salt magazine - autumn 13

live life on waterfront right in the heart of maroochydore There’s something special about living with a view over the

Savannah Precinct Release End February Register Your Interest Today

water. It’s so relaxing, it makes everyday just that much better. That much easier. It might also have something to do with the fact that you’re also living right in the heart of Maroochydore. So everything, like shopping, schools and community facilities are at your fingertips.

The other, really nice aspect is that it’s not just waterfront lifestyle for the wealthy few! It is a very affordable lifestyle too.

Our residential lots are yours to own freehold, so there’s no body corporate. Our design convenant guidelines promote building opportunities reflective of the way you want to live your life today.

Offering all the benefits of a surf coast lifestyle with the amenities of a thriving city centre, Sunshine Cove also delivers many other benefits. Come in and let us show you around Sunshine Cove, it’s really the only way to truly experience how much more enjoyable life can be.

SALES OFFICE OPEN MONDAY TO SATURDAY

Land from $214,700 House and Land from $488,000

Call Now 1800 619 194 SunshineCove.Com.Au

Average dry land price Sarina $216,982; Average House and Land $516,000. Prices are subject to availability and are subject to change without notice.

T WO E XC E P T I O N A L R E STAU R A N TS . . .

ONE DIFFICULT C HOICE.

PALMER GRILL Located in the lobby of the resort, Palmer Grill restaurant is renowned for premium grilled meats and seafood, with an adjoining bar perfect for pre-dinner drinks.

A popular dining venue for locals, Palmer Grill features a backdrop of delicious aromas and lively ambience from the open kitchen. The restaurant also offers beautiful daytime views of the golf course and lakes.

BUSINESS LUNCH Choice of: 2 course + Glass of wine $35

Open Daily for Lunch & Dinner Reservations: 07 5446 1234

A UNIQUE AND INSPIRING DINING EXPERIENCE THE CAPTAIN’S TABLE Set in a grove of Angophora trees close to the Village Square,

The Captain’s Table offers modern Australian cuisine with a menu that reflects the very nature of the Sunshine Coast.

The restaurant features classic high ceilings with exposed rafters and floor to ceiling French windows, overlooking the tranquil water feature and gardens.

LUNCH & DINNER Choice of: 2 course $25 / 3 Course $30

Open Daily for Lunch & Dinner Reservations: 07 5446 1234

Warran Road Coolum Beach Qld Reservations: 07 5446 1234

www.palmercoolumresort.com.au

BUT FOR THE DEDICATED men and women who swim, ride and run their way through these landmarks on a daily basis, they are more than just simple sights – they’re the perfect playground.

Each one is a challenge, an obstacle to be conquered.

Triathlon has taken off on the Sunshine Coast.

The region plays host to three of the country’s most prestigious events in Caloundra, Mooloolaba and Noosa – races that attract some of the world’s top athletes.

But those who think there is little competition outside of the professional ranks should reconsider. Parents, kids, seniors, corporates and everyone in between are getting in on the action, using the sport as a vehicle to reach their own personal goals.

Sunshine Coast Triathlon Academy founder Toby Coote is at the forefront of triathlon’s explosion in popularity. The 21-year veteran of the sport says the friendly, adaptable nature of training and competing makes it an attractive option for people from all walks of life.

“Not everyone is in it to win a race,” he says. “Some people might come into the sport who are 20 kilograms overweight and want to simply get fit. Others just love racing to stay active.

“There’s also a great social aspect. It’s the kind of sport where parents can watch their kids and then kids can watch their parents straight after.”

Toby says the race for individual honours is often outweighed by the quest for personal growth.

“This is a sport that opens so many doors for so many people at so many different levels,” he says. “You see people who slowly work their way in. Train a bit, run their first race and then get hooked.

“It’s really a competition with yourself – striving to improve a certain aspect or push yourself in a way you hadn’t thought possible before. And it helps being on the Sunshine Coast. It’s one of the best places to train in the world.” >

Sport was never a feature of Drew Westbrook’s life.

Aside from social school sport, the now 40-year-old Hobart native never had an invested interest in fitness or health, instead he focused on study and career pursuits.

But when his sister – a professional runner – realised her dream of competing at the Commonwealth Games, a 25-year-old Drew decided it was time he stepped out of his comfort zone.

“I was 25 years old before I decided I wanted to tackle triathlon – the variety really appealed to me,” he says. “I’d been wanting to do the sport for a few years prior, but didn’t have the guts to get out there and tackle it.

“I started just going for the odd run on my own once every few days. I also started to swim at a nearby pool three times a week, slowly increasing the laps.

“I really didn’t know too much about what I was doing, but I just got in there and did it.”

From there, Drew was hooked. After two years training alone, he moved to Queensland where he joined training squads in Brisbane before a move to the Sunshine Coast to train with Toby five years ago.

His transformation was nothing short of amazing, from a man apprehensive about taking up the sport to a victory at this year’s national sprint titles in Canberra, amongst other honours.

“I’m addicted. The endorphins from training and the camaraderie and friendships from racing are amazing,” he says.

“And I just love training on the Sunshine Coast. You can do your flat rides down the coast, head to the hinterland for your hills and there are some great places for running – like Noosa National Park.”

His advice to those interested in taking up the sport? Don’t die wondering.

“Just do it,” he says. “Don’t wait until you’ve got the best bike or latest equipment – just get in there and have a go. It’s a fantastic, satisfying sport that you can make work around your own life commitments.”

Unlike Drew, Bonnie Atherton’s beginnings in triathlon began in childhood.

The 18-year-old has been competing at the top of the sport since the age of 13, with a silver medal in the aquathon at the 2012 world titles her latest honour. Bonnie says the sport has been the driving force of her life.

“I train twice a day, five days a week and compete every second or third weekend – it’s pretty serious,” she says. “It’s like a drug – very addictive. Last year I gave it a little break and came back in two or three months.

“I just really enjoy the routine of things. This year is a big year.

I’ll decide whether I want to pursue the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast or whether I start looking at racing overseas.

There’s also the Olympics in the back of my mind, which would be amazing.”

Despite the grand plans and gruelling training sessions ahead, Bonnie says it’s the little goals that keep her going.

“You just want to go quicker, beat your personal best,” she says.

“You always set yourself little goals inside your sessions and races.

There are certain people you want to beat that you might not have last time – you just want to keep getting better and better.” >

A Sunshine Coast local for less than a year, Bonnie says she has found a true calling with Toby’s training group.

“The group you train with is half the reason you turn up,” she says. “You’re excited to see them. Everyone helps each other to get through sessions – there are so many people to lift you up.

“The social side of it is great too. You make a lot of new friends.

It all adds to the excitement of [the sport].”

Where the social side of the sport is a footnote for Bonnie, Shane Campbell is infatuated with the post-race and training catch-ups with teammates and competitors.

His triathlon journey began at the ripe old age of 43 when a work colleague threw down the challenge to him.

“Prior to triathlon, I did a little bit of running and a little bit of gym, but nothing too serious,” Shane says. “I just loved it. It’s an individual sport, but it’s a real team environment. You’re involved with the whole event – from the time you get there until the time you race – cheering the others on.

“I love the social stuff. There’re so many good people [involved with the sport]. At the end of a race, you stand around, shake some hands and talk about how the race went.”

Now nearing his 50th birthday, Shane’s journey in the sport has seen him undergo incredible physical change.

“I started training at 92 kilograms and then was down to about 72 kilograms within about six months,” he says.

“I never thought you could drop weight like that. You don’t realise [the potential of the sport to transform your fitness] until you start becoming a little bit more committed. The fitter you get, the more you want to push yourself.”

But whilst other sports can become overly time consuming, Shane says triathlon’s great strength is its ability to fit in and around your life.

“With triathlon, you can really space out how much you want to do over a period of time that suits your lifestyle. You soon find out it’s not about winning. It’s about setting your own goal – you’re racing against yourself.

“We’re in the sport to achieve personal goals and to maintain fitness. Sometimes you’re that buggered that just to finish is an achievement and sometimes you’ll surprise yourself with how well you do.”

Visit scta.com.au for more information on the Sunshine Coast Triathlon Academy.

SWAROVSKI.COM

SILVERSHOP

Sunshine Plaza, Maroochydore Ph: 5452 7577 The Esplanade, Mooloolaba Ph: 5444 7260

Ã>V Û VÃ «« }°V °>Õ

}Ê7ÊUÊ7 Ü ÀÌ ÃÊUÊ£ääÊëiV > ÌÞÊÃÌ ÀiÃÊ ÓnÊ i iÊ Àii Ê,`Ê­ ÀÊ7> ÌiÀÊ >ÞÊ À Ûi®Ê Ã>Û iÊ* Êx{{äÊÇ ää

A BUSINESSMAN AND SELF-MADE multi-millionaire, Frank set about developing the 44 hectares of rainforest, originally named Renaissance, into a magnificent secret garden.

In October 2011 he listed Renaissance under the Open Gardens Australia scheme and the wildly positive response from visitors inspired him to take it a step further.

In March 2012 he christened his property the Maleny Botanic Gardens and opened the first three hectares (known as stage one) to the public. More than 11,000 people have since visited to be inspired and feel connected with nature.

Frank, 61, wryly describes his grandiose garden project as “a hobby that got out of hand”. When he bought the property, he had no skills in gardening or botany; he was simply a man who loved nature and needed a healthy escape in his early retirement. In August 2007 he began clearing the property of lantana and other noxious weeds and was delighted to discover a lush, untouched rainforest.

“It’s not right that one person can own a property like this and not share it,” Frank explains of the motivation to open his secret garden to the public seven days a week.

Frank and his team of five avid gardeners work diligently to achieve Frank’s vision for the property to become one of the world’s best botanic gardens. He has invested about $3 million so far and, remarkably, doesn’t follow a design plan.

“I had a noble idea of what I wanted to do with the design but it was just too mind-boggling,” he says. “I sat down with some paper but I threw it away after half an hour. I did one section at a time and made it up as I went along. It’s just amazing how the land >

will dictate what you’re supposed to do. It talks to you as you go along. I’m really happy with how it’s turned out.”

Frank and his team have a diverse and seemingly never-ending list of chores, from clearing weeds and planting flowers to moving rocks, building bridges, configuring hydraulic pumps to run the waterfalls, repairing vehicles and researching the technical requirements for building aviaries and gazebos. Four staff help advise him on plants and keep the administrative side of the gardens running smoothly.

Stage two of the property is in development and will include a petting zoo, 45-metre walk-through aviary, waterfalls, ponds and picnic areas. Plans for stage three involve opening up the rainforest in the lower section of the property with idyllic picnic spots, a skywalk through the canopy, bush walking tracks and a natural waterfall. Stage four involves building a restaurant, chapel and function venue. Frank expects there will be up to 30 kilometres of trails on the property when the gardens are complete.

“I feel like an explorer some days,” Frank says.

The rainforest section of his property is believed to sustain numerous rare species including the Coxen’s Fig parrot and the Richmond Birdwing butterfly.

“It was very overgrown,” he says. “But I don’t want to interfere with the forest. I just want to clean it up and put a trail through some parts of it to get to picnic areas.”

Frank’s reward is seeing the pleasure people gain from his gardens.

Visitors tend to slow their pace as they meander along the neatly manicured gravel paths that weave around garden beds, grassy picnic spots, waterfalls, ponds and the natural amphitheatre. >

Our focus is your child...

Small enough for individual attention, large enough for peace of mind.

Caloundra City Private School is an award winning Kindergarten to Year 12 co-educational and non-denominational school set in beautiful grounds at Pelican Waters. The School was recently named in the top 10% of Queensland schools and one of the top 20% Australian schools based on 2011 NAPLAN results.

Call us today and make the first move towards a better future for you and your child.

CC19240

Ph: 5437 5800 CRICOS NO: 03241C

Pelican Waters Boulevard, Pelican Waters

Email: admin@ccs.qld.edu.au

www.ccps.qld.edu.au

Nature lovers spend hours exploring the grounds and marvelling at the native plants and shrubs as well as the exotic species, including rare cycads from South Africa. They appreciate seeing flowers in bloom and ponds sprinkled with water lilies and stocked with spangled perch and Australian bass.

From most aspects of the property the outlook is awe-inspiring, taking in the more than 180-degree views of the Glass House Mountains. Unsurprisingly, the gardens are increasingly booked by wedding parties and charities for fundraising events. Frank proudly notes local charities have raised more than $55,000 from events hosted on his property.

Frank admits he falls exhausted into bed every night. It’s physically demanding work although it’s obvious he is enjoying the experience.

A true nature lover, Frank is in awe of his natural surrounds, particularly the dense rainforest sections of towering palms, perfectly plaited vines, natural waterfalls and volcanic rock dating back 25 million years.

“This is as pure a rainforest that you’re going to get,” he says.

“If you come down in the morning the sound of the birds is mind-blowing. I’ve hardly touched a tree anywhere. The breeze is beautiful. It’s amazing, enchanting.”

When asked what motivated him to take on such an allencompassing project in the first place, Frank shares that the gardens provide him with a positive distraction.

“It’s an escape,” he says. “I’ve had a pretty stressful life from a young boy. I was born into poverty. I lost my dad on Christmas Day at the age of 12. It’s been a struggle. I never want to go back to poverty again.”

Frank presumes his business brain and entrepreneurial outlook were born out of necessity. Growing up in a poor neighbourhood in Durban, South Africa, he was determined to extricate himself from his dire situation. After his father died, Frank became responsible for his mother and three younger sisters.

“I was working selling newspapers and collecting cardboard and bottles. I was determined I was going to get myself out of there…

Even then I was trying to make money and save every cent I could.”

Frank says he wasn’t academic but was blessed with a business brain. In South Africa he built a successful business trading in industrial air compressors. It made him his fortune and enabled him to migrate to Australia with his children in 2003. He also recently sold a childcare business in Kallangur near Brisbane.

“I didn’t like the way things were going with apartheid,” he says of the motivation to leave his birthplace. “I didn’t like the way people were being treated and I didn’t like the crime.”

Frank’s wife died of breast cancer when their two children were teenagers. Now they are grown up and Frank is about to become a grandfather.

Frank also has a nine-year-old son who joins him on his property on the weekends and school holidays. “He is the love of my life – any spare time I spend with him,” he says.

Frank says his dream is to travel the world when the gardens are complete. “I want to go back and get ideas and visit other gardens.

I don’t know much about gardens,” he says.

Until then, he has work to do. One day he will sit and enjoy it all, he promises himself. He points to a wooden picnic bench overlooking the rainforest canopy.

“I feel like I’m on top of the world here,” he says. “This is as quiet as it gets. Imagine this on a weekend – you could sit here and watch the hot air balloons go around the mountains.”

school run by a pastor and his family, and made a promise to them that she would return to help with their work.

IN FACT, this 47-year-old high school manual arts teacher from Maleny had no idea how to make or play the instruments until she got to Zambia. But Sally is the first to admit that planning is not one of her priorities.

“Straight in the deep end – that’s my style!” she says, laughing.

Her laugh is infectious. She emanates warmth and openness and a genuine love of life. She’s one of those people whom others like to be around.

As well as teaching at Caloundra State High School, Sally is a talented jeweller, artist and doting mother of four. She is also passionate about providing practical help to people in impoverished communities throughout the world.

Sally shares her home – a converted shed – with her husband Alex Chigumbu and her three youngest children from her previous marriage: Torren, 9, Luka, 12, and Ivy, 13, who live jointly between Sally’s home and that of their father nearby (“we’re good friends”).

Her eldest daughter, Ruby, 20, is studying full-time in Victoria.

Sally’s first trip to Africa more than two years ago was sparked by a billboard she saw advertising cheap airfares as she drove a friend to the airport. She booked a ticket when she got home and soon embarked on a 13-week solo journey across five African countries.

In the last few weeks of her journey, in Botswana, there was another surprise: Sally met and fell in love with Alex, whom she returned to marry six months later in his home country of Zimbabwe.

Together, they honoured Sally’s promise and returned in April last year to the pastor’s community school in Kabwe.

“I don’t know why I decided to do this, but I decided to teach people how to make and play marimbas,” she says. “Marimbas are from that area, but people don’t play them because they can’t afford them. They don’t have the tools, they don’t have the wood and they can’t make them.”

Armed with little more than her cordless drill from home and the expert advice of Sunshine Coast musician Linsey Pollak, Sally embarked on the marimba project to “try and bring some fun” to the lives of the local young people.

Sally and Alex managed, against incredible odds, to source suitable timber, dry it out and cut it.

In a makeshift workshop under a tree, using Sally’s trusty drill and tools improvised from whatever was available, the marimbas were finally ready after two months.

A brave thing to do, by many people’s standards. But Sally doesn’t see it that way.

On her return to Maleny, Sally produced a stunning series of small oil paintings depicting people and animals inspired by her African journeys, which she has recently exhibited and sold locally with great success. She plans to continue to paint her experiences, to “inspire people to do the same”.

“I believe everyone is good,” she says. “If you walk with fear, you’ll have something to be scared of. But if you walk with confidence and love, then that’s what you’ll get. When I was travelling for those 13 weeks, I never once felt threatened.”

Her next project? She’s off to Vietnam, with Alex and her children this time, “to find another something”. Unsurprisingly, apart from having booked their airfares, they have very few plans, except to “become involved in the community”.

One of the places Sally found herself in was Zambia’s capital city, Lusaka.

“If you go with plans, you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment and also you’re locking yourself in. You miss things. And if you actually do want to help, you have to go there and spend time and just stop and see what people need.

“It’s frantic, there’re people everywhere,” she says. “You’ve got to be nimble on your toes. A white person in Lusaka really sticks out. I jumped on a bus, just to get out of the craziness, and I just went where that bus was going.”

The bus was going to a place called Kabwe, where Sally decided to do some community work. She found her way to a community

FLAME HILL

“I think TV and the media have disempowered people. It makes people feel like ‘everyone else can help but I can’t’. They look at the world through a screen.

“I’d say get rid of the screen: go into the world.”

SKA

vineyard

restaurant

L RE S

Lunch at the Vineyard A la Carte Lunch Menu available from Thursday to Monday 12:00pm – 3:00pm Brunch Sunday 9:00am – 11:00am Wine Tasting & Sales Open 10:30am – 5:30pm Thursday to Monday Weddings and Special Events

Estate Grown Wine...

Phone: (07) 5478 5920 249 Western Avenue Montville

w w w. f l a m e h i l l v i n e y a r d . c o m . a u

TA U R

ANT

OF

THE

YEA

R

JASON SAYS THE DANCERS had done the routines during filming without knowing why or what direction the storyline was going in.

“We thought the movie was a mix between Titanic and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and had no idea it was going to be a hit,” Jason says. “When we did the Hindi scene at the end we thought ‘that’s it, Baz is definitely off his head!’

“But once we saw the finished movie on opening night, it all made sense.”

Moulin Rouge was a career highlight for Jason, who had already carved out a successful path in the somewhat unpredictable world of a professional dancer including tours with Diana Ross, Dannii Minogue and Cyndi Lauper in Japan. Another highlight was a performance with Kylie Minogue as part of the Sydney Olympic Games closing ceremony.

His life in ballet, then musical theatre and commercial dancing was set in place when he made a racket as a child.

“I was always into music and jumping around to Abba and

at five or six I was making too much noise upstairs. My dad would say ‘go and do that somewhere else’ so Mum took me to dance school in Maroochydore – almost an hour away by car in those days.”

Remarkably, Jason’s extraordinary and natural dancing ability saw him sent to boarding school in Melbourne at the age of 13, accepted into the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts.

“When I was accepted it was quite a hoo-ha; it was in the local papers,” Jason says.

“It was a good thing because it was a rough time at school for me on the Sunshine Coast with bullying, and otherwise I probably wouldn’t have finished high school. One of my teachers said ‘it’s best that you leave if you can. If you get into the school in Melbourne, go’.”

Now a teacher himself, Jason says he’s conscious of bullying as a problem for his male students and even just a few years ago was losing boys from the dance school because of it.

“Boys feel the need to be portrayed as going fishing or surfing.

Primary school is fine, but when they hit high school, it’s an issue,” he says.

Jason’s students, who he fondly refers to as his “kids”, comprise 200 pupils at his Fierce Dance Studios in Noosaville. With the studio celebrating 10 years of operation this year, Jason has just seen his first-ever group of seven-year-olds graduate from Year 12.

With many students doing several classes a week, the studio plays a huge part in their lives.

“You feel so responsible for them and you take on board how they’re going and help guide them. The studio’s like a second home and I’m part of the family – when they do well with exams and competitions it’s a really proud moment, and I’m up there with Mum,” he says.

“But they have to train hard. Dance training is such a slow process and repetitive, but it’s no different to swimmers going up and down the black line to make the Olympics.”

Jason also runs adult dance classes at the studio, with participants gaining an escape from everyday stress and a huge sense of personal achievement from the end-of-year performances.

“For an hour-and-a-half once a week it’s time out for them and they get to work towards something,” Jason says. “Then they do the concert and say ‘that was amazing, you’ve created a monster’ when they’ve realised what they can achieve.”

The passion for dance binds Jason and his pupils. Despite the hard work and long hours, Jason says he does it for the students, and he wants them to do it for fun and because they enjoy it.

He’s happy to have given away the glitz, glamour and “sparkles” of an international dancing career in order to return home to Noosa as a dance teacher.

“When you go overseas you appreciate what we’ve got here. It was an easy decision to come home; it was nice to be back in the same area as my family,” he says.

“I always wanted to have my own dance school back here on the coast since I was a kid. I used to idolise my teachers – they’re still around teaching and I still catch up with them.”

He’s happy with where he is in life although he did let slip he aspires to become an examiner one day.

But not until he’s a grumpy old man, he adds with a grin. fiercestudios.com.au

FIVE YEARS AGO, she thought nothing about the fate of greyhounds after the racing world was finished with them, but when she found out most were either destroyed or left to university research labs, vet clinics and animal shelters, she had found a calling.

“I just assumed like everyone else that greyhounds were just racing dogs; they had a good life and were looked after,” she says. “When I found out what happened to them I was enraged and couldn’t believe something wasn’t being done about it.”

That began what Katrina now describes as her full-time and “crazy” life, re-homing retired greyhounds into foster or permanent care with the not-for-profit organisation Friends of the Hound.

“I basically hadn’t even met a greyhound before getting involved,” she says. “Now we’ve done about 22 adoptions in less than two months and well over 150 in the last three years,” she says from her picturesque property in Cooran, shared with her husband Foti.

Promoting the organisation through country shows, dog walks, markets and schools, Friends of the Hound relies on donations and loyal and enthusiastic volunteers such as foster families. It’s a group of people who don’t seek recognition but just share a passion for saving dogs.

But saving such a huge number of retired greyhounds is a difficult and two-fold challenge.

First, the dog once bred for Egyptian royalty and English nobility is simply seen as a commodity by the racing community. About 20,000 greyhounds are bred for racing every year and only half ever make it to the racetrack. The ones that do race face a hard life with a bleak future.

“When I got Riley from the pound, I had to sedate him for two weeks,” Katrina says, cuddling up to a gorgeous black greyhound with big golden eyes.

“Every time he came out of sedation he’d start thrashing around: every muscle in his body was actually ripped and his spine was dislodged. They race the dogs until they break down, and Riley was just two years old when I got him.”

Katrina says the US is well ahead of Australia, and have about 300 greyhound adoption groups compared with half a dozen here.

Tellingly, greyhound racing is now banned in all but seven states in the US. “But Australia is such a betting nation,” Katrina says. “It’s all about the money.

“They’re being killed as a commodity and if it were happening to other dogs there’d be an uproar.”

Second, through the spectacle of racing, a perception has developed that greyhounds are aggressive animals who are not suitable as pets. The misconception makes it difficult for the organisation to find enough foster homes for them.

In reality, greyhounds are gentle companion dogs. As sprinters rather than endurance animals, they sleep for a large part of the day and require no more exercise than any other dog breed.

“They’ll zoom around the yard and then they’re exhausted,” Katrina says. “When I take them for a walk, I’ll be dragging them all the way home. They’re so lazy; they’re like a large cat.” >

UÊÊ

UÊÊ

UÊÊ

UÊÊ

UÊÊ

UÊÊ

UÊÊ

Carmel’s Designs & Homewares

Kevin and Nadine Weatherley, who adopted two greyhounds through Friends of the Hound, agree.

“When we found Freddy and Jasmine we thought they could be perfect, but we were totally surprised when we got them home,” Nadine says. “The perception is bizarre – that they need to run or they’re vicious – but people meet them and are amazed how lovely they are and they’re converted.”

Whilst the family, which includes two boys aged three and seven, had read the dogs were loyal and easy going, they didn’t expect them to be so affectionate.

“They just want to be with you all the time; they love people and they’re lots of fun,” Nadine says.

“People don’t think of them as pets, just as racing machines, but they’re beautiful dogs … sweet, kind and gentle. It’s amazing to think they’re treated so badly, but they’re so trusting and happy to be part of the family.”

Both Nadine and Katrina express amazement at the resilience of the dogs that are rescued, especially emotionally.

Both feel a special bond with their pets based on the knowledge they’ve restored a trust taken away through others’ mistreatment.

With enough love, their pets are evidence that the biggest hurts can heal. friendsofthehound.org.au

share a special moment

taste ~ experience ~ explore ~ discover

Indulge in a food-lover’s paradise at one of Spicers award-winning restaurants where Asian style and inspired European meets the tranquillity of the beautiful Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Enjoy a relaxing night and delicious dinner or experience an intimate cooking class exploring Thai, French, Italian and Market cuisine ... A perfect way to explore and sample the culinary soul of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

The Tamarind offers modern Asian and classic Thai cuisine set in an outdoor pavilion surrounded by tropical forest and is the perfect setting for a long lunch or an intimate dinner. Award winning Thai cooking school runs every Saturday which includes lunch.

JAZZ on SUNDAYS 12.30pm to 3.30pm.

Spicers Tamarind Retreat & Spa 88 Obi Lane South, Maleny Sunshine Coast Hinterland Bookings: 1300 194 086 E. tamarind@spicersgroup.com.au

The Long Apron offers a unique taste of Europe in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Award winning (2 Chefs Hats) 5 star restaurant, and ‘Best Prestige restaurant’ in Qld 2 years running. Cooking classes run Saturdays or Wednesdays with French flair or Classic Italian.

Spicers Clovelly Estate 68 Balmoral Road, Montville Sunshine Coast Hinterland Bookings: 1300 807 986 E. clovelly@spicersgroup.com.au

www.spicersgroup.com.au

BUT FOR MY MONEY, to feel the people and to get a sense of the sheer community that is the Sunshine Coast, the best spaces are the public ones. And you won’t find a stronger sense of what the coast is or who Sunshine Coasters are than on the beaches.

Whilst in summer our beaches are like rock stars that people mob and go all feverish and wild over, I reckon our coastal fringes are at their best in the in-between seasons of spring and autumn.

The sun doesn’t bite down so hard then. There is not the sharp anxiety inherent in summer that every day just has to be a great beach day or else summer holiday dreams will be dashed.

In the wake of the harsh, hot summer just passed, autumn somehow holds its arms more open to sand and sea lovers, holding us a little more gently and not leaving us quite so wrung out.

Sunshine Coast beaches are egalitarian in the best way – it doesn’t matter what you do for a living, or how big your house is, or whether you are single, married, old or young. Affectations and pretences are stripped bare on the beach, as bare as the bodies that adorn the sand and bob about in the sea.

People with new designer beachwear float next to those whose togs were bought for a song and are worn thin with salt and sun. Porsches are parked next to jalopies in the car parks. Executives and volunteers share the same stretch of sand.

It has the makings of a utopian society, albeit a temporary one. If everyone follows the rules, such

as swimming between the red and yellow flags, no one gets hurt and everyone goes home enriched and happy.

art, exposing it to the public also means exposing it to the sun.

Real men and women wear sunscreen: I’m just saying.

But whilst I think all this equality and togetherness really is very lovely, it is timely to lodge a few gentle reminders.

Just as our love for it is primal, the ocean is a raw and uncivilised beast with no respect for tiny tops or delicately arranged swimwear.

Its waves will not hesitate to toss, shake and strip a person down, leaving them as naked as the day they were born.

Some people seem to forget that whilst we settle in for an hour or a day, there are no walls on the beach. From the water’s edge, everyone can hear you scream. Every conversation can be overheard.

So these places of utter natural beauty are probably not the right ones to demonstrate a broad grasp of the word category that could delicately be called “colourful” or to settle an argument with a little domestic brouhaha.

Remember also that every action can be seen. It is probably advisable to save the private-place scratching for a time that is, well, more private. And change rooms are provided for changing your clothes, so spare your beach neighbours an eyeful of your undergarments and the wrong side of your tan lines.

Remember, too, that tattoos offer no sun protection. Even though an autumn sojourn to the beach is a great chance to show off body

But like in the worst of dreams, baring it all will be in the full view of the public. My best advice is to check that all the right bits are back under cover before emerging from the water and walking back to the towel.

Just remember, too, that the unwritten rules of beach culture dictate that to lay out a towel is to stake a claim: the little bit of sand it lies on is mine until I am done with dipping and snoozing and I head for home.

Even on the busiest beach days, there is enough room for everyone in paradise.

To see more illustrations by Peter Hollard visit peterhollardart.com

THE SPAROOM Shop 114, Oceans Arcade 101-105 The Esplanade Mooloolaba, Q. 4557

-

BOOKING ESSENTIAL (07) 5326 1710 relax@thesparoom.com.au www.thesparoom.com.au

-

RATED 4.5 / 5 ON TRIP ADVISOR LIMITED OFFER Visit - thesparoom.com.au/offer.html Scan - Our QR Barcode

-

Voted as Best Cafe Restaurant & Best Breakfast Restaurant and winner of the People’s Choice Award 2012, Sirocco Noosa offers casual dining with uninterrupted river views.

Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, tapas, with free WiFi, fully licensed and BYO wine.

257 Gympie Terrace Noosaville

p 5455 6688

www.sirocconoosa.com.au

THEN THERE ARE CHEFS who throw their customers out of the restaurant in a huff for sending their steaks back, like those Chris Webster worked with at an uppity French restaurant in London – an experience that shaped his career.

Now head chef at Daisy’s Place at Glenview, Chris was 22 when he went to London to refine his trade over 18 months.

Whilst it was a shock to the system for the cruisy young chef from Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, it was there he realised cooking was not just a job; it was his vocation.

The experience – complete with screaming chefs and physical punishment for sacrilegious slip-ups like not seasoning beans properly or overcooking fish – taught him who he wanted to be as a chef. Or rather, who he didn’t want to be.

“It was a massive eye opener,” he says. “I guess my real passion for food came when I was there. When I went to London I saw how much more serious the restaurant industry is over there: the quality of the food, the service standards. Everything really blew me away.

“But it was certainly a challenge. The idea that ‘close enough isn’t good enough’ was definitely something that got driven into you hard and fast. If you didn’t pick it up you wouldn’t have a job.”

Chris would have stayed in London thickening his skin whilst he thickened his sauces had his visa allowed it, but life had other plans for him. He returned to Australia in December 2009 and walked straight into a job at Hamilton Island, where he met his partner, Kerstin Hetzendorfer, who runs front of house at Daisy’s Place. The two bonded over their shared love of hospitality, and when offered the chance to work as a team at the newly renovated Daisy’s Place in July last year, they jumped at the opportunity.

Chris and Kerstin liked owner Sue Joseph’s plan to bring a high-quality dining experience and a more diverse clientele to the former Rustic Cabin, which in its new incarnation as Daisy’s Place could be described as a classy oasis of urban chic in a glorious rainforest setting. Chris was particularly drawn to >

OPENING HOURS

~

LU N C H WE D - SUN

~

DINNE R WE D – SAT

AVA I L A B L E F OR WE DDIN GS A ND FUN CTIONS

Family owned and operated by Anthony and Aletta Lauriston 11 H A R RY ’ S L A N E B U DE R IM ( OF F L IND SAY ROA D ) P 54 45 6661

www.harrysonbuderim.com

Like us on facebook

Sue’s business values, which are the polar opposite to those of his London days.

“In London, it’s accepted to swear and scream and throw things,” says Chris. “When you’re there, it’s normality, but when you step back and think about it, it’s not needed. Sue has taught us you can get a lot better productivity out of someone by mentoring them properly, rather than screaming and shouting.”

Down-to-earth with a casual demeanour, you get the feeling Chris couldn’t be a mean boss in the kitchen if he tried. He encourages his staff to experiment with new dishes and flavours, gives them autonomy in creating specials, and ensures the wait staff taste every dish.

Both Chris and Kerstin light up when they describe their propensity to bend over backwards to satisfy their customers, proud that they strive to give a customer whatever they want to eat, even if it’s not on the menu.

“Our goal is to make it happen; everything is ‘yes’ and we’ll work out how to do it later,” Chris says.

Bubbly and bright-eyed, with a strong Austrian accent, Kerstin is the more outgoing of the pair.

“It is always my dream for anybody who comes through the door that I get them out with a smile,” says Kerstin.

And it appears her natural ease with customers has rubbed off on Chris. He used to be one of those chefs who preferred to hide away in the kitchen, whipping up signature dishes like his slow-cooked beef served with smoked potatoes, horseradish snow, burnt onion marmalade and watercress oil (pictured here). Or Kerstin’s favourite: crispy skin barramundi fillet served with herbed calamari, Jerusalem artichoke, parsley, garlic and lemon.

But Chris has started to push past his natural shyness and venture out from behind the steaming pots and pans and into the less familiar territory of the dining room, citing the importance of customer interaction.

“It’s very funny to watch,” says Kerstin, laughing at Chris’s initial awkwardness in the dining room. “It’s very cute to see. I do it every day so it’s natural for me.”

Chris admits he doesn’t always find it easy to engage in casual chitchat, but he enjoys it when it flows easily.

“The other day I spoke to two ladies and they said the mango was awesome and asked where I got it from,” says Chris. “I said north Queensland. It turned out she thought they were from her brother’s farm. We sparked up a conversation and the next thing, they were calling out to me in the kitchen, ‘see you later Chris’, as they left. That’s something chefs don’t get to experience often.”

Kerstin says it is pride on display.

“I think it shows quality, if the chef can come out and be proud: ‘I’ve just cooked that for you’,” she says. “They see it as quality; somebody is proud of what they’ve just given us.”

With dreams of travelling Europe together – Chris salivates at the thought of seeing 80kg parmesan wheels at cheese-ageing factories in Italy – the dynamic duo of dining has many more adventures ahead.

But for now this is home. They’ve just bought their first block of land together on the Sunshine Coast and plan to build a house.

For the next few years at least, they will continue to breathe their cosmopolitan vitality and exuberant love for fine flavours and friendly service into their own little piece of gourmet heaven.

Daisy’s Place, 2859 Steve Irwin Way, Glenview. 5494 5192 or daisysplace.com.au

STYLISH

NEW RESTAURANT

& BAR

ARRIVING ON HASTINGS

SOON

Sheraton Noosa’s Cato’s Restaurant & Bar will be closed for an exciting design transformation from 25 February to late May 2013.

Our new space will be fresh, stylish, innovative and relaxed.

We can’t wait to share our new dining experience with you!

SNR1413

For information please call the Resort on 5449 4888.

sheratonnoosaresort.com

WITH AN UNWAVERING DESIRE to tantalise local tastebuds with exotic fruit and vegetables of years long past, the Sunshine Coast local was simply born to be a farmer. Growing up on a farm in west Woombye, Stephen has always thrived in the great outdoors – packing, picking and preparing produce with his family of six.

“I remember the day I left high school – we had our graduation at about 11 o’clock and by 12 o’clock I was in the orchard working,” he says. “I haven’t stopped since.”

ELEMENTS AT MONTVILLE

Now in his mid-thirties, Stephen’s passion has come full circle: from a wide-eyed kid planting his first orchard with his dad to a farmer expanding the boundaries of the local fruit and vegetable market.

“Back when I was a kid I thought farming was about driving tractors, planting seeds and picking fruit,” he says. “Little did I know how complicated it actually is. I originally started farming here as a bit of a break before doing something else, but I got drawn right into it.

The challenge is never ending. Every year you’re trying to do it a bit better. The technical side of things really motivates me.”

While Stephen farms a variety of produce, his primary passion is his persimmon crop. A staple throughout South-East Asia, the persimmon is a hard, sweet and crunchy fruit eaten like an apple.

“Persimmons are a big part of my background,” Stephen says.

“When I was growing up in the mid-’80s, my old man planted one of the first commercial sweet persimmon orchards in Australia. One hundred years ago it used to be the world’s most eaten fruit. There was so much of it growing right through Asia. In Australia and New Zealand though, it’s a fairly new industry.”

Stephen’s passion for the fruit led to him helping ignite a national campaign for Australian persimmon farmers. As a current member and former president of the persimmon industry body, he was at the heart of a public relations push that saw the fruit endorsed by MasterChef luminary Poh Ling Yeow. >

38 Kondalilla Falls Rd Montville www.elementsmontville.com.au

07 5478 6212

“Southeast Queensland produces about 40 to 50 per cent of the national persimmon crop,” he says. “It’s been a tough market to crack, but I think it has so much potential locally.

“It comes into season in autumn, right where you’re at the tail-end of your stone fruit season and citrus is just starting. There’s not a lot of exotic fruit around to help fill the basket.”

Stephen’s wish to expand the palate of Queensland produce consumers extends far beyond his persimmon interest. He’s working hard with his father – a man still marching up and down the hills in his 80s – on a special plantation of heirloom tomatoes.

“The tomatoes are soft, so it’s about undoing the years of conditioning (to expect hard tomatoes) consumers have had,” he says. “But it’s got such a good flavour. Give me two or three years and I want to have four or five heirloom vegetables we can put through local markets.

“I want to begin unwinding a lot of what we’ve lost in the fruit industry. We’ve had a big decline in variety. It’s all got to be hard and last for weeks.

“There’s a lot more to life – the world is full of beautiful fruit that hasn’t been discovered yet.”

Married with three young children, Stephen is already passing along the tricks of the trade.

“I have two little boys and a little girl,” he says. “My boys especially just love what goes on out on the farm and get into it boots and all. It’s a great environment to bring up your kids.”

Personally, Stephen is still motivated by the challenges nature throws his way. He’s constantly developing his farming technique and looking to innovate.

“I love the beauty of the cycles – flowering, fruit growth, harvests,” he says. “Watching it unfold and grow is exciting. I get excited about achieving that perfect-tasting fruit and watching people enjoy it.

“I enjoy the challenges of farming. Things like farming your soil fertility – improving the flavour of your fruit through the health of your soil – and looking at alternative ways to manage pests.

“When I was a kid it was all about being outdoors and driving tractors; a lot more simple. Now it’s about building something: moulding nature to produce a beautiful product.”

ROBERT AND DAWN KirbyshireArnold’s version, manifested in their highly successful mobile catering company, Senor Paella, comes pretty close to the mark.

It contains all the ingredients of a good page-turner: romance, travel, comedy and a touch of the unexpected. Crossing continents and cultures, their story brings a legendary and colourful Spanish culinary tradition bursting to life on the Sunshine Coast.

It begins in England, their home country, about 10 years ago when they met. Robert, then a sailing and windsurfing coach working at the Royal Yachting Association, invites his future wife Dawn, a high school teacher, on a picnic for their first date.

“That was what did it,” says Dawn.

Robert’s passionate hobby for good food and cooking, honed during years living in Spain, France and other parts of southern Europe, was very evident and Dawn was suitably impressed.

It turned out that Robert particularly loved cooking paella, the traditional rice-based Spanish dish which originates from Valencia. Co-incidentally, paella happened to be Dawn’s favourite food.

Little did they know it then, but the seeds for their future together had been sown.

Fast forward a decade, and Robert and Dawn find themselves in a new life and business venture based from their home in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Senor Paella, which the Kirbyshire-Arnolds opened in 2006, now caters for an average of three functions a week that can range in size from intimate small groups up to 400-plus people. They work mainly in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, but have travelled as far afield as Byron Bay in the south and Agnes Waters in the north. They regularly cater at weddings, corporate functions, parties, halal functions and even wakes.

Incredibly, apart from occasional casual wait staff, Dawn explains “it’s just us”.

“Ten or 15 years ago, I would never have thought this is where I’d be,” says Robert.

Robert mastered the art of the paella when he was living in Majorca, Spain, in the 1990s, under the tutelage of a Spanish family who ran a restaurant there.

“One of the first things the lady who taught me to cook it said to me was ‘there are 60 million ways of cooking a paella, because there are 60 million Spanish people in the

world’,” he says. “Of course everybody thinks they’re doing it the right way and you’re doing it the wrong way!

“They taught me about the passion for the food they have over there. You get your wrist slapped if you do the wrong thing.

You have respect and passion for the food.”

The enormous imported Spanish paella pans Robert uses, known for the thinness of their metal and their wide, flat bases, are vital to the success of the paella. “The thing about paella is that if it’s not done in the traditional pan, then it’s just a rice dish,” says Robert.

All his custom-made equipment is transported with clockwork professionalism to and from venues in a specially fitted-out van. Robert “performs” the preparation and cooking of the paella on site.

“It’s supposed to be visually entertaining, taste good and be aromatic,” he says. “That’s what you need – something for the eye, the nose, and the tastebuds of course.”

Robert uses the freshest of local produce, including prawns from Mooloolaba and limes from Cooroy. He praises his local butcher, who knows that he’s “very fussy about the quality of the meat”. The calasparra rice, however – paella’s “secret ingredient”, according to Robert – comes all the way from Spain.

Dawn, who also continues to work as a high school film and English teacher, is in charge of the marketing and administration side of the business. She also goes to every function with Robert to help set up and serve.

Whilst Robert and Dawn may never have dreamt of having such a flourishing business together when they first met, they now seem as if they were born for it.

“We’re very aware that we’re part of a memory,” says Robert.

“It’s really, really rewarding,” adds Dawn.

“We’re a great team actually. We get on really well, and we like spending lots of time together.”

Now that sounds like the perfect recipe for success.

Senor Paella, 5476 2292 or 0414 159 978, senorpaella.com.au

Framing

Giftware

Excitingly Refreshing Mooloolaba

Jewellery

Artefacts

Visiting The Frameyard Picture Framing Store can be a colourful experience.

Shop 2, Hudspith House,

Introducing unusual Giftware, Contemporary Jewellery and Collectable Artefacts

Cnr Brisbane Rd & Walan St

lends a particularly eclectic flavour to this well appointed and uniquely different

Mooloolaba Queensland

corner shop. Well worth a browse anytime. Situated opposite the Mooloolaba

P: 07 5444 2895

a must on the shopping list.

E: sales@theframeyard.com.au

Bulcock St

Esp

lan

ade

Knox Ave

The

Minchinton St

Otranto Av e

Post Office with its own easily accessible parking, makes visiting The Frameyard

The

ade

lan

Esp

SANDBAR CAFE AND KIOSK 26 THE ESPLANADE, BULCOCK BEACH, CALOUNDRA , QLD 4551 T: (07) 5491 0800 F: (07) 5437 0722 INFO@SANDBARCAFEKIOSK.COM . AU WWW.SANDBARCAFEKIOSK.COM . AU

Bookings 5491 0800

oh so

AUTUMN

www.getsetfootwear.com.au Noosaville - 230 Gympie Tce 5447 1755

Birkenstock Crocs FitFlops Skechers Teva Keen ECCO Naot Wonders of Spain

Mens Ladies Kids

Caloundra - 82A Bulcock St 5492 7185 www.getsetfootwear.com.au

tangled up in

nude with

neon

WHEN KAREN AND her family relocated to Mooloolaba from Sydney in 2009, Karen’s successful womenswear label, Juliet in Stilettos, was selling to 50 stores throughout Australia.

But its black colour palette and urban aesthetic didn’t fit with Queensland’s sunny disposition.

“So I thought I’d give swimwear a try,” Karen says, by simple explanation for her design shift from clothing to swimsuits.

But perhaps she was always destined to design swimwear. After all, Karen grew up on Sydney’s Bondi Beach with a French fashion-designer mum.

With Mooloolaba Beach nearby to inspire her, Karen launched Coco Riche swimwear with a business partner before going solo with her luxury swimwear and resortwear label, Mijanou, named after her French aunt. Mijanou launched at Gold Coast Fashion Week in February 2012 and the third collection is in the wings for release in spring 2013.

“Good people are flocking towards it,” Karen says gratefully of Mijanou’s early success, including featuring in respected fashion bibles like Harper’s Bazaar and Russh Magazine.

Working from her home studio, Karen’s dream is for Mijanou to become an international brand. She has secured 10 stockists throughout Australia and is thrilled that an international distributor is now on board to take her brand to buyers in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

“We went on Global Fashion Wire and that’s how we got our European distributor. They scouted us. They deal with Jantzen, Sunseeker and other well-known brands. Now I’m talking to a US rep so we’ll hopefully secure a rep there soon,” Karen says.

Another coup for Mijanou was being named a semi-finalist from a pool of 200 Australian labels in the Launch Your Label 2012 fashion design competition, judged by design icon Peter Morrissey and other industry leaders. Mijanou missed being chosen for the top five spots, but snared a highly commended prize.

Karen is preparing for a hectic year, kicking off with Gold Coast Fashion Week in April and a celebrity styling event in association with Fashion Week Las Vegas 2013.

Karen believes Mijanou gets noticed in the crowded Australian swimwear market because it stands apart from the predominantly sexy and skimpy garments found on store clothing racks nationally.

“I like to do things differently,” Karen says. “I’m more fashion oriented. Swimwear needs to have sex appeal and glamour. It also needs to be a great fit and to be feminine.”

Autumn Retreat warm to a little indulgence

Mijanou’s Holidays in Hydra collection – photographed by international photographer Nikos Reskos on Hydra’s sparkling shores – is out in stores now. It is designed to be fashionable, exclusive and edgy and includes a mix of playful and sleek styles for bikinis, one pieces, and kaftans. Colours range from striking black to block colours in canary yellow and bright kaleidoscopic prints that channel art nouveau and baroque styles.

And whilst Karen’s creations echo the vibrancy of Queensland’s climate, they are also infused with a romantic European flavour as her French heritage shines through.

Karen designs her label with impeccable attention to detail and is vocal about the importance of fastidious patternmaking to ensure a garment’s quality fit. She also prefers to own the entire design process, which starts at home with her sketchpad.

“I design everything here. I come up with ideas. I sketch them. I make all the patterns downstairs and use different fabrics to test the fit. Sometimes I make the samples here in the right fabric and then send them to our manufacturers overseas,” Karen says.

Karen is thrilled with Mijanou’s early success but admits she is also well aware the Australian swimwear industry is a notoriously tough nut to crack.

“It’s a really tight market because a lot of the stores are owned by major brands,” she says. “But I’ll keep plugging away and go for the boutique stores and resort stores.”

Karen’s lifelong love for fashion is what keeps her motivated.

She made her first garment at age 12 alongside her mother who designed children’s and womenswear and owned a store in Oxford Street, Paddington in Sydney.

After graduating from university, Karen worked as an analytical chemist for six years in Sydney but decided to hang up her lab coat and become a fashion designer instead.

“Everyone said, ‘No, don’t do it’,” Karen recalls of her decision to leave her lucrative chemistry career to launch a label and set up a retail store in Bondi in the ’90s. “But I was bored. Really bored. In that sense it wasn’t a difficult decision … Fashion just suited me. It’s still my passion.”

All this for only

$120pp

Gift Certificates available for all occasions

Book your time out today by phoning The Spa on 07 5440 3355

the spa

mijanou.com.au Only 3 mins from Hastings St ~ Links Drive Noosa Heads Q 4567 spa@noosasprings.com.au ~ www.noosasprings.com.au

THERE ARE NO THANK YOUS whispered to them, a daily moisturise doesn’t come close to making an appearance on my to-do list, and somehow I’ve come to think that cracked heels are the new normal.

The average person is said to walk about 128,000km in their lifetime (that’s more than three times around Earth!), so I’ve decided that 2013 is the year where my feet get pedestal position.

Spa Anise will help set me on the right path. Tucked away in the rolling hills of the Sunshine Coast hinterland near Maleny, this is Spicers Tamarind Retreat’s luxury, on-site day spa. Opened in late 2011, it overlooks lush greenery, and is hidden in what feels like a world of its own.

Winding my way along the timber boardwalk past Asian-inspired gardens, I quickly get a sense that this destination spa will go beyond the traditional pampering experience.

Today, I will be experiencing the Botanical Barefoot Indulgence.

The experience, I’m told, will take up one blissful hour and will leave my feet feeling nourished and my mind relaxed. Digging deeper than a pedicure, this treatment looks at what is going on beneath the surface through reflexology as well as treating the skin through a foot scrub and clay wrap. >

Massage therapist Kitty Knight greets me at reception with a chilled lime water.

As I sip, Kitty leads me past the relaxation lounge to a private, dimly lit treatment room complete with an ensuite.

Here, I change into a white, cosy robe before heading to the foot therapy room.

I slowly dip my feet into a stone footbath filled with warm water and infused with French lavender, geranium lime and grapefruit essential oils. The sensation sends tingles up my legs and I hold myself back from letting out a big, grateful sigh. It feels sensational.

As I jot down what I hope to achieve from the treatment – nourished skin, a sense of calm – Kitty asks me to note any areas of my body that hold tension and stress.

Despite the treatment being foot-focused, the reflexology element has the potential to target other areas of the body through massaging areas of the feet, so on the diagram I mark neck, shoulders and stomach.

But before the reflexology takes place, I have some pampering to enjoy. I’m led back to the treatment room and lie down in the flickering candlelight.

