Symbolized by the golden wattle flower, the kangaroo, the emu and the opal, the so-called island continent, like its indigenous emblems, also has its own colorful lingo, the everyday vernacular of the resident Aussie.

Escaping winter back home to enjoy a brief second summer along Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, I picked up a few colloquialisms of Oz during my 24-day stay. Like, “Have a Captain Cook,” which means to have a look around, a brief inspection, in apparent honor of Captain James Cook, the British explorer/cartographer who discovered and mapped the eastern shores of Australia for the Crown in the late 16th Century, liked what he saw and the rest is history.

One of the places I enjoyed having a “Captain Cook” was during my walks along parts of the Coastal Pathway (CP). Stretching 96km (57.6 mi.), the CP is a shared walkers, joggers and cyclists route, meandering from Pelican Waters in the south to Tewantin up north, that keeps pace alongside the Coral Sea and some of Queensland’s picturesque beaches — like, Noosa, Coolum, Mudjimba, Maroochydore, Mooloolaba and Moffat — through tree-lined parks and around loads of leisure areas.

Based in Maroochydore, on the ninth floor of the Duporth Riverside luxury apartment complex, where the Maroochy River empties into the Coral Sea, I had ready access to the CP. Here are just a few of my recommended “Captain Cook” moments.

Under a bright-blue sky accented by puffy-white clouds, head through Cotton Tree Park, past the Boat Shed — my favourite fish restaurant with great sea views — up to Alexandra Headland, along the busy esplanade fronting super-clean Mooloolaba Beach — including its “Loo with a View” — then down to the port.

Hopping off the CP, pay a short visit inside the Mooloolaba Fish Market, the Sunshine Coast’s largest seafood retailer. Don’t worry about the long queue, Aussies of all stripes will politely wave you up to the ice-filled counters to let you get your camera lens eye-to-eye with some of the creatures of the deep that were brought to the surface just before sunrise.

And, finish this leg of the CP, with all ten of your toes intact, by enjoying a Pipeline Pale Ale brewed right in neighboring Alexandra Headland.

The Sunshine Coast doesn’t lack for world-class beaches, like Coolum, the home base of pro surfer Julian Wilson. The beach’s consistent waves and glassy waters beckon surfers and body boarders alike, not to mention sun worshipers in all shapes and sizes.

A short climb along the CP boardwalk, loaded with camera-ready overlooks, you arrive at Point Arkwright with its magnificent view down to Marcoola and it’s three inviting rock-enclosed sandy coves.

On your walk back, stop in at Coolum’s Stellarossa along lively Elizabeth St. for a plate of lemon pepper calamari and a couple of Little Creatures.

Spend a lazy morning into afternoon exploring Noosa, the Sunshine Coast’s most fashionable resort town. Stroll along Hastings, its impressive high street, where you can shop ‘til you drop, dine al fresco or stop, yet again, for a cold one. End your visit by stretching it out along the scenic and wide Main Beach, from Noosa Head to the breakers.

Whichever sections of the Coastal Pathway you explore, be sure and pack a camera so you can document all those “Captain Cook” moments for family and friends back home.

As the sand inside the proverbial hourglass trickles down to the final few grains, it’s time for me to sadly say “Hooroo” (goodbye) to the land Down Under and all of my new-found mates. Nothing short of spectacular, my 24 days exploring Queensland’s laid-back and super-clean Sunshine Coast — where it’s beautiful one day, perfect the next — was the vacation of a lifetime.

Back soon, I reckon!

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So, what’s the connection between me and Sammy the Poet? Well, I fled winter back home to enjoy a brief, second summer along the Sunshine Coast, and every morning for 24 straight days I would stand on the balcony of my ninth floor apartment at the Duporth Riverside complex in Maroochydore and gaze down and out at the panorama of the Maroochy River flowing into the Coral Sea and quietly remark to myself, “Water, water everywhere.”

My daily ritual began at around 6:00 a.m. when the “early to bed, early to rise” locals sped past my sleepy eyes aboard kayaks, canoes, stand-up paddle boards, pontoons, sail and motor boats and jet skis. Although delighted, it really pained me to watch as every passing day I would chomp at the bit to join in all that fun-loving water traffic below.

My wish finally came true as I joined the rest of my party of six and slipped into a flotilla of kayaks and a lone Canadian canoe to be expertly guided along the outer banks of the Maroochy by Neil Oldham, a master kayaker and pro guide for Sunshine Coast Sea Kayaking.

Our sunset glide took us around Goats Island, past Pin Cushion Island, along Mudjimba’s North Shore and down Stingray Alley, not to mention a few tricky spots where the low tide left us a bit high and dry. At the midway point we beached our craft and cracked open a few cold ones. A tip of the paddle to Neil for organizing this really cool experience, my first ever since coming ashore in Oz.

Now sea, actually river worthy, I gave it another go and rented a little half-cabin cruiser from Ready 2 Go Boat Hire at the Noosa Marina in Tewantin for a four-hour float up and down the busy Noosa River. Not the best of craft, I pretty much bobbed and weaved my way in and out of heavy traffic all day long, trying desperately to avoid all the wakes created by an armada of larger craft zipping around my “little boat that could.”

