Sunshine Coast

The Sunshine Coast is over an hour’s drive north of Brisbane.  It is another popular destination for tourists with many of Australia’s better known beaches located here in the communities of Caloundra, Coolum, Mooloolaba and Noosa Heads. The beaches in Noosa Heads host the ‘Noosa Festival of Surfing’.

The Sunshine Coast also has other prominent attractions such as:

• Aussie World has over 30 rides and games like the Ferris wheel, the Wild Mouse Rollercoaster and dodgem cars. It is located on Bruce Highway near the famous Ettamogah Pub (means ‘A place of good drink’ in Aboriginal). It is well known for its unique architectural structure based off the drawings by Australian cartoonist Ken Mayard. It was built in 1989, stands at 18 metres and also has a bar and grill.
• Australia Zoo was first opened in 1970 by Steve Irwin’s parents. He then took over in 1991. It is now owned by Terri Irwin. There are 1000 animals and reptiles residing in the 100 hectare zoo. Visitors can feed kangaroos and elephants, watch trained keepers feed crocodiles and pet koalas.
• The Big Pineapple opened in 1971; the iconic structure stands at 16 metres tall. There are two available rides. The first is the train that takes visitors through the pineapple plantations while explaining the history. The other is called the Nut Mobile as the plantation used to run a Macadamia Nut factory.
• The Buderim Ginger Factory has tours, rides, shops and restaurants. The factory produces sugar based ginger products that are sold in Australia and exported to countries around the world.
• The Majestic Theatre was first established in 1921 and is a heritage building. It is known for screening movies, specialising mostly in silent films.
• UnderWater World is a combination of marine mammal park and wildlife sanctuary. There are seal and otter shows. A transparent tunnel allows visitors a close view to sharks as they are being fed or are just swimming around. Visitors can get even close by going on shark dives.

The Sunshine Coast has many national parks to explore and hike in; the region has more national parks than any other in Queensland. Popular parks include the Glasshouse Mountains National Park, the Great Sandy National Park and Noosa National Park.