My body is covered with towels, as are my eyes. In the darkness, I immediately feel myself letting go of busy thoughts, grounding myself in the moment.

Using products from the Waterlily range, the treatment begins with a Bamboo & Spearmint Foot Scrub. The bamboo grains work to buff my feet whilst the zesty spearmint leaves them feeling invigorated.

Next, blue volcanic clay containing active marine extracts is layered over the scrub to help draw out toxins.

Once my feet are covered from heel to toe, top to sole, a muslin cloth is wrapped around each foot and then cocooned with warm, plush towels.

I’m already relaxed and at peace when Kitty moves to the top of the bed and uses her fingers to give me a deep, dry scalp massage as my feet soak in the products’ nutrients.

I feel as though I’m beginning to drift when my feet are unwrapped and cleaned of the clay and scrub.

In their place, a Waterlily Spearmint & Ginko balm is applied to assist in restoring elasticity and suppleness. This is also where I am introduced to reflexology.

Kitty targets the tension in my stomach by working on the soft pocket of both feet. To reduce the stress I carry in my shoulders and neck, the bridges of my feet become the focus, particularly the area near my little toes and the base of my big toes.

In my dreamlike state I am unsure of how many minutes have ticked by, but like all good things it must come to an end.

Moving into the relaxation lounge, I’m served a hot cup of specially blended Spa Anise herbal tea. Sitting with my smooth, soft feet tucked under me I gaze out across the hinterland.

I came with high expectations, and it was far better than I could have imagined.

WATER AND SALT ROSE PETAL CREAM $52.80, 50ml. Available at Salt Caves, 5/21 Smith Street, Mooloolaba. 5444 1339 or 192 James Street, Toowoomba.

4659 9269 or saltcaves.com.au JANE IREDALE SMOOTH AFFAIR™ FACIAL PRIMER & BRIGHTENER $72, 50ml. Available at The Spa, Palmer Coolum Resort, Warran Road, Coolum Beach. 5446 1234 or palmercoolumresort.com.au DE LORENZO EQUILIBRIUM TREATMENT MASQUE $31, 250g. Available at River Terrace Hair, Shop 4, 253 Gympie Terrace, Noosaville. 5440 5626 or facebook.com/RiverTerraceHairStudio JANE IREDALE DREAM TINT® TINTED MOISTURISER SPF 15 $72, 50ml. Available at One Spa RACV, 94 Noosa Drive, Noosa Heads.

5341 6900 or racv.com.au

ANCIENT MINERALS MAGNESIUM OIL $33.50, 237ml. Available at Elements at Montville, 38 Kondalilla Falls Road, Montville. 5478 6212 or elementsmontville.com.au ULTRACEUTICALS ULTRA LIP THERAPY WITH SPF 15 PROTECTION $29, 3ml. Available at The Spa Room, Oceans Resort Arcade, The Esplanade, Mooloolaba.

5326 1710 or thesparoom.com.au

JANE IREDALE PURE-PRESSED MINERAL EYESHADOW $36, 2.8g. Available at Ikatan Spa, 46 Grays Road, Doonan. 5471 1199 or ikatanspa.com

THALGO MOISTURE QUENCHING MASK $63, 50ml. Available at AQUA Day Spa Sheraton Noosa Resort & Spa, 14-16 Hastings Street, Noosa Heads. 5449 4888 or sheratonnoosaresort.com/spa

MINERELLE MINERAL MAKEUP 4 IN 1 FOUNDATION POWDER $77, 10G. AVAILABLE AT ASANTE DAY SPA, SHOP 5/7-13 BEACH ROAD, COOLUM BEACH. 5446 5229 OR ASANTESPA.COM.AU

SAYA ACTIVE MOISTURE ANTI-OXIDANT PLUS HYDRATION $25, 100ML. AVAILABLE AT SAYA FACTORY, SHOP 6/41 GATEWAY DRIVE, NOOSAVILLE. 5473 0257 OR SAYASKIN.COM

GOLDWELL ELIXIR WITH ARGAN OIL AND TAMANU OIL $34.95, 100ml. Available at smyths inc, Islander Resort, 187 Gympie Terrace, Noosaville. 5449 8877 or Ocean Breeze, 52 Hastings Street, Noosa. 5447 4422 or smythsinc.com

EMINENCE COCONUT AGE CORRECTIVE MOISTURIZER $109, 60ML. AVAILABLE AT THE SPA, NOOSA SPRINGS, LINKS DRIVE, NOOSA HEADS. 5440 3355 OR NOOSASPRINGS.COM.AU

WATERLILY GREEN TEA & ROSE REPLENISHING DAY CRÈME $41, 50ml. Available at Spa Anise, Spicers Tamarind Retreat, 88 Obi Lane South, Maleny. 1300 252 380 or spicersgroup.com.au

NEEDLESS TO SAY, by the time I arrive at the front door I’m looking more like a puppy who’s been dragged through a puddle than someone who’s spent half the morning trying to pull and prompt my unruly hair into something almost presentable.

But I’m in for a surprise – this is a salon where I feel immediately welcomed by the staff, no matter the state of my hair. The delicious mint and chocolate decor warms me as I wait on the could-sit-here-forever reception lounge.

In moments, Belinda Baretta, owner of Eco Organic, is at my side with a smile. She has a hair colour I immediately covet.

I apologise profusely for the state of my hair. I’m fairly certain I’ve been sent on this assignment based solely on the fact I have the worst (lack of) hairstyle in salt HQ. >

As we chat, it’s obvious Belinda is an expert in every facet of exceptional service – she’s honestly interested in what I usually do with my hair, my normal routine and what I’m capable of maintaining once I leave the salon.

Before long we’re poring over the possibilities of 36 enticing organic colour swatches, before deciding on a golden chestnutbrown which will add depth and shine to my hair and a cut which will add style and body.

Before leaving my side to mix the colour, Belinda asks if I would like tea or coffee. A two-cup plunger of steaming coffee, separate milk jug and sweet biscuit on the side duly arrive ceremoniously placed on a black lacquered tray. The salon only uses fresh coffee and organic loose-leaf teas from a neighbouring produce store, supporting other local businesses.

Working the ammonia-free colour expertly into my hair, Belinda explains her journey into organic colour came about during a four-year working holiday in London.

“I used to get dermatitis and allergies colouring hair. I’d have tears streaming down my face and clients asking if I was OK but I thought it was normal,” she says of working with chemical-based colours before discovering the organic range she still uses today.

Fortunately for us, Belinda was so excited by the difference organic colours made to her health she wanted to introduce it back here, figuring if she didn’t do it soon someone else would.

As the colour sets, I enjoy the luxury of thumbing through magazines (conscious such opportunities are few and far between in life) before moving to the basin for a rinse, condition and indulgent scalp massage.

Heading back to my position in front of the mirror, I’m thrilled to notice there’s little staining on my scalp. Combing through my now silky-soft hair, Belinda explains it’s an added advantage of organic colour.

A trim of my medium-length hair ensues, Belinda removing dry, split ends to reveal healthier layers, my hair responding by falling in style rather than the frizziness of my earlier arrival.

Pampering my hair further with the divine Kevin Murphy Young Again Treatment Oil, Belinda and I agree a scrunch-dry with a diffuser is the best option judging by the rain still falling steadily outside.

It’s only a matter of time before my new locks get wet, but at least I’ll be holding my head up high.

WHAT IS SKIN CANCER?

CATCHING CANCER EARLY

PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE

holistic dental care at noosa junction

At JD Dental, we believe that dental health is just a component of your all over well-being.

We would like to help you find the answer to better health.

By sharing our knowledge - from amalgam fillings (metal) and root canal treated teeth, to the perfect mix of a healthy diet and lifestyle tailored specifically for you.

Find the balance and feel great!

Dr Alex Dietz -

16 Sunshine Beach Road, Noosa Junction P 07 5449 2460 E info@noosajunctiondental.com.au www.noosajunctiondental.com.au

TECHNOLOGIES IN SKIN CANCER MANAGEMENT

club just for you!

Everyday advantages Advantageclub rewards Kawana Shoppingworld customers with special VIP privileges, including giveaways every month!

As an Advantageclub member you will receive updates on centre marketing activities, trading hours, store information and more!

With the redevelopment of the centre in full swing, what better time to stay connected with your local centre, than by signing up to our Advantageclub!

Complete an entry form at the Customer Service Desk or log onto www.kawanashoppingworld.com.au and join today.

Advantage... use it to yours!

N i c k l i n Wa y, B u d d i n a P h . 5 4 4 4 1 9 4 4 w w w. k a w a n a s h o p p i n g w o r l d . c o m . a u

.com.au kawanashoppingworld w. ww to go or ils ta See in centre for de

create a three-dimensional effect, etching lines on the canvas to outline heads and bodies, and pulling the paint into peaks to create feathers. It’s a work that reveals itself only to those who come close enough to experience it intimately.

A good-natured, playful man who seems reluctant to speak too highly of his work lest he comes across as arrogant, Georges seems a little weary with the difficulties inherent in his chosen profession.

HE IS A MASTER contemporary impressionist who paints everything from portraits to landscapes, seascapes, flowers and wildlife, yet it’s this monochrome work he is singling out.

One is the impact cheap art imported from Asia is having on the Australian art industry. Another is his exceptional versatility as an artist, which you would think would be an advantage, but in fact works against him.

As we walk towards the painting, something magic happens: emus appear on the canvas. Georges has used lashings of oil paint to

“People buy investment art because you can recognise the artist by the way someone paints, for example Pro Hart is Pro Hart,” >

he says. “I’m too versatile; my versatility is killing me. I can’t just paint in the same way. I go by the subject, and the subject has a certain feeling, expression, meaning. So I paint it accordingly, to express that.”

Change was forced on Georges at an early age and he grew to crave it. Born in Java, Indonesia to a French father and a Dutch Indonesian mother, he spent his early childhood years in the Netherlands, before moving to Brazil at the age of 12 and then Australia at 17.

