My Coastwatch

Radio announcer with 4KQ. Married to country singer Troy Cassar-Daley

Laurel Edwards

"Some of my fondest childhood memories were in the late 70’s on Moreton Bay. My dad, mum, sisters and I would be squashed into the cabin of our 21-foot boat at night playing cards and board games with a battery light overhead.  Heaps of laughs and special family times."

Titans assistant coach and former Queensland State of Origin great

Trevor Gillmeister

“I love all of Queensland, but the SE coast is the place I really like to be. I’m very busy these days with my job as assistant coach at the Gold Coast Titans, but when I can, I love to get away and go fishing, or have a surf. Football has been a huge part of my life, but so has the ocean. Queenslanders are the luckiest people in the world, we live in the best part of the best country, we’ve got the best beaches and the best State of Origin team ... tell that to someone from NSW today!”

Big (and we mean big) wave surfer

Mark Visser

"If I had to choose one thing that I love about the Sunshine Coast I'd say it would be the people. The people really make the place. When you travel around to places where people won't even talk to anyone it's so refreshing to come home to the Sunshine Coast and just walk down the road and just have people go 'Hey how you goin?' That's really cool and I think that's probably one of the most special things about the Coast. And also too although the waves are smaller you can go find heaps of surf spots on your own - it's not  overcrowded. It's just a cool place to be and I really love having this as a home base."

Australian Cricket Legend

Matthew Hayden

"When I’m not playing cricket, I love to come home and take my family to the beach and surf and fish and just totally relax.  There’s not many places in the world you can do that, just kick back with family and friends and play in a clean clear ocean and we have to make sure we look after it so my kids and their kids will enjoy what we have.  So as my mate Brownie always says “Don’t destroy what you came to enjoy” and make sure we all think about keeping what we’ve got in good shape for the future."

Surf and beach reports, Channel 7

Liz Cantor

"'Growing up at Sunshine Beach, I used to love when we'd get the cyclone swells in January through to March. The Noosa points would be the perfect size for my brother and I and we used to go out and literally, surf all day. We'd wake up, have a big brekkie, then head off to Tea Tree. We'd come back in late afternoon and head home glowing and with bloodshot eyes. We would devour dinner, I remember my arms would be so sore from paddling it would hurt to lift my knife and fork up to my mouth! Then we would both fall into a sleeping coma, wake up the next morning with the remains of zinc on our pillow and do it all again."

Moto GP rider, born and bred Sunshine Coaster

Chris Vermeulen

“I was raised in Yandina and have always loved the Sunshine Coast. I race Moto GP bikes for the Rizla Suzuki team, which is a very exciting life that takes me all around the world and gives me the opportunity to see some amazing places. The two places I like to be most, are standing on the winners' podium after a race and at home with my family on the Sunshine Coast, messing about on my boat, or going for an early paddle on my ski.”

Skipper of MiCat vehicle ferry to Moreton Island

Doug Davies

“My life has always been on the water. I’ve been driving vehicle ferries across Moreton Bay since 1978 and MiCat since it was launched in 2004. It never ceases to amaze me how much Moreton Bay changes in different weather conditions. On the really good days there’s nowhere I’d rather be. On the bad days, I certainly would rather be elsewhere, but even when it’s rough it’s beautiful. I love what I do and I’m really glad I make my living on the bay.”

"The King" of Rugby league

Wally Lewis

"I have spent all my life living close to or right on the coast and I just seem to relax more when I’m near the ocean.  Jackie and the kids love the coastal life as much as I do.  We live right on the water in a Brisbane bayside suburb and spend as much time as possible on the Sunshine Coast at Kings Beach Caloundra, one of my favourite beaches.  I am embarrassed to say that, because all my mates gee me up about me liking “Kings Beach”.   But it is a great spot in a nor’ easter and we get a lot of those in summer, so they can gee up all they like, I’m lovin’ it."

English Actor

“Onslow” from Keeping Up Appearances and “Scripps” from Heart Beat

Geoffrey Hughes

"I live on the Isle of Wight, but my wife Sue and I have spent a lot of time in Queensland.  We have cruised Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River on the Margaret C with Brownie and Shelly, fished for whiting on Moreton Island and been to the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show and dreamed about the yachts we would have liked to buy. But what we love to do most, is go to the Boardwalk at RQYS at Manly, get a table that overlooks both the nearby boat ramps, order a huge plate of  Moreton Bay bugs and sit back  munching on the bugs while watching the antics on the boat ramp as people make a mess of launching and retrieving their boats.  In fact boat ramp watching is underrated, some of the stuff you see is utterly amazing.  

Channel 7 weather presenter

John Schluter

"I love the way the Coast changes through the year. In winter there's that magnificent blue sliver and purple haze over the ocean at sunset, in summer it's the spectacular red and orange explosion at sunrise, lighting the smooth perfect early waves. I think being near the coast means nothing ever stays the same. At any time of the year or day for that matter, the whole atmosphere and environment is in constant change, something I find so invigorating."