Sunshine Coast Attractions

The second great tourist and holiday area in southern Queensland after the Gold Coast is the Sunshine Coast, which extends north for more than 50km from Caloundra, 90km north of Brisbane, to Noosa Heads. Long beaches of beautiful white sand are interrupted by stretches of rocky cliffs. The Sunshine Coast, with a population of around 120,000, is less commercialized, less spoiled and quieter than the urbanized Gold Coast. Although there are only occasional high-rise hotel or apartment blocks there is a good deal of building and investment going on, particularly at Noosa Heads. Here, as on the Gold Coast and the Great Barrier Reef, the increasing popularity of the Queensland coasts with holidaymakers is all too obvious. There is impressive coastal scenery, with quiet sheltered waters as well as magnificent surfing beaches but Queensland, with its subtropical climate, has the advantage over Australia's south coast, of making water sports and other outdoor activities possible throughout the year. Average maximum temperatures of over 20°C in winter make a holiday or retirement home in Queensland an attractive proposition for many Australians.

The landscape of the Sunshine Coast is very varied, with sandy bays bounded by steep cliffs and areas of natural bush country, and quiet coastal waters and rivers offering an alternative to the surf of the ocean.

The business center of the Sunshine Coast is Maroochydore at the mouth of the Maroochy River. To the north of Maroochydore are the resorts of Coolum Beach, Peregian Beach, Marcus Beach and Sunshine Beach. There are airfields on the Sunshine Coast at Caloundra, Maroochydore and Noosaville. The railroad from Brisbane to Gympie runs through the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast via Nambour and direct buses run from Brisbane to the various resorts. The road to Caloundra branches off the Bruce Highway, and a coast road leads to Noosa Heads. A new Sunshine Expressway runs from the Maroochy River to Noosa Heads.