Mike Yardley: Self-driving the Sunshine Coast Hinterland

"Beyond the seductive necklace of balmy beaches studding the Sunshine Coast, elevate your playground to the host of treats and treasures tucked away in the hinterland."

"My hinterland base was the leafy township of Yandina, staying at the namesake hotel which has been serving up yarns and coldies since 1889. Built by Australian pioneers as a staging depot on the route between Brisbane and the Gympie goldfields, this venerable wooden pile, with wrapround balcony, is one of the Sunshine Coast's oldest watering holes."

Read Mike's full article here.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
That travel correspondent as Mike Yardley and speaking of travel, sir,
it looks like Donald Trump might be traveling very soon.
The last words spoken in the joint press conference with
Vladimir Putin came from the Russian president, who turned to
his US counterpart and said, next time in Moscow.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah, yeah, so it certainly does. Yes. Yeah, anyway, I've
been watching I've been watching Alaska all morning, Jack, and
I think the one word I've gotten response the last
six hours would be opaque. You know, we just we
don't quite know what those No, there's clearly some sticking points.
I think it would appear they've made headway. But maybe

(00:51):
those phone calls to NATO and Europe and Ukraine overnight
will will settle the score.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Who Yeah, I'm sure some stuff will be over the
next few hours. We'll get a little bit more detailed.
But yeah, I know, I mean, you know, I'm open minded. Yeah,
for the Ukrainians perspective. From the Ukrainians perspective, you don't
want to see some deal where by the US is
demanding that heaps of territory has given up. But also
you know that's fighting stop, so watch the space. I

(01:16):
suppose anyway, we are turning our attention to slightly more
peaceful climbs this morning. Self driving the Sunshine Coast hinterland,
and that hinterland in the Sunshine Coast just feels a
total kind of world away from the from the beaches
and the coast. What is the attraction?

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Well, I goodness is the fabulous thing about the Sunshine
Coast jack because the beach culture is great, but the
fact you can zip up into the verdant highlands in
just twenty minutes is so cool, you know, just all
it such a rich mix of holiday pursuits when you're
over there, and from Auckland there are now year round
wrecked flights to Marucci door, so it's super easy to

(01:56):
get to. You don't have to go through Brisbane. The
thing about the hinterland and the reason I'm a hardcore fan,
You've just got so many treats, these cute and cozy
mountain villages, national parks and so many scenic attractions as
well that you can just all stitch together on a
self drive.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
So where would be a good starting point?

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Well, I would probably head up to the northern end
to your Monday. It's a very charismatic township. The signature
draw the Monday Markets, which attract millions of people every year.
Apparently it's one of the Southern Hemisphere's biggest artisan markets,
so they have about six hundred stalls on a Wednesday
and a Saturday. The setting is just so gorgeous because

(02:40):
it's staged under these sprawling fig trees with the most
colossal canopy. It's just gorgeous. And the thing is get
there early for breakfast because you could just stuff yourself
stupid at these markets. I always go straight to the
Langosh Caravan Tek. You can't have a better start to

(03:01):
the day than with the Langosh, particularly when it's slathered
and garlic, paprika, sour cream cheese. Yeah, yeah, that's the starting.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yes, if that's where you're starting, where would you base yourself?

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Well down the road from your Monday. I stayed in
Yandina a couple of weeks ago, and it's a very
laid back, leafy township, very central to all of the
hinterland draws. If you've ever fancied staying in one of
those quintessential country ossie pubs with a big wrap around balcony.
The Yandina Hotel is a classic. It's from the eighteen eighties.

(03:39):
This pub and from Yandina. One of the best touring
routes strung across the hinterland. The fifty five k is
called the Blackhall Range route. So grab a rental car
and just go crazy on this route because it just
tethers all of those villages and lockouts and hiking spots together.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Nice. So what would you recommend in terms of national
parks if you're like a bit of a stroll.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Yeah, Well, the funny thing about Queensland's national parks is
they tend to be pocket to parks compared to our
national parks, you know, the very sort of short and
sweet experiences the two. I really like Mapleton Falls National Park.
They've got this really cool trail beer called the one
Pi Circuit and it's good for the nose jack because

(04:29):
it's heavily scentered with eucalypse, very fragrant, and then it
climaxes with this wide curtain waterfall. The Mapleton Falls close
by even better Condolilla National Park. If you like your
lush rainforest scenery, you will be in heaven and after

(04:49):
threading your way through the rainforest. It finishes off at
a swimming hole fed by this long drop waterfall. The
only sticking point. You will probably be sharing that swimming
hole with all sorts of loved up young things filling
their Insta feed. So go the day. Yeah, okay, I
tell you I was photo bombing so many people.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Oh yeah, no, no, no, I know exactly, just kind
of seen you describing there. So would you say Montfhill
is one of Australia's prettiest villages.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yeah, it would have to be a hot contender. The
moment you're first to lay eyes on the main street
of Montfhl, story book is the word that comes to mind.
You know, It's just one of those ridiculously adorable townships.
It's catnet for tourists, kind of like a gray town
or an arrow town Sunshine coastyle. There's a huge creative

(05:45):
community in monfl so if you're after some local art,
Monful is where you should go. The Monfel Gallery. I
just love this gallery. There's over forty local artists who
display their wares there, and I mean it spans all
art genres. The glass art is really good, the paintings,
the landscape and the sea scape paints. They slay me

(06:08):
every time. Really impressive.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, nice, Okay. What draws the crowds to Mulaney.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Well, yeah, further down the black or range, Mulaney is
a bumpertown. For foodies, we'll probably talk about food and
drink next week, but for artisan producers, Mulaney is just
extraordinary in terms of its production. The other interesting aspect
to Malaney it seems to attract a lot of cooks.
So when you walk down the main street, you feel

(06:38):
like you're in the world capital of alternative healing. I
passed by businesses offering crystal healing, monica healing, cosmic dieting,
whatever the hell that is, aerial hemmer healing which sounds fun,
soul breathing, and even indigenous plant based can secures, which

(07:01):
I thought was a very big cause. So there is
something that everyone in Malaney.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, okay, yeah right, it's one of those kind of crowds.
Fair enough, speaking of something for everyone, Mulany's Bird World
has the scored a big goal.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yes, trip Advisor has just ranked this as Queensland's number
one attraction, which is nothing to sniff at, but just
out of town. This is our heads whirl of tropical
bird life. So bird World is based at Australia's largest
private botanical garden. It's like the mother of all menageriees.

(07:38):
So they've got four free flight walk through Avary's and
they are throbbing with over seven hundred birds. You feel
like you've been imprisoned in a massive menagerie. I have
never experienced avyan intensity quite like what you experience at

(07:59):
bird World. The parents particularly, they land all over you
on mess head, shoulders, knees and toes and some of
these boods a legends. So they've got Coco, the eighty
five year old Amazon parrot who still raucously sings opera
at eighty five.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
So particularly if you're traveling with kids. Yeah, bird World
is absolutely unmissible.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Oh so good. All right, thank you very much, sir. Well,
we're going to make sure all your tips for self
driving the Sunshine Coast in the Hinterland and the Sunshine
Coast are up on the News Talk's EDB website. We
will catch you again next weekend. My Guard the our
travel correspondent.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to Newstalks EDB from nine am Saturday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio