Life on the Sunshine Coast, One migrant’s experience

I must first of all stress that we only spent some 6 weeks in Caloundra and returned to the UK due to my illness so this is by no means a comprehensive view.

We decided on Caloundra because of its relative close proximity to Brisbane. Caloundra is the south most town on the Sunshine Coast. That said, it is still over an hours drive to the centre of Brisbane. We stayed on Golden Beach which is beautiful but probably the quietest of Caloundra’s beaches. Kings Beach is much more upbeat and there are many more cafes and restaurants Kings Beach end.

We experienced a whole new social scene when we met up with some other expats who took us to an RSL Club. We had never experienced anything like this before – they lay on buses which pick you up from numerous locations and take you to the club which has everything under one roof. We were amazed. It is a huge place with a sit down restaurant, a fast food restaurant, bars, gambling, cabaret, the lot and there is a crèche facility downstairs for the kids and then the bus takes you back to your hotel when you’ve had enough – BONUS! A firm favourite with the locals.

Our daughters were enrolled at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School which was a lovely school with the beach at the bottom of the road!!! Cool!!! There is a brand spankly new Catholic School open now on Bellvista which caters for P-12 years.

There are plenty of Banks in Caloundra and we opened accounts with ANZ. However, there is not a HSBC in Caloundra. There is a Medicare office at the local Stockland Centre so claiming back medical expenses was never a problem.

Centrelink is at the top of Caloundra town. The town itself is pretty much one main street on a slight hill so it could be a killer walking to the top of town on a hot day!!! However, the street is lined with big trees so shade was never far away. Meter parking lined the street also.

We found some nice Chinese restaurants and Italian restaurants in the town. There are a few bars and hubbie found a sports bar not too far away and a chippie! Youngest daughter’s favourite was the Naked Turtle! Bummer that we have to travel into Brisbane for Wagamama though. Caloundra also has a cinema which we found to be a lot cheaper than UK!

Caloundra had everything we needed, including a library (spent a lot of time in there on the puters!), Dunkin Donuts (for Jed), all the usual fast food outlets, big supermarket at Stockland Centre. I was even able to get my baby’s first scan done just down the road from where we were staying!

Whilst we were there we looked round a couple of new development sites and hoped to reserve a plot on Bellvista which is Caloundra West.

Hubbie Jed is a plumber/gasfitter. In order to work, he needed to obtain a licence which wasn’t too difficult. He had to go to offices in Brisbane to get this. They granted him a provisional licence on the spot which is valid for 12 months. We discovered that jobs are not widely advertised on the Sunshine Coast. It is more a case of knocking doors. Jed was offered a job plumbing after being in Caloundra for only 3 weeks. We found this reassuring!

I have to say that what I loved about Caloundra were the beaches and the boardwalk - I could never tire of walking from one end of the Caloundra to the other along the boardwalk - pure bliss. There are also kiddies playgrounds dotted around and plenty of bbq facilities.

We did travel up to Noosa which is truly beautiful but we only spent a day there so don’t know it that well. We also spent a day at Australia Zoo which is only a 15 minute drive from Caloundra. We also visited Underwater World at Maroochydore but that was a bit disappointing to be honest.

Sunshine Coast certainly doesn’t have the theme parks that Gold Coast boasts so some will find it too quiet. Personally, I was looking for somewhere that wasn’t too different from where we are in the UK (Torquay) and Caloundra fits the bill very nicely. However, I have just asked eldest daughter (11) if she has anything to add and she said “Yeah, it’s boring!!”.

I would add that when we return to Queensland later this year, we will certainly be giving Gold Coast a look!!

So, that is my take on Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast!

:beachchair:

Oh lordy lordy, an informative post from Jac - hormones must still be all over the place :hide:

Seriously hon. Nice work. We have only been to Mooloolawhatsit to Underwater World and then up the Glasshouse Mountains so I know nothing about the area. Have to agree though - Underwater World didn't impress us too much, don't know why but lots of other people seemed to be enjoying themselves so may be it's just us :unsure:

Glad to hear you are sort of settled on a decision.

We were one of them as my kids loved underwater world as Moolooabah :thumbsup: I thought the tunnel was really great and even did a bit of Micheal Jackson moon walking on the moving walkway :lol:....and the fish were lovely as well :unsure:

I loved the sunshine coast but we were up a bit in Maroochydore. I preferred Coolum as a place to live if we ever settled down there. Roy loves his paragliding and that was the place to be for some outstanding flying sites.

Also loved the Sunshine plaza in Maroochydore ...nice chinese take away food in there :thumbsup:

looks like we are headed back mate. i know it is the right thing to do and i feel happier for it but i did have a slight panic attack last night!! ok again today though!! :aye:

Chinese takeaway!?!?!? come to mama!!!! :thumbsup: