First look: Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel

The Sunshine Coast’s first international hotel in four decades transforms Mooloolaba into its brightest beach break.

‘Key to the good life,’ my room key card reads. As waves crash just steps away and a delicate breeze sends remnants of a taxing morning out to sea, I couldn’t agree more with you, card. Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel has just officially opened its doors on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, lifting the notoriously laidback beach town onto a global map. I check in among the hotel’s first guests to demystify the hype.

Where is Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel?

Ocean views from the rooms at Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel — Let the ocean views soothe. (Credit: Rhiannon Taylor)

Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel is located across the road from Mooloolaba Beach, one of the best Sunshine Coast beaches, and within walking distance to the esplanade’s buzzing dining and bar scene. It’s roughly 100 kilometres north of Brisbane and 170 kilometres north of the Gold Coast.

What is the design and style of Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel?

The lobby of Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel — The Japandi-style spherical paper lanterns in the lobby caught the writer’s attention. (Credit: Rhiannon Taylor)

I’d seen photos of Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel prior to checking in, yet I still uttered “wow" walking into the lobby. Abstract sage and cream rugs, caramel-cushioned timber seating, Japandi-style spherical paper lanterns, stone-look hexagon tiling and a consistent palette of terracotta and custard are warmed to perfection through dim lighting, natural sunlight and subtle greenery. It’s floor-to-ceiling tactile, reflecting the varied natural beauty of this region, while soft finishes and curved lines keep things contemporary. Saying it’s Instagram-perfect really doesn’t do these design decisions justice — it’s most certainly Mooloolaba’s most elevated hospitality experience.

Layering that gorgeous glow is an exceptionally experienced and approachable team. From the concierge and floor staff to the day spa team (more on AvaniSpa below) and bartenders, I detect an intentional focus on remaining calm, friendly and cheerful amid all guest interactions. In turn, I feel calm, friendly and cheerful. It is a literal personality that they’ve developed as a business here, and as a guest, switching into holiday mode is effortless.

What are the rooms like at Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel?

The balcony dining set and views at Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel — Watch the waves roll in from the privacy of your room. (Credit: Rhiannon Taylor)

I’m given room 607, which offers a southern aspect instead of full beach frontage, but I can still marvel at sand and surf from bed. There are plenty of elements to love about staying in one of Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel’s 180 rooms, but I think my favourite is the jumbo-sized freestanding bathtub that drew another audible cheer when I first entered. Even better, a jar of Ikkari Relaxation Soak was placed on a stool right beside it.

Extending the hotel’s exuberant coastal signature through open-plan living in the rooms and suites, my room is a knock-out. ABI Interiors elevates my double vanity tapware, a rain shower and a separate toilet are both hidden behind translucent glass, and a vanity kit is peppered with personality, like a small comb wrapped with recyclable packaging and emblazoned with the text “Comb on over". Too cute.

Inside the room at Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel — Colour is used cleverly to add a burst of energy to an otherwise soothing colour palette. (Credit: Rhiannon Taylor)

I’m also smuggling home the bathrobe and matching slippers in powder blue, hands down the prettiest colours I’ve seen in the world of hotel loungewear. Multiple T2 varieties, a confectionery and spirits tier stocked with locally sourced treats, Malin + Goetz bath products, a Dometic fridge featuring Mumm, a Mars bar and more, and a bold pop colour artwork created by an in-house designer (they’ve got one of those, too), court likeminded joy.

The bed I’m lazing in is cloudlike but there’s also a pillow menu offering Dream, Latex or Buckwheat options via the dial of a phone button. I’ll never grow bored with hotel pillow menus.

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What facilities does Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel have?

A rooftop infinity pool

Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel's rooftop infinity pool — The hotel’s rooftop infinity pool. (Credit: Rhiannon Taylor)

The infinity rooftop pool, accessible via level 12 and located on its own level 13, puts you on top of the world as it’s the highest rooftop pool in town. When I wasn’t staring mindlessly into the Pacific Ocean from under one of P&R Styling’s orange and white market umbrellas (a gorgeous Gold Coast furniture brand I love), I was marvelling at the curvature of Mooloolaba beach’s southern tip with Point Cartwright headland poking out from behind. There are four enclosed cabanas to also stake a claim on, each fitted with small side tables and striped daybeds, while a food and cocktail menu with evolving ‘Sully’s Slushie’ concoctions guarantees you’ll lose track of time.

A restaurant and bar

The Lobby Bar at Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel — The Lobby Bar is one of two dining and drink venues in the hotel. (Credit: Rhiannon Taylor)

A sundowner at Sully’s Rooftop Restaurant & Bar is mandatory but make time for a dedicated meal. Serving a la carte breakfast, lunch and dinner, this is the gastronomic superstar of not only this show but the wider region. The obligatory Mooloolaba king prawn is “charcoal-kissed" and dressed in coconut and lime butter, while additional seafood dishes sing.

