Last week I packed my suitcase with my grand total of 2.5 summer outfits and jetted off to the Sunshine Coast for a few days. Being a Melbourne gal, I’m quite the vampire when I step out into the sun. It’s all wincing and sparkling skin. However I slathered on my SPF 50 and tried my best to be a beach bum for the 5 days that I was away. Here are the best things to get up to while hanging around the Sunshine Coast.
1. Shopping on Hastings Street in Noosa
The main strip of shopping in Noosa is heaven. Tiny little boutiques with awesome dresses, little gift shops full of overpriced things with pineapples stamped on them and about 4 kgs worth of summer weight gain in the form of gelato shops. Walk right down to the beach, grab a gelato Massimo (the local’s choice) and have a sunset walk along the water. All you need is a marriage proposal from Channing Tatum and you’ve got yourself the perfect day my friend.
2. Stand up paddle boarding
I signed up for a session before the trip that was called ‘water activity‘, imagining myself peacefully floating on a lilo in a sparkling pool with a fruit flavoured cocktail in each hand. What I ended up doing was stand up paddle boarding which was so much better. We went on a boat ride around the islands with Noosa Dream Boats. Our boat driver said that he can always tell if a guy is going to propose to his girlfriend on a couples cruise because the dude will be weirdly clingy and protective with his backpack. After our peaceful and informative cruise we were dropped off at Stand Up Paddle school and the super rad Donna Lee gave us a quick info session before sending us off paddling around the island. It was an absolute blast but extremely nerve-wracking trying to keep your balance. I had a killer cramp in my foot for hours afterwards because I was clinging on so tightly with my toes. It’s so much fun and such fabulous exercise. Highly recommended.
3. Eat breakfast on the beach
This was one of the most amazing breakfasts I’ve ever had. The sun was shining, we were being serenaded by a very cute and very scruffy musician and the coffee wasn’t terrible. It was kind of like a breakfast degustation and one of the little morsels had lemon curd on it and that’s all I can remember about the food because lemon curd is the greatest. There are heaps of restaurants and hotels that face the beach (Season Restaurant put on this amazing breakfast for us) and there’s no better way to start the day than looking at an amazing view while eating your breakfast lemon curd.
4. Take a cooking class
Our evening at The Spirit House was hands down one of the most amazing experiences of my life. When you rock up out the front, it’s like being in the movie Ferngully. If Ferngully was in Thailand and everyone was a bit drunk. When we arrived, we got all aproned-up and went outside to the alfresco cooking area. Making summer rolls at dusk, while sipping wine. So pleasant. In a wine fueled moment of creativity I made a short video of my time at The Spirit House. I hope you enjoy it. Note: People make weird faces when they’re concentrating on cooking and it’s hilarious. I also won 2 prizes. One for The Best Julienne and one for being The Most Fun. So if you translate that, it means I’m an anal retentive loud mouth. I’ll take that.
5. Stay at Spicer’s Tamarind
This place is FAN-CY! Giant bathtub, fireplaces in every room, perfectly poached eggs for breakfast and they even have a cow. All the cabins are about a 5 minute walk away from the reception but it’s such a pretty little stroll it makes you feel as if you’re in an Enid Blyton book. We had the best evening just drinking wine by the fire and watching TV. Sometimes it’s really lovely to just sit there and enjoy your accommodation rather than rush around trying to see everything.
Here’s a wee little gallery of the photos I took on my travels.
Have you ever been to the Sunshine Coast? What did you get up to?
I was a guest of Tourism Queensland, Tourism Sunshine Coast and Tourism Noosa for this event. For more information or to book a Sunshine Coast holiday, visit Queensland Holidays.