All the way down to where the Noosa meets the mouth of the Coral Sea, with a stop midway in the Noosa Sound to grab a cold one and an egg salad sanger (sandwich), I returned back to the dock at Noosa Marina without incident, but with a promise that next time, in the words of Roy Scheider from the movie Jaws, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

If bigger is better, then by golly this time around I’ve finally got it covered: a six-person pontoon boat, complete with an on-board barbie, that I hired from Swan Boat Hire in Maroochydore for my third and final self-drive cruise.

Shoving off from the banks of the Maroochy, our crew of four headed up-river with hardly any traffic at all. Keeping the boat between the red and green buoys, I guided our craft straight and true just like Columbus over the ocean blue. On the return leg, we cracked a right and cracked open another cold one and went quietly up Petrie Creek until the clock struck “head back to GO.”

My self-drive antics on water now over, there’s still one, atop-the-wake activity left on my Down Under to-do list. It involves eating and drinking while someone else steers the boat.

If you book only one cruise while staying along the Sunshine Coast make it a sunset dinner cruise aboard the Noosa Cruiser Restaurant & Bar (NCR&B), rated no. 1 by TripAdvisor.

Waved through the security gate at the Noosa Marina in Tewantin by Ron, the owner/operator of the boat, our party of four makes its way on board and is led to a corner table by Dan, the head waiter. Quick on the draw, he has me twisting the top off the first of several bottles of chilled Aussie Pinot Gris in no time.

As the sun begins its descent, Skipper Greg puts the cruiser in glide and away we go, up the Noosa to the edge of Lake Cooroibah and back, passing by Sir Richard Branson‘s private Makepeace Island along the way, where exclusive and luxurious accommodation awaits 22 privileged castaways. Say “hey” to Sir R for me, will ya?

And, the white tablecloth service aboard the NCR&B? How about Chef Tristan’s appetizer plate of locally fished oysters, king shrimps, lemon pepper calamari and an avocado and mango salad. The main follows, a pan-seared darn of Tasmanian Atlantic salmon. And this floating feast ends with a fruity and creamy dessert. Mmm.

What a fun way to spend sunset aboard the Noosa Cruiser Restaurant & Bar. Me and my mates handled the merriment, Skipper Greg piloted the boat and Uber got us home safely.

Australia boasts 21k+ miles of jaw-dropping coastline and some of it winds its way around the Sunshine Coast. Join me next time when we’ll trek along the Costal Pathway to have a look at some of the OMG beaches and, no doubt, leave a few footprints in the sand before my final hooroo (goodbye) to the land Down Under.

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I kept to a leisurely pace during my sojourn, just like the “early to bed, early to rise” locals, and enjoyed some delectable dining experiences and memorable day trips, like traveling back in time aboard a “rattler.”

What’s a “rattler,” you ask? It’s a perfectly restored steam or diesel-powered locomotive train coupled to a handful of highly-polished period carriages, each with its own unique character and story, that chugs its way along part of the original rail line between Gympie and Amamoor in the magical Mary Valley.

Aptly named the Mary Valley Rattler, this heritage rail experience is fun for all ages. A welcome aboard smile from your carriage host or hostess, a blast of the whistle, the gentle motion of the wheels on the track and you’re away aboard one of these authentic iron horses.

Your 46-kilometer, round-trip adventure pulls out from the elegantly restored Gympie Station, a stylish and elaborate example of timber railway architecture — with the Platform No. 1 Café, a gift shop and museum — and rambles into the Mary Valley, one of the most beautiful parts of Queensland. All you have to do is sit back, relax and watch Mother Nature’s handiwork pass by your open-air window.

At Amamoor, bordered by a state forest where more than 120 species of birds fly about in its riverine rain forests, your heritage engine is turned around on a fully-restored turntable for the return leg back to Gympie. While you wait, stroll down to the end of the tracks, cross over the street and check out the Amamoor General Store. It’s where the locals grocery shop, grab a take-away, get and send mail and fill up their Holdens, Utes and Kombis.

Back on board, your “rattler” makes a short stop at the Dagun Township Station for a wine and cheese tasting session and a pooch around the local market where you’re bound to be asked, “Ow ya goin’?”

This historic rail experience, the Mary Valley Rattler, which runs on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, is a not-for-profit organization operated solely by friendly and always smiling volunteers. Bookings are required, as the brochure notes, to avoid disappointment.

From the ticket office staff to the station master, from the knowledgeable on-board crew to the locomotive engineers, your three-hour ride aboard a Mary Valley Rattler will be a journey back in time that you won’t soon forget.

Along with the indigenous kangaroo and koala, you know you’re in the land Down Under when you meet up with your mates for brekkie (breakfast). Join me next time when we’ll break a couple of eggs and then some during an over-the-top, late-morning feast at one of the Sunshine Coast’s liveliest and tastiest eateries: Guru Life.

