Quay West Resort & Spa Noosa, review: Weekend away

Superb food, great rooms and the spa stop Malcolm Chenu's visit to Noosa from turning into a washout.

I LOVE the sound of whipbirds in the morning. Male whipbirds are the ones you always hear on archetypal Australian bush soundtracks, their long, whistling low note followed by a quick-climbing crescendo.

If his luck is in, the lady whipbird responds in kind and romance is afoot in the wetlands on which the Quay West Resort & Spa Noosa is built. The whipbirds have plenty of rowdy mates, too, all chirping, whooping, whistling and cooing a soundtrack to my morning coffee on the deck of my apartment. I may not know much about ornithology but I know what I like and this bird symphony beats my normal Sydney cuppa background noise of revving, honking and crowded footpaths.

The trade off for this tranquil setting, if you see it that way, is that you are not down near Main beach for your Noosa stay. Quay West is a five-minute drive by regular courtesy bus or a half-hour stroll to the shopping and tourist hub of this pretty Sunshine Coast town.

The resort opened in April and it has been raining ever since, including during my visit. This may be appropriate for a wetlands setting but is clearly annoying the resort staff, who insist the Sunshine Coast brand is accurate, despite the constant shaking of heads and scanning of leaden skies. My ground-floor, two-bedroom serviced apartment is light, airy and comfortable. Actually, it's huge, with two bathrooms, two TVs, a large dining table and a fully equipped kitchen and laundry. The addition of an espresso machine to the already well-appointed apartment would provide a more whipbird-worthy accompaniment.

The top-floor apartments have rooftop terraces and offer a lovely sunset-viewing spot. However, another thunderstorm forces us back to the bar. At the resort, the bar and uncomplicated snacks menu look enticing but the pool is a forlorn sight in the rain.

The resort's Restaurant Aroona offers quality contemporary Australian cuisine in a relaxed setting. Welsh chef Lee ("No, I can't sing, please stop asking me") Jeynes lobbed into Noosa a year ago and says his menu - which is already superb - is a work in progress as he experiments with the local bounty, especially the Sunshine Coast seafood. Lee is also a competitor in the Culinary World Cup, held in Luxembourg.

This year, it's his fourth World Cup and he smiles as he tells us the event is second only to the Olympic Games. The way TV cooking shows are rating, he could be right. At least I think that's what he is saying - it's a bit hard to hear as the heavy rain on the roof sounds like the encore at a Tap Dogs concert.