we are thinking of spending about 5 days on the sunshine coast. We would perfer to be at the beach. But like walking. also interested in nice food and wine.
where would you suggest to stay.

I prefer Mooloolaba or Alexandra Headlands, both have good beaches and nice restaurants closeby and are within striking range of most other nice areas. Noosa is nice but is at the top end of the Sunshine Coast and its not all that easy to get from there to other places on the coast.

Definitley Mooloolaba. we've stayed there every year for the past 7 years, and loved every minute. This June we stayed at Noosa (because we got a good deal in a Timeshare for a week). What a let down! Hastings Street is under redevelopment, and there are road works everywhere, & huge delays getting in and out. THe shopping is rubbish, with mostly up market galeries and boutiques, and we drove to Mooloolaba most days and wished we were staying there.
If you do decide to opt for Noosa I would try for somewhere along the river. Much better outlook, and the cafe scene and restaurants are way better than at Noosa Heads, which IMO has lost the plot completely.

thanks for that

where would you suggest to stay in Mooloolaba.

how easy is it to get to from Brisbane airport.

We like the Peninsular. Great location, and great apartments.
Mooloolaba is easy to get to from BNE, Just drive out of the airport & turn right onto the motorway. Takes about 1-1/2 hours.
Just don't do what I did a few years ago while driving in heavy traffic and torrential rain. Took the wrong turnoff, even though I knew it was wrong, and ended up in Mooloola. Didn't have a clue where I was, and took hours to find my way back to the highway.

I am ten minutes from Moloolaba where I am currently home exchanging and have been there several times. Please note that whale watching goes into the open ocean. There were plenty of whales, but I got seasick and could not look at them. Most of the passengers on the boat got queasy.

Recommend Landmark Resort which is right on the beach and has really reasonable online rates, especially offpeak. The pool isn't huge but with the beach across the road there are never many people in it when we have stayed...