Underwater world is a MUST SEE when you next visit the Sunshine Coast. The live seal show is worth the price of admission alone, and then there's the amazing marine life scattered throughout the complex.

I loved the shark tank, and the moving walkway makes it easy to see everything in it by just standing still and looking around.

We didn't go for any of the "extras" but they also do a behind the scenes tour, you can have your photo taken kissing a seal, you can swim with the seals and you can even go for a dive in the shark tank (without a cage or glass wall between you and the sharks & rays).

Approximate cost: $30 per adult

Located on the main tourist strip of Hastings Street, this little fish & chippery is pretty unobtrusive and in all honesty, is a welcome sight among all the pretentious over-priced eateries along the same street.

The prices, however, were a slightly different story. We ordered a pretty simple 2 pieces of flake and minimum chips and were stung $17 for the privelege.

We decided to sample their fare after a long, exhausting, day, and it was refreshing to be served by a friendly, smiling face who seemed genuinely interested in the conversation she was having with us (and other customers) rather than asking out of politeness.

The quality of the fish, however, was nothing short of sensational. It was litterally melt in your mouth, moist, tender and cooked to perfection. The chips had room for improvement and were a little dry, but the fish more than made up for that.

Approximate cost: $17 for 2 flake & min. chips

Dining out our first night in Noosa we made a fantastic choice. Seated in a covered in outdoor setting, we were treated to a fantastic meal, and served by friendly staff who couldn't do enough for us.

The flavours were fantastic (we only went mild in terms of Zing as my wife doesn't like things too spicy) and the serves were just right.

I would not hesitate to recommend anyone who likes Indian food dine here.

Approximate cost: $20-30

I'm going to rate this business in two parts - firstly I'll rate the actual cruise we took, but I'll also rate their pre-sales service based on my interaction with them.

First of all - the cruise. We undertook their "Outer Harbour Cruise" which lasted a couple of hours, and took us along the Eastern shore of the Derwent River, down to the Iron Pot Lighthouse, across the river and back up the Western shore. Included in the ticket price was a complimentary beverage (tea, coffee, hot chocolate, beer or wine).

The boat was well appointed, roomy, and quite comfortable, the staff on the boat were warm, friendly, helpful, happy to answer questions and made a pretty darn good Hot Chocolate too. The cruise was nice, informative for the most part, however, based on similar cruises I've been on, I would have preferred more information about local wildlife and history as apposed to what time you can walk your dog on whichever end of Kingston Beach.

The second thing I need to rate is the service of the office staff. Here there is room for improvement. We were using a gift voucher which has been won at a charity auction and had an expiry date of May 31st.

I contacted Navigators in April to find out about our options as we had a fairly full social calendar and the Outer Harbour Cruise only runs on weekends. I was promised a call back from a manager to discuss the possibility of an extension on the voucher based on the fact that Navigators weren't able to confirm with any certainty whether that particular cruise would be running again before the end of may (given that it is weather and number dependent). The promised call back never came, it was only when I called them again the friday before the voucher was due to expire to find out if the cruise was running that I was informed it would be and was able to book a place on it. Certainly a pretty poor customer experience.

These guys have slowly grown over the last few years and have continued to excel in both quality of product whilst maintaining their value for money.

My most recent experience was pretty generic, I knew what I wanted, I went in and got it and got out again. Having said that though, even though the place is often packed, you can be sure there is enough staff to serve at the counters (though sometimes two registers just aren't enough).

This place is a little bit hard to describe. I have only used the Takeaway arm of the Restaurant so I'd be interested to hear any experiences from those who have dined in.

On first impressions, the takeaway shop (attached to the side of the main restaurant) looks as dodgy as a naked man doing push ups in long grass. The place looks almost like an afterthought.

Still, I fancied Chinese Takeaway and it was close by so I decided to take a chance. Based on the number of customers coming and going in the time I was waiting for my order, I was optimistic for a good feed. What added to this, was that several of them seemed to be regulars. What detracted slightly, was that some of them were there to buy fireworks rather than food, but I digress.

When I use them next (and I will) I'll be phoning ahead to place the order first as it took a while to get my order. The quality, however, was worth the wait. I went for honey chicken and my wife wanted chicken & black bean, and both were excellent. As were the mini spring rolls and spiced chicken wings. Even the free soup (for orders over $16) was quite tasty.

