It’s almost like “Innaloo” or “Upper Swan” in Perth. However, I still wonder if these places are any reflection of their unfortunate names
Before proceeding into Brisbane, it was decided that we should have a look at a shopping centre at the airport known as DFO – Duty Free Outlet. A centre filled with factory outlets and branded apparel and goods at considerably discounted prices from city retail shops. Yes, not being much of a shopping person, we spent a mere 1 hour meandering through the maze of people and shops trying to find that convincing bargain – but none were to be had – albeit I didn’t really give anything much of a chance with 5 second stares at most shops.
From here we travelled on into the city of Brisbane – located just 20 minutes from the airport. This is a peculiar thing with Australia – there are no dedicated highways that serve commuters directly from the airport to within the CBD – I can’t think of any Australian city that has such – you must travel through the suburbs on small and often congested roads. Nonetheless, the road from YBBN to the city was scenic at parts, hugging the Brisbane river and then through the old docklands and into Chinatown, then across into the CBD.
Brisbane city, as mentioned earlier, is the fastest growing capital city in Australia. There are a number of high-rise constructions – both commercial and residential in the CBD. Skyscraper architecture is comparable to other Australian capital cities making it a little boring, but the charm of this city is in its heritage. There are numerous heritage buildings littered throughout the city that remind one of the historical significance of Brisbane in Australian history. The council house, old treasury building and numerous other ex-civil/government buildings have been converted into museums, casinos and a myriad of other tourism/heritage related roles.
Driving around, you can tell that the city forms an integral part of daily/weekend life with pubs/shopping arcades and malls spread throughout the city – more haphazard than Perth – however the primary shopping arcades and pedestrian malls centred around the museum (with clocktower). From kerbside, you don’t really get a full perspective of this city.
So we hit the waterways – taking a ferry ride from the city downstream to nearly the mouth of the Brisbane river.
To be continued......................
