A good place to die

Not that we feel even remotely close to the end of our lives, but that’s apparently what the Sunshine Coast actually is: “That’s where old people come to die”, so we were told. Well – a pretty smart choice, there’s no denying that.

We took a train from Cabarita Beach to Brisbane, where we were picked up by whom we officially nominate the coolest great-grandmother ever. Or as our host put it: “Before she was grand, now she’s great”. We were given a nice little tour of Brisbane, mostly floating on the Brisbane river and being stunned by some of the most impressive mansions we’d seen in a while. Seems that living along the river is quite the hip thing to do if you’ve got a million or two to spare.

The stop Southbank turned out to be a bit of an oasis in the city, providing a great place to hang out and relax. The perfectly integrated beach in the middle of the city actually reminded us a bit of back home, albeit with a bit more grass and less sand. What a great idea, especially since temperatures and humidity that day were reaching an uncomfortable level.

Heading up the coast later on, we discovered that Queensland really does live up to its reputation. Seemingly endless stretches of what we would deem the perfect beach, small surfer towns scattered among the coast, each providing a more relax environment than the one before. Add to that a climate that’s usually within a comfortable range all year round, and it’s easy to figure why many people choose this place for their retirement.

Thanks to our 3 very active friends with a combined age of 208 years, we got to experience some of the best this region has to offer. From the chilled out Mooloolaba Beach to a 70k-drive in a 4×4 along a stunning beach (yes, on the actual beach…)

…to a few impressive hills called the Glass House Mountains that offered a great view of the region, not to mention a little rush of adrenalin when climbing Mt. Tibrogargan – we’ve grown to like this part of the world quite a lot. We’re actually quite inclined to agree with what President Obama said a few months back in his speech at the University of Queensland:

“This city, this part of Australia, is just stunning — beautiful one day, and then perfect the next.”