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On several occasions, I left my home base in Maroochydore, where the Maroochy River empties into the Coral Sea, and ventured up into the Blackall Range of the Hinterland on arguably the most scenic of the Sunshine Coast drives, where the air is cooler and the grass is greener, to see what I could see. My self-drive adventures provided me with stunning views of lush valleys and magnificent mountain peaks along with stops at two of the Hinterland’s most tourist-friendly towns: Montville and Maleny.

A botanical garden-like postcard, Montville, sitting at 1,300 ft. above sea level, is a lovely artisan enclave with a population of 886 friendly folks all asking “Ow ya goin´” on just about every street corner and shop.

Montville just radiates true village charm with a pleasant array of Alpine chalets, English, Irish and Tudor log and stone cottages, Queenslanders, with their signature wrap-around verandas, and a camera-ready old mill water wheel.

After a leisurely stroll up and down Main Street take a load off at Poets Cafe, a beautifully renovated Queenslander house that backs onto the lush vegetation leading to the valley below, for a coffee, a beer, a glass of wine, one of its signature baguette sandwiches or a full-on dinnies.

High above the sparkling sandy beaches of the Sunshine Coast lies Maleny, a 1950’s-looking, arts-and-crafts town.

After a light repast at Sarah’s Unplugged — try a smoked salmon panino or a bush tucker salad of locally-grown stoned fruit and baby greens, homemade feta cheese and topped with edible flowers, along with a glass or two of wine — have a pooch around all the interesting shops up and down Maple Street, Maleny’s main drag.

Just a few kilometers outside of town is the Mary Carincross Scenic Reserve, with its walking trails that wind through 55 hectares of subtropical rainforest. And, just across Mountain View Road are the landmark Glasshouse Mountains, named by Captain John Cook, the famed British explorer, back in 1770. These 11 distinct peaks, formed by volcanic activity millions of years ago, remain to this day sacred sites of Aboriginal Australians.

Heading back down towards the coast, be sure and make a quick stop at Gerrard’s Lookout to admire some great views of the Mooloolah River Catchment out to Nambour, Mooloolaba, the Mudjimba Islands and Maroochydore.

Care to hop aboard a “rattler” and traverse the Mary Valley with me? I’ll give you a tingle this arvo to let you know the date and time we pull out from Gympie Station. Until then, toodle-oo!

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Australia, the “Land Down Under,” where, according to Men at Work, “the women glow, the beer does flow and men [purportedly] chunder,” is the sixth largest country, by area, on the planet, but also the smallest of our seven continents. Confused? Don’t be.

Surrounded by three oceans — Indian, Pacific and Southern — and bordered by four seas — Arafura, Coral, Tasman and Timor — Australia, the so-called island continent, was first discovered by Dutch explorers in the early 17th Century and christened New Holland, then later claimed by Great Britain as a penal colony for boatloads of miscreants — 162,000 in all — who were sentenced in the late 18th Century for misdeeds against the Crown. Over time, convicts were emancipated, shed their black and white “magpie” prison garb, joined the ranks of free settlers and began in earnest to help tame the “Wide Brown Land” and transform it into today’s 12th largest global economy.

With 21k+ miles of jaw-dropping coastline and 3m+ square miles of camera-ready land mass, Australia, the oldest, flattest and driest inhabited continent, is a mega-diverse country, a true patchwork of extremes: the untamed Outback, tropical rainforests, mountain ranges, wetlands, endless beaches, quiet towns and thriving metropolises, not to mention it’s home to the indigenous kangaroo, koala, the laughing kookaburra, platypus, wombat, 755 species of reptiles, the boomerang, didgeridoo, Nick “Crocodile“ Dundee and, most importantly, courteous motorists.

A great big place that’s far, far away, Australia is divided into six states: New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland, where this brief primer ends and the fun begins.

I fled winter back home to enjoy a brief second summer basking in the warmth of the southern hemisphere along Queensland’s Sunshine Coast — a laid-back, magical playground, just 60 mi. north of Brisbane International Airport, that stretches from Pelican Waters in the south to Tewantin in the north, and where a postcard-perfect coastline and a vibrant-colored hinterland beckon you with open arms.

For 24 days I hung my white Panama fedora on the ninth floor of the Duporth Riverside apartment complex in Maroochydore, where the Maroochy River embraces the Coral Sea. If I did nothing more than just stand still and gaze out from my balcony at the panoramic views, the trip was well worth it; but, move I did, and often.

Like the “early to bed, early to rise” locals, I kept to a leisurely pace during my sojourn and enjoyed some memorable day trips and delectable dining experiences worthy of consideration should Queensland’s Sunshine Coast be on your bucket list. And, why shouldn’t it be? Need more convincing? Join me “virtually” as I take you along on my personal discovery of the Sunshine Coast, from Mooloolaba to Maleny and exotic locales in between, via car hire, boat rentals, kayaks, a steam-powered locomotive train, afoot, and, of course, with a knife, fork, wine glass and beer bottle.

Join me soon at dawn’s early light when we’ll shove off from Habitat Noosa on an eco cruise deep inside the Everglades. And, at the end of our journey we’ll throw something on the barbie and wash it all down with a “paddle” of micro beers brewed right on the premises. Fine with you? Sweet!

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