Friday travels
May 14 2005 03:02 AM | Australia
Friday May 13, 2005
I started the day by visiting the largest mall on the Sunshine Coast. It’s in the town of Maroochydore. That’s probably not even spelled correctly, but in a county that has a town named Wagga Wagga what do you expect?
The mall was large with two airy levels. Inside it, I could have been anywhere in America. The traditional American icons were present: K-Mart, Target, Starbucks, McDonald’s, EB games. Even if the stores had different names, they still looked like they could belong in any mall in the U.S. There were several book and music stores. The mall was built around one of the rivers, and in fact it spanned the river. The architecture was more sophisticated than a traditional mall. Skylights allowed ample light in, and the building had many large exits and outside cafes.
It’s easy to make a comparison between the Sunshine Coast (which includes Maroochydore) and the Florida coast. Tourists and retires mingle on the beach and the shops. There are high-rise apartment buildings, trendy tourist shops and strip malls down a main highway. The beach is on the other side. Everything is very clean. Rarely will you find litter, chewing gum on sidewalks and cigarette butts scattered on the ground.
I did some small amount of shopping at the mall. It took me some time to decipher the waist sizes for sweat pants (everything is on the metric system here). I also bought a small side pack to tote my stuff around in,
Noosa
From the Sunshine Plaza, Stephen picked me up and we head north to Noosa.
Noosa is the richest part of the Sunshine Coast (think Carmel in California). Luckily, it wasn’t very crowded, and parking was relatively easy. Within ten minutes of walking through the shops, I had purchased an Aussie hat to keep the Sun from killing me.
We snagged lunch at a café along the main drag. The Sierra café claimed to have the best coffee in Noosa. Stephen really enjoyed the coffee, and it looked pretty good to this non-coffee drinker.
It was a short walk to the Noosa beach. The beach wasn’t very crowded. The first thing I noticed — besides the stunning view and the large waves crashing inland — was that the sand is very white and fine. It was comfortable walking in it. My de-facto tour guide and I walked along the beach some ways and then exited and returned along the main strip.
On the way back, we stopped for a pie. Pies in Aussie — much like in England — are not desserts but meat pies. The closest America equivalent would be a pot pie. The pie I had — bacon, steak and cheese — was great. But there is an art to eating one, and I found myself doomed to experience a horrible pie accident and the pastry broke apart, scattering bacon, cheese and steak everywhere.
Noosa heads
Noosa Heads National Park is a rain-forest situated on the high-part of the Noosa peninsula. It overlooks the beach. We trekked back on a few trails looking for Koalas but found none. They must have been asleep. Koalas are nocturnal. The scenery was spectacular, though, with sheer cliffs dropping into the ocean.
Surf club
Before leaving, we stopped off for drinks at the surf club. Each major area on the coast has a surf club. The clubs evolved from the all-volunteer lifeguards, and traditionally you must be a member to order alcohol or eat at the restaurant. Most of the clubs, however, welcome visitors with the caveat that you must sign in. We found a seat on the patio overlooking the beach and watched some storm clouds roll by.
Pub squash
Stephen bought me an Aussie type of drink at the surf club, which I know have fallen in love with. It’s called pub squash. Pub squash is similar to lemonade, only stronger and fizzier. It might also have a dash of lime in it, for the taste is pretty refreshing.
On the way back from Noosa, we stopped in Nambour, a small town further inland. We both attended a screening of Hotel Rwanda, the Oscar nominated film about the civil war in Rwanda. The screening was a fundraiser for Amnesty International.
I started the day by visiting the largest mall on the Sunshine Coast. It’s in the town of Maroochydore. That’s probably not even spelled correctly, but in a county that has a town named Wagga Wagga what do you expect?
The mall was large with two airy levels. Inside it, I could have been anywhere in America. The traditional American icons were present: K-Mart, Target, Starbucks, McDonald’s, EB games. Even if the stores had different names, they still looked like they could belong in any mall in the U.S. There were several book and music stores. The mall was built around one of the rivers, and in fact it spanned the river. The architecture was more sophisticated than a traditional mall. Skylights allowed ample light in, and the building had many large exits and outside cafes.
It’s easy to make a comparison between the Sunshine Coast (which includes Maroochydore) and the Florida coast. Tourists and retires mingle on the beach and the shops. There are high-rise apartment buildings, trendy tourist shops and strip malls down a main highway. The beach is on the other side. Everything is very clean. Rarely will you find litter, chewing gum on sidewalks and cigarette butts scattered on the ground.
I did some small amount of shopping at the mall. It took me some time to decipher the waist sizes for sweat pants (everything is on the metric system here). I also bought a small side pack to tote my stuff around in,
Noosa
From the Sunshine Plaza, Stephen picked me up and we head north to Noosa.
Noosa is the richest part of the Sunshine Coast (think Carmel in California). Luckily, it wasn’t very crowded, and parking was relatively easy. Within ten minutes of walking through the shops, I had purchased an Aussie hat to keep the Sun from killing me.
We snagged lunch at a café along the main drag. The Sierra café claimed to have the best coffee in Noosa. Stephen really enjoyed the coffee, and it looked pretty good to this non-coffee drinker.
It was a short walk to the Noosa beach. The beach wasn’t very crowded. The first thing I noticed — besides the stunning view and the large waves crashing inland — was that the sand is very white and fine. It was comfortable walking in it. My de-facto tour guide and I walked along the beach some ways and then exited and returned along the main strip.
On the way back, we stopped for a pie. Pies in Aussie — much like in England — are not desserts but meat pies. The closest America equivalent would be a pot pie. The pie I had — bacon, steak and cheese — was great. But there is an art to eating one, and I found myself doomed to experience a horrible pie accident and the pastry broke apart, scattering bacon, cheese and steak everywhere.
Noosa heads
Noosa Heads National Park is a rain-forest situated on the high-part of the Noosa peninsula. It overlooks the beach. We trekked back on a few trails looking for Koalas but found none. They must have been asleep. Koalas are nocturnal. The scenery was spectacular, though, with sheer cliffs dropping into the ocean.
Surf club
Before leaving, we stopped off for drinks at the surf club. Each major area on the coast has a surf club. The clubs evolved from the all-volunteer lifeguards, and traditionally you must be a member to order alcohol or eat at the restaurant. Most of the clubs, however, welcome visitors with the caveat that you must sign in. We found a seat on the patio overlooking the beach and watched some storm clouds roll by.
Pub squash
Stephen bought me an Aussie type of drink at the surf club, which I know have fallen in love with. It’s called pub squash. Pub squash is similar to lemonade, only stronger and fizzier. It might also have a dash of lime in it, for the taste is pretty refreshing.
On the way back from Noosa, we stopped in Nambour, a small town further inland. We both attended a screening of Hotel Rwanda, the Oscar nominated film about the civil war in Rwanda. The screening was a fundraiser for Amnesty International.