Art in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland

On this trip I was hosted by Visit Sunshine Coast.

On my recent visit to Queensland's Sunshine Coast, I joined a couple of media tours.

The first one, held before the Australian Society of Travel Writers' annual convention, spurned the region's famous beaches and headed inland.

There's quite a rise in altitude as you head west, and a dramatic change in landscape. Instead of sleepy holiday towns along a strip of beach, you find villages scattered through mountainous green countryside.

The focus of this media tour was art, and I think our small group was fairly dubious about its abilities. We could all write, of course, but our skills at painting and pottery were largely untested.

Our first artistic stop was at the Mary Cairncross Reserve. There's a great view from here of the Glass House Mountains (named by Captain Cook; but I urge you to look up the Aboriginal story of the mountains' formation on Wikipedia, it's fascinating).

Set up on a grassy area next to the visitor centre, and instructed by veteran artist James McKay, we had a go at painting the scene in watercolours...

I think we didn't do too bad for beginners.

The next day, the challenge was clay rather than paint. We dropped into Fried Mudd, a pottery studio near Maleny, to fashion a chicken in only two hours.

Again we were assisted by an expert (thank god), in this case potter Cathy Lawley. Cathy guided us through the process, as we fashioned two 'bowls' from strips of clay, which would then be joined to form the body of the chicken.

Tricky business, especially when we progressed to the finer details of markings, and fashioning the beak and comb. Here's how it went...

And here's what they looked a day later, after they'd been fired and delivered to us at the convention:

I don't think we did a bad job here either, though I was happier with my painting.

But we learnt the basics of the two crafts, had some fun while creating, and saw some beautful scenery on the way.

If you're wondering how we got our two very heavy chickens home to Melbourne, by the way, we didn't.

We gifted them to my colleague Kerry Heaney, who lives in Brisbane, so she could add them to her chicken and have a trio of ceramic chooks in her garden.

And the names of our creations? Dahlia and Agatha. PG Wodehouse fans will know where we got those from.

Australia Zoo: Animals on the Sunshine Coast

I was hosted on this trip by Visit Sunshine Coast.

I've just visited Queensland's Sunshine Coast for the annual convention of the Australian Society of Travel Writers. As part of the event we go on short media tours before and after the formal proceedings, so the local tourism organisation can show off its attractions.

On Sunday a group of us made a quick visit to Australia Zoo, made famous by its founder, the late Steve Irwin. We started at the attached animal hospital, where injured animals are regularly brought in by rescuers. Visitors to the zoo can also enter the hospital and see how it works for a small additional fee.

This was a possum which had just been brought in, and was being looked after by a carer:

Inside the main zoo, we started at the koala enclosure, where a number of the animals were dozing in the branches. I know exactly how this guy feels on a Sunday morning:

A large open kangaroo area led past a red panda to Bindi's Island, where there were hard-to-photograph lemurs.

Then we zipped back to the, ahem, Crocoseum for the midday show. This started with birds of prey and progressed to saltwater crocodiles. As our hosts explained the habits and hazards of the croc, a saltie was released into the water at their feet and lurked ominously nearby.

That was a scary creature to watch as it moved in its purposeful reptilian way. I wonder if there's a race memory stuck away at the back of our minds when it comes to these crocs, telling us to BEWARE?

In any case I shot a short video clip of the croc grabbing the meat it was offered by the handler, generously passing up him and the white bird which was hanging around suicidally nearby.

Here's the clip:

At the end of the day we took part in a special session where we met several animals up close, including a wombat, macaw, lizard, snake and koala. It made for good photos:

It was a great day out among the animals and the surrounding greenery. Australia Zoo was much bigger than I expected, and there's food available onsite, so if I returned on my own I'd make a full day of it.

Noosa: The Prince, the Pauper and the Deep Blue Sea

Until I came to Noosa, in the Australian state of Queensland, I didn’t know what well-heeled meant.

But last night I was standing in front of a new apartment complex which overlooks the forest and the river beyond, while fire dancers performed for a crowd sipping cocktails around a pool garden decorated with elephant statues and metal structures belching flame.

It was the launch party for the elegantly designed Settler's Cove apartments, which start at about 1.5 million Australian dollars each.

I’m on a media trip to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast, and this was my first visit to Noosa. As you may gather, it’s made a name for itself as one of the most luxurious seaside destinations on Queensland’s coast; not only for owner-occupiers, but also for short-stay visitors residing in resorts. It’s particularly popular with the well-heeled from Melbourne, for some reason, a kind of Toorak-on-sea.

And Hastings Street, the Noosa Heads beachside strip that overlooks Laguna Bay, confirms that impression. I’ve never seen a holiday town’s main street that looked quite so ritzy, lined with famous brand name stores set back from shiny new paving. If it wasn’t for the tropical trees and the humid breeze, I could’ve been on Church Street in Melbourne’s bayside suburb of Brighton.

So Noosa is distinctly upmarket. However... there are things which keep it from being the sole preserve of the seriously cashed-up. For a start, there are the excellent beaches, which in the fine Australian tradition are free for all to use. Yesterday I hit the beach after lunch, sharing the section of waves between the lifesaving flags with people from all over the world, judging from the accents.

And the day before, I’d walked through the nearby headland reserve that’s a pocket of land belonging to the Noosa National Park. As I followed the track around toward Dolphin Point, I could see the town’s main beach way behind and below me, through gaps in the eucalypts lining the slopes that drop away to the ocean. Below, surfers were picking their way down over the rocks before taking the plunge into the surf.

Halfway along, I encountered Tea Tree Bay, a short stretch of beach wedged in between rocks and trees. It was fairly placid within the bay, contrasting with the bigger waves further out. It was also fairly placid on the beach, with people stretched out very still on the sand or beneath the shade of the tea trees behind. Up in the trees behind me, apparently, koalas can be seen. I say apparently, because I didn’t spot them.

The National Park is an undeniably beautiful place; and the fact it’s survived so close to Noosa seems like a miracle, considering Queensland’s history of rapid coastal development.

Well-heeled or not, we’re all equal when on the beach or peering into the foliage for koalas. How profound.