Carol West sets out to discover the Sunshine Coast's best food, wine and crafts, and isn't disappointed.

IT'S SATURDAY morning and bluegrass music drifts gently on the breeze. A young girl scrapes unmercifully on a violin as the crowd meanders past a range of stalls at which local gourmet gurus are peddling organic, and often highly original, produce. Just 20 minutes from Noosa's sparkling sapphire coastline, Eumundi Market is in full swing.

Established in 1979, Eumundi Market is a biweekly necessity for locals and an annual pilgrimage for visitors who flock to stock up on comestibles and larder luxuries that have the added cachet of being home-grown and homemade. Life's good in Eumundi, says Sam Caines, who spent 18 months developing his Life's Good range of curries.

Queues form early at Paul Lloyd's Gourmet Gum stall on the street front. Welsh-born Lloyd developed Gourmet Gum on his Cooroy property where he grows chilli, basil, bunya nuts, rocket and coriander for his all-natural relishes, jams and pesto.

At the Eumundi Ice Cream Company stall, Frenchman Didier Richeux uses Eumundi milk and cream to produce irresistible ice-creams such as green apple and espresso. His natural pureed fruit sorbets include zesty pink grapefruit and passionfruit.

These days, mythical crystal healing, scented candles and palmistry is on the way out and creative crafts on the way in. Karolyn Ivanoff creates Australian wood block designs that she individually paints onto silks and upholstery cottons. These unbreakable art pieces take the form of table runners and placemats and are popular with overseas visitors wanting a tasteful piece of Australiana to pop in their luggage.

For a dose of nostalgia, the Sutcliffe Gallery from nearby Pomona has sepia photos of late 19th and early 20th century events. Neatly filed or handsomely framed they include an undeveloped Bondi Beach in 1910 and Amy Johnson flying over an incomplete Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1930.

Also from Pomona, Vive Elan Australia, a certified organic business, produces green teas infused with ginger, kaffir lime or lemon grass while Oh Gourd! creates wildly colourful, lightweight tableware from gourd shells with a food-safe coating that's washable.

Eats is a Eumundi institution at which Andrew Cherry and Wendy Birrell serve up to 1000 breakfasts to hungry shoppers each Saturday. Tables are crammed together in a friendly fashion and competition is stiff for one of the veranda spots overlooking the market.

Fifteen minutes south of Noosa at Peregian Beach, the vibe at the bimonthly community market is homespun, earthy, recycled and responsible.

"It has a beautiful energy," says Durga, a name given her by her spiritual teacher, as she spreads a sheet on the ground to display Himalayan and Indian hand-woven goods. Opposite, a lady in a flower-bedecked hat is selling freshly potted herbs at $2 a pot.

Sand-sprinkled surfers wander up from the beach, boards under arms, avoiding the trickle of people stopping at the 70 stalls grouped under the dappled shade of horsetail she-oaks.

Mrs Sullivan has been up since 2am baking fruitcakes and slices before packing her car full of pickles, chutneys and jams for the trip down from the Mary Valley. "It's the same friendly market it's always been," she says as she proudly displays her prize certificates from this year's Noosa Country Show.

Across the road from the beachfront market, the family feeling continues in this little village that's big on charm. Water Spirit Gallery in Oasis Arcade opened just two years ago with a dazzling collection of local jewellery and glass artistry. Unique pieces include finely beaded necklaces that Brigid Wilbury of Tewantin's Isis Creations claims will "bring out the goddess in women" as well as fine glass pieces from Lucas Salton, who has opened a gallery at the Imperial Hotel opposite Eumundi Market.

"I got loose and started making organic forms, going with the flow rather than trying to control it," says Salton of his shapes, which put rhythm into colour sequences inspired by the region's reefs, sunsets and landscapes.

Crowds cluster around the Baked Poetry Cafe to eat their lusty German-Austrian tortes, vollkorn and sourdough breads, lubricated with an iced, add-your-own-shot coffee.