But it’s the 24-hour woodfired, melt-on-the-fork Margra Lamb shoulder dolloped with goat curd, fresh peas and mint that demands attention. Australian culinary royalty Marky Godbeer (formerly at Brisbane’s The Calile, the Daintree’s Silky Oaks and Uluṟu’s Longitude 131°) is executive chef and he’s never been slicker, unleashed here with surging creativity.

His Smoked Wagyu Beef Snag salutes the humble Bunnings sausage sanga, while the Pig’s Head & Aged Comté Donuts are best dunked in accompanying apple caramel sauce. Furthermore, the restaurant’s wraparound rooftop terrace is destined to be the place to be seen this year when wine o’clock strikes.

Elsewhere, Lobby Bar on the ground level extends Marky’s kitchen marvelousness with one heck of a spanner crab doughnut, sweetly glazed before a dusting of sea salt, while also offering coffee, tipples, newspapers and magazines.

A wellness spa and gym

Sweat it out in the onsite sauna — Feel the heat in the onsite sauna. (Credit: Rhiannon Taylor)

Speaking of local industry bar raisers, Mooloolaba’s wellness cred is entirely illuminated with the arrival of AvaniSpa on level 3. The space is heavenly, all scallop-dished, olive-tree’d and curvalicious from top to toe, while the treatment rooms are soft and spacious, and the team is trained with precision.

Naoise, my therapist, offers beautiful, intuitive techniques while performing a Muscle Melt across my body and a lymphatic facial massage with a jade Gua Sha rather than a jade roller. As a result, I’m currently shopping around for my own to use at home. For beauty addicts, these guys lean into Ikkari’s full range, including their tonics spritzed into water post-treatment, and also Organic Spa products.

Right next to AvaniSpa, there’s also AvaniFit gym, which is impressively stocked with free weights, bikes, treadmills, pull-down machines, fluffy towels and cold water.

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Does Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel cater to guests with access needs?

Absolutely. For starters, there are 18 accessible rooms with considered doorway clearances and roll-in showers with grab bars. Up on the roof, a pool hoist is available upon request, while the floor itself — one level up from Sully’s — is reachable via an elevator. There’s also an accessible bathroom right by the pool, and other accessible bathrooms within the property, which notably flow with wide corridors and level flooring. I also love how the lobby’s three service counters are low, each paired with two guest seats that can shift to make way for wheelchairs.

Is Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel family-friendly?

Inside the room with twin beds at Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel — Twin beds and connecting rooms make this a family-friendly stay. (Credit: Rhiannon Taylor)

While I loved soaking up my me-time, I know my kids would’ve delighted in joining me. From the minibar’s sprinkle-frosted gingerbread man and that suburb-sized bathtub to the option of a two-bedroom connecting room, family-friendly features encourage everyone-in escapes. You’ll also find five dedicated kids’ dishes on the in-room dining menu (I only narrowly avoided the mac and cheese myself) and more kids’ meals in the Lobby Bar.

I also highly recommend booking one of those cabanas during your stay (visit the front desks for details) to ensure your little ones secure a shaded pool break — this is the Sunshine Coast in the Sunshine State, after all.

The details

Best for: design-minded couples and families looking for an elevated beachfront escape

Address: 10 Brisbane Road, Mooloolaba, Queensland 4557

Price: Opening rates start from $319 per night, which includes breakfast and off-street parking

Extras: There’s also undercover parking, 24-hour in-room dining and complimentary wi-fi available

How to book: Visit the Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel website

Under wide-open outback skies, discover a fossicking gem that’s managed to slip under the radar.

While the name Clermont may feel new to even the most intrepid traveller, its gilded history stretches back centuries. You’ll find it just off the highway, humming quietly under the hazy veil of Queensland’s outback sun. It’s here, hemmed in by mountains and perched atop soil heavy with the earth’s treasures, that one of Australia’s most accessible outback adventures awaits.

Thanks to deposits of gold, copper and gemstones – souvenirs left by exploding supernovas and the heave of tectonic plates – Clermont became a centre point of Queensland’s Gold Rush. And now? Australia’s fossicking capital is yours to discover.

Getting there

car driving along Capricorn Way in queensland — Take a drive through Queensland’s Mackay Isaac region. (Image: Sean Scott/ TEQ)

You’ll find Clermont in Queensland’s Mackay Isaac region. To get here, it’s an easy three-hour drive over sealed roads from Mackay. Or, if you’re heading from the Sapphire Fields of Emerald, the drive will carve out just over an hour from your day.