If you're after service with a smile, then head somewhere else. Seriously, if you have no people skills, what the hell are you doing in retail?

Stopped into the Northgate food court for a bit of lunch today and with a few places closed and others not appealing at that point in time, we made what turned out to be a poor decision and grabbed a quick bit from Tasty Treats.

The thing that stood out was the service, or lack of it. There was no personality, I wasn't asked if I was dining in the food court, and had to request a plate, and things were just slapped together.

The quality of the food was nothing out of the ordinary. The pie was okay (at least it wasn't a microwave job), my wife's spring roll was fresh, and the chips and gravy were passable (though the gravy was pretty watery).

Price - no more or less than you'd expect to pay in a shopping centre food court.

A funny thing happened on the way to the movies....

Well that's how the night started anyway. We were off to dinner and a movie with friends and decided to meet at the Casino for the dinner part - I know, Bellerive is a fair way away from the Casino but I'm getting there. After my friend, in his infinite wisdom (and much to the chagrin of his fiancee), decided we didn't need to book a table anywhere at one of Wrest Point's restaurants on a Saturday night before Mothers Day (yes, he made that decision by himself) and we were duly turned away from all fully booked venues, we headed off to the Eastern Shore to grab a feed somewhere closer to the cinema.

We found the Olive Restaurant & Wine Bar (well actually our friends had been there before and my mate's fiancee rang through and booked us a table on short notice).

Once seated and we'd ordered, after a short wait the food that was served was fantastic. I went the beer battered fish & chips which melted in your mouth, and my wife went a small gourmet chicken pizza which she thoroughly enjoyed. Our friends were also suitably impressed with the food.

The service was as you'd expect. It was unobtrusive. It didn't stand out, which is not a bad thing. Our waitress was efficient, friendly, but not in your face. Just there when we needed a drink or anything else.

After a delicious meal we then set off to the movies - unfortunately my friend's form-line continued and we discovered he had got the start time wrong by about 40 minutes as well. We missed the movie, went back to the Casino and had a win on the BlackJack table.

A fair detour for a meal when you consider we started and ended the night at Wrest Point, but well worth it. I can be certain I'll be going back again.

Approximate cost: $18-30

For a Sunday night, the place seemed pretty busy. After deciding what gastronomical delights we were going to sample we duly ordered and waited for our meals.

and waited

and waited.

After almost an hour they arrived at the table. The serves were HUGE and the quality of the food was pretty damn good too. Probably not worth waiting an hour for, but I'd sit through a 45 minute delay for it.

The service, however, left a bit to be desired. Aside from the wait time, when my meal was eventually delivered to me, the waitress (who may very well have been there since the dawn of time) was a bit too hasty in putting the plate down causing a good portion of my chips to be deposited on the table. If the tabletop had been any lower I suspect I'd have worn the meal in the lap. She also failed to bring enough cutlery for all four of us at the table, but rather than correct the error, I actually had to go to the bar and ask for it. Finally when a doggy bag was requested, rather than take the plate away to wrap the leftover food (and there was plenty), we were delivered a sheet of aluminium foil to wrap it ourselves. Bizzarre.

Overall, it was a pretty good night, but could have been so much more than that.

Approximate cost: $15-$22

Called these guys at about 6pm on Friday night to have some food delivered only to be told we were looking at a 90-odd minute wait. After deciding that was too long we opted to go and collect the food ourselves and were told about half an hour (a bit of a difference there).

Drove the short distance to pick them up about half an hour later to find they weren't ready yet. It was clear to see they were flat out. Pizzas were lined up waiting to go through the oven and the phone didn't stop ringing.

They apologised for the wait (I waited an extra 10 mins or so in store) and handed over the food. A decent size shopping bag for the drinks would have been nice but since all they had were the small ones, it made it a challenge getting a substantial sized order to the car.

The quality of the food, however, was pretty darn impressive. I didn't try the garlic bread myself, but I didn't hear anyone complain about it. The pizzas were well topped, the bases were a nice thickness and not too oily. I was suitably impressed.

Overall, on a busy night they were under the pump and struggling, however, I wouldn't let that deter me from using them again.