Across the village square, Tasmanians Gerard Yaxley and Brian Crawford have brought Persia to Peregian Beach in the form of Qom. "The region's growing numbers of artisans and musicians are digging the difference," said Crawford of Qom's mezze (including Iraqi stuffed potato cakes), light meals and cardamom-flavoured Persian coffee that's strong enough to stand a spoon in.

Back in Noosa, the Friday Food and Wine Trail is about to hitch its wagon and roll off the beaten track to discover the secrets of some of the hinterland's horticulturalists. Noosa Hinterland Tours has been running its gourmet safari for 18 months to provide visitors with an opportunity to meet interesting people doing innovative things with food and wine.

"A lot of barefoot executives have migrated from Sydney and Melbourne to Noosa Shire looking for a rural lifestyle and have developed small commercial businesses," says Terry Sampson as he eases the van into Carol Brandon's gourmet salad garden.

Living on 14 1/2 hectares of immaculate lawns and towering palms at Mount Timbeerwah, Carol is passionate about her lettuces, which are washed in rainwater and identified by their shape and flavour. So are a coterie of Noosa's best restaurants and customers who buy her mesclun at the bimonthly Noosa Farmers Market.

"When I planted my vegie patch four years ago, chefs started asking for gourmet lettuces. They've turned out to be a great product and one that can be continually picked," says Carol as we nibble our way through hydroponically grown peppery water cress, wasabi cress, rocket and organic endive, oak, coral and cos lettuces.

Eliza Fraser (of Fraser Island fame) put Boreen Point on the map when she was rescued there by Aborigines.

The sole survivor of a mid-19th century shipwreck, she became something of a "media tart" in Brisbane and England, embellishing the story of her time spent living as a "white slave girl".

Today, Boreen Point is pinpointed on our culinary tour map as the location of Garnisha's Spice Garden where Tim Warren produces home-grown, homemade curry pastes, pickles and marinades. "We bottle fresh ingredients to make fail-safe curries," says Tim as he leads us through his garden. Nasturtium beds are planted companionably with chillies, mint and other herbs to minimise pests and disease.

Tim grows tiny Lombok red chillies and deadly bulbous yellow ones with Kaffir lime leaves, galangal, fresh coriander and mild Russian garlic. Trees are ladened with cooking mangoes, turmeric roots grow underground like ginger and the flavours of Thai and Indian foods are peeled off trees and shrubs then passed around to smell and taste.

Queensland isn't renowned as a wine-growing region but Marg Gillespie at Dingo Creek Vineyard at Traveston has certainly made it a wine tourism destination. A glass of Fossicker's Red, a merlot-cabernet blend, provides the perfect accompaniment to a bush food spread on the veranda that includes kangaroo sausage, bush tomato relish, damper, salad and vegetarian quiche.

Then it's on to Kybong to go tooth and claw with red claw crayfish being farmed by an enthusiastic Hilton and Meaghan Kotzur. Hilton runs us through the profiles and procreation stats of your average crayfish before we sample the freshly cooked variety served with lime mayonnaise and bush pepper.

From the coast to the hinterland, market forces are at work on the Sunshine Coast. If you venture beyond the smart restaurants, some savvy gourmet gurus will give you a sense of place that turns an interesting travel experience into a memorable one.

The writer was a guest of Queensland Tourim.

TRIP NOTES

* For Tourism Queensland information see http://www.sunshinecoast.org or http://www.tourismnoosa.com.au.

* Virgin Blue flies daily to the Sunshine Coast from major capital cities. See http://www.virginblue.com.au or phone 136 789.

* Noosa Hinterland Tours conduct the Food and Wine Trail every Friday. Phone (07) 5446 3111 or email relax@noosahinterlandtours.com.au. Cost $76 per person.

* Eumundi Market, Memorial Drive, is every Wednesday and Saturday morning.

* Noosa Farmers Market, Noosa Heads AFL Grounds, is the second and fourth Sunday of the month.