Things to do – Page 2 – Sunshine Coasting

Make it, bake it, sew it, grow it. A simple philosophy and one that has seen Eumundi Markets grow from just a few craftspeople into a must do – and not just because you have visitors from interstate/overseas in town.

The original markets have been going since 1979 and still holds to the locally made mantra. These days, there’s also a sustainable and green element to it, with a no plastic bags policy.

As far as I’m concerned, the best part of the markets is getting there early for breakfast. I’m on a mission to try something different every visit – and there’s certainly plenty to try.

This time I chose the brekky bahn mi from the Asian Street Food stall. I also sampled some chicken satay spring rolls – for something a little different. Others in our party tried the fried Hungarian bread with nutella and banana, and the french crepes.

There’s plenty to see, listen to, buy and eat…so I’ll let the photos tell the story.

How to get there?

Eumundi is 20kms west of Noosa in the gorgeous Sunshine Coast hinterland. Just follow the signs on the Bruce highway.

For more information, check out the website.

Queenslanders, well, perhaps just Sunny Coasters, tend to be early risers – especially when the rest of us are on daylight savings. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that the sun comes streaming in just after 5am at this time of the year. (As an aside, they tend to dine earlier too – the waitress in one of the Italian restaurants in Mooloolaba apologised for not having a table available before 6.30pm…)

It’s why, when hubster asked if I’d got the time right for the farmer’s market we were going to for breakfast (‘7am? Are you sure?’) I was sure. I didn’t like to tell him that Woombye Farmers’ Market is underway by 6am. He’ll find out about that soon enough.

‘Nothing will be open that early,’ he said, with the confidence of always being right. ‘It won’t get going until 8.’

Not only was it under full steam at 8am, but people had already bought their veggies (and their brekky) and were starting to leave.

It’s when you visit farmer’s markets like these – especially in places like this – that you realise there is a growing number of people (it was particularly pleasing to see so many young families) who want to eat fresh food sourced locally. And why wouldn’t you? All the produce from these markets is both of those things.

Sure, there were some stalls selling raw treats and fermented foods, but mostly it was produce – locally grown vegetables, fruit, cheese, and meats – that was the star attraction. Not everything is organic, but much of it is – or at least chemical free. Real food – with the dirt still on it, sweetie.

I was especially happy to see baskets of locally grown tumeric, ginger and garlic – for most of the year at home we can only get the imported stuff. This looked young and fresh – the way it does in the markets in Ubud…the way it rarely is in supermarkets.

For brekky we grabbed a plate of home-made pork and prawn dumplings to share, and split a brekky bacon and halloumi roll with home-made pesto. Perfect.

Kawana Waters Farmers’ Market is on every Saturday from 7am- noon at Kawana Waters State College, Sportsman Parade, Bokarina. Don’t forget your market bags.

This post was originally published in October 2016 on andanyways…