Whether you’re road-tripping through outback Queensland or just tracing your way through all that Australia has to offer, Clermont is remote but easily accessible.

Best accommodation in Clermont

Theresa CreekDam in clermont — Camp by Theresa Creek Dam. (Image: Riptide Creative/ TEQ)

All accommodation comes with a generous helping of country hospitality here. The choice is yours between modern hotels, parking up the camper or pitching a tent.

Theresa Creek Dam lies just outside town. Begin each day with crisp country air and bright outback sunrises. Spend the night under the sparkling country stars and your days out on the dam fishing or kayaking. Even if you aren’t camping, be sure to save space in your itinerary for an afternoon on the red dirt shore.

To stay closer to town, opt for a central hotel to base yourself between exploring and fossicking, like Smart Stayzzz Inn and Clermont Country Motor Inn.

Things to do in Clermont

three people on a tour with Golden Prospecting — Join a tour with Golden Prospecting.

One does not visit Clermont without trying their hand at fossicking. There are strict rules when it comes to fossicking, so stick to areas dedicated for general permission and make sure you obtain your license beforehand. Try your luck at McMasters, Four Mile, Town Desert, McDonald Flat and Flat Diggings. To increase your odds, sign on for a tour with the expert team at Golden Prospecting. They’ll give you access to exclusive plots and expert advice along the way.

Once you’ve tried your luck on the gold fields, head to the Clermont Township and Historical Museum. Each exhibit works like an archaeologist’s brush to dust away the layers of Clermont’s history. Like the steam engine that painstakingly relocated the entire town inch by inch to higher ground after it was decimated by flooding in 1916. See the tools that helped build the Blair Athol mine, historic fire engines, shearing sheds and all sorts of relics that make up Clermont’s story.

The historic Copperfield Chimney offers a change of pace. Legend has it that fossickers found a solid wall of copper here, over three metres high, kick-starting Queensland’s first-ever copper mine.

Bush Heli Services flying over clermont queensland — See Clermont from above with Bush Heli Services. (Image: Riptide Creative/ TEQ)

For hiking, nearby Dysart is the best place to access Peak Range National Park. Here, mountainous horizons stretch across the outback as if plucked from another world. Set off for a scenic drive along the Peak Downs Highway for access to countless geological wonders. Like the slanting rockface of Wolfang Peak. Summit it, and you’ll find yourself looking out across a scene surely conjured up by Banjo Paterson. Dry scrub dancing in the warm breeze, grazing cattle, eucalypts and the gentle creak of windmills. Don’t miss visiting Gemini Peaks, either, for one of the park’s best vistas, and a blanket of wild flowers after rain.

Then, take to the skies with a scenic helicopter tour with Bush Heli-Services. Shift your perspective and cruise above all the sights from your trip. Spots like Lords Table Mountain and Campbell’s Peak are best viewed from the skies.

Before you head home, be sure to explore the neighbouring townships. Spend a lazy afternoon in the shade of Nebo Hotel’s wrap-around verandahs. The hotel’s 1900s dance hall has since been replaced with one of the area’s biggest rodeo arenas, so consider timing your trip to line up with a boot scootin’ rodeo. Or, stop by a ghost town. Mount Britton was once a thriving town during the 1880s Gold Rush. It’s been totally abandoned and now lies untouched, a perfect relic of the Gold Rush.

Best restaurants and cafes in Clermont

meal at Commercial Hotel — Stop into the Commercial Hotel Clermont.

Days spent fossicking, bushwalking and cramming on history call for excellent coffee and hearty country meals. Luckily, Clermont delivers in spades.

Lotta Lattes Cafe is beloved by locals for a reason. Start your days here for the best caffeine fix in town and an impeccable brunch menu.

For a real country meal, an icy cold beer and that famed country hospitality, head straight to the town’s iconic hotel: the Commercial Hotel (known endearingly to locals as ‘The Commie’). It’s been a staple in Clermont since 1877. The hotel even survived the flood of 1916 when it was sawn in two and moved to higher ground.

Naturally, time spent in the outback must include calling into the local bakery. For delicious pies and a tantalising array of sweet treats, make Bluemac Bakehouse your go-to while in town.

Discover more of The Mackay Isaac region, and start planning your trip at mackayisaac.com.

The Sunshine Coast’s brand-new beachfront hotel is worth the hype

The Sunshine Coast’s first international hotel in four decades transforms Mooloolaba into its brightest beach break.

Where is Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel?

What is the design and style of Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel?

What are the rooms like at Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel?