At night, the distinctive double-story native-timber buildings blend in among the trees, and the sounds of the nocturnal animals, from bats to birds, and the rhythmic sound of frogs croaking produce a beautiful orchestra harmonized by the sea.

The award-winning Seabelle Restaurant offers the best of Australian and local seafood and a wine cellar that would make Bordeaux blush.

Clockwise from above: The island hosts a vast array of vegetation, from towering pines to ancient tropical ferns. Rusting on the '70-mile beach', the wreckage of the New Zealand hospital ship SS Maheno washed ashore more than 75 years ago. White-sand beaches are a treat for tourists.

The resort is just a 50-minute trip by ferry from River Heads, Hervey Bay, which is a 45-minute flight or a three-and-a-half hour drive from the Queensland capital of Brisbane.

In fact, the whole Sunshine Coast is undergoing a major drive to attract the increasing number of visitors from China, who are looking for something different from the over-developed tourist Mecca of the Gold Coast.

A recent headline in the main regional newspaper warned businesses along the hundreds of kilometers of coastline to "Go Chinese or suffer", such as improving the number of Mandarin-speaking staff and signage, as the Chinese are expected to become the biggest tourist market in the years to come.

Driving along 400 km of the Sunshine Coast's Bruce Highway, it is easy to see how each small town or city is gearing up for the changing face of tourism.

Noosa Heads is a classy tourist town, with Hastings Street housing high-end shopping and restaurants on the beach.

Sails Restaurant is an absolute must for beachfront dining. The fresh barramundi, caught that morning, is seasoned to perfection and cooked with a strong devotion using both historic methods and local seasonal ingredients.

The Noosa Springs Golf & Spa Resort is a fantastic place to stay and offers something for all nationalities. Keen to tap into China's growing interest in golf, the 18-hole championship course has seen a growing increase in Chinese tour groups and has now started to print brochures in Mandarin. The resort, spa and fitness center have all won countless awards over the years.

For those who are tired of the beach and need some mindless tourist gimcrack, head to the Eumundi markets, where German sausages and crepes sizzle amid bored-looking couples buying gifts for people back home they have deluded themselves will be appreciated.

Storeyline Tours offers different group packages to experience the markets and the hinterlands if you want to leave the serenity of the beach.

Head farther south, and the Ginger Factory in Yandina and Underwater World in Mooloolaba are two great attractions for those with little ones to keep entertained.

The Crowne Plaza Pelican Waters Golf Resort and Spa offers the perfect start or ending point for those planning a full tour of the Sunshine Coast.

The resort is a great location to visit the Australia Zoo and former home of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. Formally known as the Beerwah Reptile Park, it was first opened in 1970 by the Irwin family as a home for rescued crocodiles and rehabilitated wildlife.

The 40-hectare zoo is following Irwin's dream to allow people to see nature up close by cuddling a koala, hand-feeding Asian elephants, walking with a Sumatran tiger and watching a crocodile launch from the water's edge.