Getting Around the Sunny Coast

The next few days after moving in involved us getting a good idea of what’s around the area since we would be living here for the next year.

What we noticed right off the bat: it’s VERY hilly around here. Especially when going to the University of the Sunshine Coast, or ‘uni’ as everyone around here calls it. Neil and I couldn’t get over how steep the hills were!! It was nuts. But I shouldn't call them hills because the university sits on the top of Buderim Mountain, hence why it's so steep around there.

The bus drivers really put the pedal to the medal when they drive around here. It’s like they’re always in a rush to get to where they’re going, but most of them are very nice, especially to newcomers. Which I find is the total opposite of the drivers back in Toronto, and I know a few of you would agree with me!!! :)

Anyway, it was during one of these days, sometime during the middle of the week that we had arrived, when I met up with a friend who’s already attending school here. She too gave me some tips on what to expect from school and some of the professors that I’d have for the year. Then we headed to the mall.

The main mall here is The Sunshine Plaza which is a very nice mall. The Maroochy River runs underneath it, and some of the shops and restaurants are located outside. If you choose, you can be eating by the river rather than sitting inside. I’m not sure how to describe the clothing stores…I’d say that there’s a bit of everything here which you don’t really find in Toronto malls. For example they have a store dedicated to retro clothing which is directly across from a store similar to ‘Esprit’. *lol*

As for fast food restaurants, I think I mentioned somewhere that they do have a McDonald’s here. Well, they also have Pizza Hut, Dominoes, KFC, and Subway, to name a few, which we’re all familiar with I’m sure. Then they’ve got a place called Hungry Jacks which is like a Burger King. Actually, it is Burger King but with a different name.

When we got home from our trip to the uni and the mall, Neil and I decided to walk to the beach. This proved fruitless, everyone. We couldn’t find it. Actually, Neil, couldn’t find it. Hehehe…and he informs me as I type this that we (he) took a wrong turn. Which really means that he forgot to bring the GPS for some strange reason….:-|

Anyway, we did see a nice part of the neighbourhood. There was a little ‘cove’, sort of like a private beach for the townhouses in that whole complex. Again, Neil would like to inform me that this actually is a ‘beach’. *rolls eyes* :)

Since we never did find a beach, we decided to save this for the next day.