It was at the age of five in the Netherlands, where his parents owned a hotel, that Georges created his first artwork: a comical black and white hotel scene complete with children riding bicycles inside and adults lying on the floor drunk. He laughs as he points out the funny things he thought to draw as a child, but doesn’t remember drawing it. It was his mother, a sketch artist, who kept it as proof of his early artistic talent.

Georges’ halcyon days began when his family moved to Brazil, where life had an easier flow and he found he related well to the Brazilian love of “life, music, dancing and being happy”. He began to study art and was full of confidence as he held his first exhibition at the age of 15 at the National Library of Santa Maria.

“It was around 1965 and I had to pick up my paintings in a horse-driven cart,” he says. “Brazil is amazing; they’re very creative and innovative. They know a lot of ways I’ve never seen done here before. They used a spatula and wax to make paintings – things like that.”

He had “just started to become Brazilian” when his family moved to Australia. It was a difficult move at a tender age, and it was art that helped him through the upheaval. He studied art in Canberra and interior art and design in Adelaide, and later went on to work at the Australian National Gallery for eight years. There he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Sidney Nolan, James Gleeson and Christo. It was an inspiring period in his life, when he held many solo and group exhibitions with high-calibre artists such as Pro Hart, Ken Taber, Richard Bogusz and Hal Barton.

His work is represented in galleries and private collections here and overseas, but he shrugs off his success dismissively, becoming more relaxed and animated when the conversation turns to ballroom dancing, his other great passion in life.

He took up ballroom dancing after a serious car accident in Adelaide put him out of action for a year, and when he found he enjoyed it as much as painting, became an instructor. He doesn’t

dance anymore due to the lack of venues on the coast, and he speaks as if without dancing, he’s only half living.

But he still has his art, which can keep him up until two or three in the morning.

“At night it’s peaceful and quiet; there are no interruptions,” he says, adding that he always paints with music playing in the background.

His stint as a dance instructor is one of a patchwork of odd jobs Georges has held during his lifetime, including working as a limousine driver, security guard, scuba diver, makeup artist, labourer and bar tender, partly for the money but mostly to satisfy his need for change.

It’s this need that drives his approach to art, permeating everything he creates so that one day he might paint a portrait of Colleen McCullough or Georgio Armani (with a clown nose), the next he might sketch in charcoal, and then he might capture the clear light and vibrant oceanic blues of a Sunshine Coast seascape.

“I’m known for my charcoals and I can really express feeling in faces,” he says. “I’ve done portraits of people in charcoal, oils and acrylics, and I enjoy all of them equally. People say I should stick to charcoals because they’re my best, but I can’t. I always invent new ways, new styles.

“I always do a lot of clowns, red noses. I painted [former mayor] Bob Abbot for the Archibald Prize but he’s not the type to buy a portrait of himself. I had it sitting there and I said, ‘I’ll make a clown out of Bob Abbot’. I added things to make him a clown and it sold the week after.

“We all have a clown in us,” he says, of his penchant for painting famous figures as clowns. “We are all a clown, because we are all funny sometimes. A clown is happy and sad, and that’s what we’re all about.”

Georges Maximilien Petit’s artwork is on display at Gallery No. 10, 10 Bade Street, Nambour. 5441 6638 or kerrmullercollection.com.au

YET THESE “PLAIN JANES” of the ocean, along with crabs, catfish, sharks and beetles, are the unlikely muses of one artist whose paintings aim to not only reveal his subjects’ sheer beauty, but to provoke a reaction which looks way beneath their colourful surfaces.

It works.

Barry Fitzpatrick’s paintings are not photographic depictions, but stylised, symmetrical, semi-abstract works swathed in green, aqua, gold and red. They are bold, eye-catching and imposing works which are difficult to view without taking at least one more, slightly longer and deeper look.

A full time artist for the past 10 years, Barry is a retired high school art teacher and is also an ecologist. He lives, fittingly, on the edge of a wetland hosting many threatened bird and plant species, and regularly conducts environmental impact studies and surveys for councils, corporations and government departments. He has a deep and ongoing active concern for ecological issues, which is reflected in his art work.

His subjects, usually ignored by artists in favour of more traditionally pretty ones, are elevated to a status frequently reserved for portraits of the rich and famous.

“It’s an alternative subject matter to traditional art subject matter,” says Barry.

“It seems to be quite ‘de rigeur’ to paint flowers and fruit bowls and landscapes and portraits and things like that. Particularly portraits: there’s so much emphasis on us, we’re very narcissistic.

We can only look at art work if it’s about us; we’re drawn to it. It’s like [our obsession with] the celebrity thing. I’m kind of making marine forms have a celebrity focus.”

By painting his subjects in this way, Barry is “giving prominence to these things, raising them beyond the level of something that we consume”.

A background in marine biology (he started a science degree before switching to an art teaching degree because of unpromising job prospects), a life-long passion for the natural environment and an innate and refined artistic talent combine to account for his choice of subject matter and style.

“They’re based on these marine forms, but then I evolve them to work as pictures,” he says. “So I’m using them as a source, not as a depiction. My job is not to reproduce what something looks like. I’m doing a painting. So there are colours and so on that don’t naturally occur. The painting has its own dynamics, and I want to work in colours that suggest other things.”

Barry says the “pulsing colours” suggest, for example, the intricate and advanced internal technology of the cuttlefish which can change colour to match its background or to accept electric signals in the water, and other marine life which has in-built magnetic capacity to navigate their way through the ocean.

“These things have got this biological technology which is super efficient. There’s an enormous amount of intelligence in the way these things exist, but we don’t acknowledge it or recognise it,” he says. “I’m trying to draw people’s attention to these things as something more than just food. There are values they have that are additional to the way we value them now. I guess that’s what my art is trying to get people to think about.”

Barry, who paints with a combination of oils and acrylics on board, paints his subjects in symmetrical form rather than in three dimensional landscapes “because it’s emblematic; it’s got a strong sort of dignity about it, like a coat of arms, or a shield or something”.

Although his work has won a swag of prestigious awards, including the Moreton Bay Art Prize, and has achieved national acclaim and admiration, he insists that he does not “paint to sell”, or to any particular formula.

“If you’re working to a formula, you’re working within the known, and you’re also working within the community’s cultural comfort zone, which is dead thinking,” he says.

“You’ve got to do something which is extending the ideas of the thing in a cultural and intellectual sense, beyond just reproduction. If it’s extending people’s experience and understanding of something, and your own while you’re doing it, then you’re doing artwork.”

Barry Fitzpatrick’s paintings will be on display from April 1 to May 15 at Neo Gallery, 24 Berry Court, Mount Coolum.

Open daily by appointment. 5471 6175 or neogallery.net

Nissarana Galleries 5 Hastings Street, Noosa Heads 4567 QLD

P. 07 5455 4428

M. 0417 767 776 M. 0438 187 190 E. info@ngnoosa.com Representing the breathtaking fine art landscape photography of one of Australia’s premier photographic artists

Opening Hours Sunday to Thursday 10am - 7pm Friday to Saturday and Public Holidays 10am - 10pm *Also open for private viewings with appointment

There is now a golden opportunity for the serious investor, art lover or photography enthusiast to purchase these amazing and emotive artworks

Visuddhacara Philip Ayres

Now on display at our Noosa Gallery

And paintings by the unique indigenous artist

The rare limited edition prints on display are very impressive, with a natural look and colour that only adds to their unique and authentic quality

Jumba Jimba

IT WAS A FAMILY THING. “Because we travelled so much for my work as an international manager with global banking group HSBC, after our boys Kyle and Keir were born we wanted a base where they could always come back to and it would be home,” Guy says.

Looking for a location which offered a wonderful outdoor lifestyle, the couple found Sunshine Beach ticked all the boxes.

“It had to be no more than a few hours from an international airport, close to the ocean, a place geared around the outdoors and, as the kids have dual UK and Australian citizenship, this spot made perfect sense,” Guy says.

Whilst staying in Noosa and on a morning run, Yvonne fortuitously spotted the perfect house that was nestled on a quiet, leafy street in Sunshine Beach just footsteps from the ocean. She spied a “for sale” sign out the front and it was as good as sold then and there.

Originally designed 30 years ago by architect Gabriel Poole, the home’s unique layout comprises three pods which step up a hill, with bedrooms on the upper levels overlooking the nearby surf and national park.

Initially a holiday house, which the family would visit several times a year whilst still living overseas, Guy and Yvonne knew they would eventually love to retire to the coast. They enlisted the expertise of Kidd+Co and Carole Tretheway Design to renovate the house in stages and add a few customised touches.

Whilst the bones of the house had stood the test of time, the couple was keen to reduce the number of internal walls to open up spaces and add extra glass and bi-fold doors to create a more seamless connection with the outdoors.

enhance your life through design

www.ct-design.com.au

Servicing Brisbane and Sunshine Coast

Cosmetic changes also included updating the bathrooms, installing new decks around the pool and the addition of sandy-coloured Crema Luna limestone tiles throughout.

“I really wanted the house to blend in with the surrounding environment and have a slight Asian influence, because we’ve lived in several Asian countries and I wanted the house to reflect our history,” Yvonne says. “Carole was perfectly in tune with what I wanted, sourced the perfect pieces and it all came together effortlessly.”

The final stage of the renovation – updating the kitchen and furnishing the living areas – was completed before the couple’s return to Australia early last year. Guy and Yvonne couldn’t be happier with their permanent home by the beach.

Plush Jardan couches ladened with Florence Broadhurst cushions provide an inviting spot for an afternoon rest in the sea breeze. >

• building design • residential interiors • commercial interiors • furniture consultancy & design • investment property refurbishments

p. 07 54473255 f. 07 54473299 e. carole@ct-design.com.au shop 8b arcadia walk po box 613 noosa heads qld 4567

Landsborough Galleries 1/3pg

Sentimental global mementos are dotted around the house alongside favourite artworks, whilst walls and shelves provide a gallery for family photos which speak of a well-travelled, adventurous life.

In stark contrast to the bustling urban centres where they have lived in the past, the couple now wakes up to the sound of crashing waves and kookaburras. They relish meandering down to the local shops for a coffee after a leisurely walk on the beach with their cattle dog Pumpkin.

“What I love most about living here is getting back to nature,” Yvonne says. “It’s so peaceful and quiet here and our street has a wonderful community spirit. We all recently worked together to regenerate the median strip.”

In keeping with their relaxed lifestyle, the house has no front door. Instead, an intricate hand-crafted iron gate by artist Steve Weis greets visitors and leads the way to several indoor/outdoor living areas that overlook the pool.

Incredibly open and airy, the former galley kitchen is now stylish and functional with new cabinetry, oriental-inspired pendant lights, slimline glass windows and a huge Wolf oven. It’s also a favoured place to congregate when Kyle and Keir return home from their UK boarding school.

“I love the island bench,” says Yvonne of the impressive slab of Breccia Sarda marble flanked with stools. “When the boys are home, it’s where we eat, drink and talk and all the activity happens.”

Another ritual the boys love after their long-haul flight from London is hitting the surf.

“As soon as they arrive they drop their bags in the garage, change into their board shorts, grab their boards and head straight to the beach for a surf. The first time they’ll step foot in the house is when they come back at lunch for a bite to eat before heading out again,” Yvonne says.

Since moving in the couple have christened the house Kintakirri which in an Aboriginal language loosely translates to “place of laughter”.

And it truly is.

www.facebook.com/giddyandgrace

unique.individual.beautiful.conceptual interiors

Shop instore Shop 12, Pacific on Coolum, Birtwill Street, Coolum Beach tel. 07 5473 9550 Shop online www.watermelonred.com.au

Shop, Explore, Relax BE INSPIRED AND DISCOVER THIS SEASON’S TRENDS!

Latest & Greatest in Technology

It’s all about style!

HARVEY NORMAN

All the latest

comfort, style and luxury at its best.

DOMAYNE

Over 900 car spaces

Fully Air-conditioned

ALL YOUR LEADING BRANDS UNDER ONE ROOF

OFFER ENDS 31/05/13 OR UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE.

MAROOCHYDORE HOMEMAKER CENTRE, 11-55 MAROOCHY BOULEVARD, MAROOCHYDORE

WWW.MAROOCHYDOREHOMEMAKERCENTRE.COM.AU

248314_MHC

HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE busy themselves with all manner of weekend wanderings, hurrying in and out of what seems like an infinite array of specialty stalls. But in a space where it can be easy to get lost in the loop, Natalia Broadhead’s innocuous white marquee immediately stands out from the rest.

Fauna and flora cast in and around gorgeous rusted metal repeatedly catch the eye of Eumundi’s art-inclined visitors, enticing them away from the market’s beaten track. Fun, funky and functional, there’s more to these seemingly simple pieces than meets the eye.

“I was a florist before I began welding, which is why I have the passion to bring the environment and steel together,” Natalia says.

“I don’t want to just make sculptures, I want something people can be involved with. When they get bored of a plant, they can put something else in it. When they want to move things around, they can do it easily.

“I like to think of it like making furniture for the garden. You can reinvent spaces with [our work].”

Broadcroft, the name of Natalia’s burgeoning business, which has celebrated its first birthday. Created by the Melbourne native and her husband, the idea was the product of winding professional careers that saw the two navigate a plethora of creative crossroads.

“It all started with a bit of on an inkling I had for making gifts for friends out of scrap metal,” Natalia says.

“By chance, a friend had a forge in his backyard and I used it to make a metal screen for a pub I was working at. He told me about a night course [studying welding] which I took up.

Another friend who was a story board illustrator took me out to see the filming of Queen of the Damned, which is when I decided I wanted to build theatre and television sets.”

Natalia was soon working with some of the world’s biggest and best productions – and met the man she now calls her husband.

“I ended up welding for the Australian Ballet and Opera North in London. I did Big Brother sets and other television bits and pieces,” Natalia says.

“The bonus was you’d get to go to these productions and see the things you’d made in lights, painted, with people climbing all over them. It was a really rewarding job.

“When I was in London, I met Duncan. He’s English and we met on the workshop floor: very romantic!”

Not an average location for a life-changing romantic meeting, but then again, Natalia is anything but average.

She knows the pitfalls of specialising in a craft dominated by men and thrives on the challenge.

“It’s difficult overcoming those male issues,” she says. “But I guess for any woman who comes into a male-dominated industry, you have to be as good if not better than the guys to stand up and make your mark.

“You’ve got to have a working mind and the logic that construction requires. It’s not always the most glamorous of jobs, but it’s very rewarding.”

After years of set work and various service jobs, Natalia’s most eye-opening moment came when she was called up to the set of Channel 10 reality show The Renovators.

It came as a complete surprise to the now proud Kin Kin resident, who freely admits she chooses not to have a television at home.

“A friend emailed me the application from Melbourne and I thought the chances would be like winning the Lotto,” she says.

“The show involved six months in Sydney. The challenges of the time restraints – we had five hours for projects from beginning to end – taught me a lot about responding to your own ideas and going with your gut instincts.

“The reaction to my work gave me the confidence to push forward and overcome my nerves about starting up a business.”

Now, it’s full-steam ahead for Broadcroft, with designs gracing the yards of homes around Australia.

With her design work taking off and her two-year-old daughter – little renovator, Jess – keeping her busy, there are plenty of exciting opportunities on the horizon.

“Jess is a great little helper. She loves the hammer, she’s got her own miniature pair of riggers and her own little apprentice t-shirt,” she says.

“So far, we’ve sold pieces as far afield as Melbourne, Tasmania and Sydney and while we work mostly on our own stuff, we’re picking up more and more commissioned work too. All of our materials are sourced locally. We use a local laser cutter in Noosa, our steel supplier is in Gympie and our powder coating is done in Kawana and Caloundra.

“We picked a less than ideal time to start – in the middle of an economic downturn – but if we can survive this, we can do anything.” nataliabroadhead.com

We head inland over a golden patchwork of cane fields before whizzing over the winding Maroochy River. The view to the hinterland is slightly skewed by a light cloud, but we can still make out its curves in the distance.

MILLION-DOLLAR HOMES look to be made of Lego; rivers like a tiny tear running through a field. And the coastline appears awfully similar to the intricacy of a water-coloured painting.

We soar, we dip, we turn, we hover.

After years of living on the Sunshine Coast, today I’m seeing it from a different perspective.

Whilst I’ve peeked out of airplane windows for a rushed look of the region when leaving and landing at the local airport, this is the first time I’ve taken a tour of the area from the sky. And the best part? It’s all taking place in the see-through shell of a helicopter.

My fiancé and I are aloft with pilot Geoff Shaw on a Coastal Flyer joyride, which is a 15-minute flight offered by Becker Helicopters at Marcoola.

Geoff’s passion for the aircraft vibrates through him, and he’s kindly warned us not to get him started talking about helicopters or we risk losing our whole afternoon.

Untying the rotor blades, Geoff clicks the engine over and all of a sudden my legs are shaking almost violently.

We begin to hover off the tarmac and slowly lift. The front dips and we push forward above the tarmac and towards Mount Coolum. Before I know it we’re up in the air, the shaking exchanged for the smoothest kind of flying.

Our chariot is a Bell 206 jet ranger which can seat up to four people, but today it’s just the three of us.

“This is one of the more common helicopter types around with a miniature jet engine,” Geoff says. “It’s very reliable and is the civilian version of what the Australian Army do all their training in.”

Despite what I expected to be a bumpy ride, the helicopter moves effortlessly with almost no interference from wind. We sail smoothly over one suburb and town to the next, pointing out things as we fly by and speaking to each other over the lull of the engine.

“What you’ll like most about this flight is that when we get to Point Cartwright lighthouse, depending on how brave you are we’ll turn fairly tightly around the lighthouse and follow the beach back up,” Geoff says.

We begin to head in at Bli Bli, spotting the Sunshine Castle from the sky and working our way in a big loop back to the coast.

Scooping low past the lighthouse, we drop down to the minimum allowable altitude of 500 feet before taking a run back up the beach past Mooloolaba, Alexandra Headland and Maroochydore.

We watch kite surfers dancing with the wind and marvel at the magnificence of Mount Coolum in the distance.

Heading back to the base, we’re all in agreement that the 15 minutes has flown by too quickly. So, we jump at the chance when Geoff invites us to take a brief look at the other helicopters in the fleet.

He’s as passionate about helicopters as salt is about the coast, and the knowledge he bestows on us leaves me thinking that I too want to learn how to fly a helicopter.

Twenty minutes later we’re still listening to stories and planning which joyride we’ll do next.

He did warn us not to get him started on helicopters, but I’m glad we didn’t listen.

SF state forest

1

NP national park

highway

golf courses

major road

airport

N

minor road

SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN

URA

N

RA

N

G

E

1

GYMPIE

1

NOOSA HEADS COOROY

JI M N

AR AN

G

KENILWORTH

E

NAMBOUR MONTVILLE MALENY

DA LE RAN GE

BRU CE

CO NO N

CALOUNDRA

1

HIGHW AY CABOOLTURE

CORAL SEA

SCAN QR CODE TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST

*The information and illustrations displayed in all advertising material are indicative only and may change. Viridian Noosa Pty Ltd (Receivers and Managers Appointed)(In Liquidation) (“Vendor”), 360 Project Marketing Pty Ltd and agents of those companies do not represent or warrant the accuracy of the information and illustrations and do not accept any liability for any error or discrepancy in the information. The information and illustrations displayed in this advertisement will not form part of any contract for sale. The Vendor is the entity developing and offering to sell units at Viridian Resort & Spa, Noosa Heads (“Property”). The Vendor intends to enter into or has entered into agreements with Outrigger Global Holdings LLC, a Nevada USA limited liability company, and its related entities (“Outrigger”) that will allow The Vendor to use the “Outrigger” name and mark, which is owned by Outrigger, in the Vendor’s sales and marketing materials for the Property. The Vendor’s use of the “Outrigger” name and mark does not make Outrigger the entity offering or promoting the Property or any other product offered by the Vendor, nor does it make Outrigger an affiliate of the Vendor. Outrigger has no responsibility for the accuracy of any documents or materials given to you by the Vendor. VIR25974. Produced by totogroup.com.au