If you haven't been to Van Wegens, you're missing out. It's really easy to pull up to if you're on the way to Mooloolaba beach, there's heaps of parking straight out the front, and you can grab something lovely for a picnic. They have a huge range of different breads and pastries, and have really, really yummy pies. You know the kind you used to get as a kid, where you didn't find bits of unidentifiable stuff and heaps of gravy, just nice chunky, tender meat? That's what they have here. Prices as expected for pies and bread, pastries a little bit higher but certainly well worth it. They have eftpos and sell drinks and coffee too. Lovely service from friendly people tops it off. Recommended!

Approximate cost: $4-$8

These guys are just down the road from our office and we checked them out for lunch the other day. Impressive! It was so nice to get proper friendly service and a smile from a real person who didn't sound like they were reciting lines from a script ... "do you want fries with that ..." ;-)

We had burgers and chips, they came out hot, fast and perfectly cooked. Sorry waistline, but we'll be visiting again ...

Approximate cost: $8

Apps R Us contacted us to offer the following: list our business on Seaside Realty's new app so that it could then be advertised to their thousands of tenants, then create an app for our business that we could market to our clients. They then proceeded to charge us around $450 to do this, then did absolutely nothing. We are one of thirty odd businesses on the coast that has been scammed by this company, who refuse to offer a refund and have now gone one step further by re-charging all our credit cards one year on without either telling us or asking our permission! We've been told by one of the ex-staff that they have now left the company due to all their 'dodgy dealings' and have seen review after review on places like True Local where others have been ripped off too. We had to cancel our credit card this morning to stop the un-authorised charges which is a total pain in the bum (sorting out direct debit changes etc) and the Office of Fair Trading is investigating them. Use them at your peril people, you've been warned.

Approximate cost: $450

Craig at Coastside came out to our business premises to investigate a power failure on part of a circuit of power points in the main office area. We had previously had an Energex sparky out who had attempted to replace the fuse and told us the problem was too large for him to sort out. Craig took two minutes to look properly at the job and found a stuck circuit breaker switch ... Problem solved. He didn't even charge us, and hung around for a chat too. Lovely guy, highly recommended!

Approximate cost: $0

You won't want to buy strawberries at the shops again after picking your own here and eating them while they're still warm from the sun ... We took our 4 year old twins and they had a fantastic time choosing which berries to pick. It cost $16 per kilo of berries, which isn't actually cheaper than the supermarket at the moment, but the taste was BY FAR better than the store-bought ones. After picking, you take them to the store to be weighed, then there's a washing station by the park so you can rinse them before you tuck in.

There were two giant haystacks especially for the kids to climb and jump on, as well as a playground, coffee shop, production line viewing platform and gift shop. We had a wonderful morning there and will visit again many times before the season is finished I'm sure. It was a great way to teach the kids about the origins of the foods they eat!

Approximate cost: $16/kg

Brian's is a fantastic little warehouse-style fabric shop hidden away in the industrial area in Warana - just a very quick side-trip off Nicklin Way. Absolutely fantastic value and the best range I've seen in a fabric shop - you can also get buttons, zips, thread, quilting supplies, Velcro etc etc etc. Often has great bargains - last time I was there I got five fat quarters for $10 and the range of patterns was fantastic. Love this shop, can get lost in there for hours! Much better than Spotlight ... ;-)

We bought a new office and were looking for a new front door for it. Came across a flyer for these guys in the local paper and went to check them out - found the most amazing door which was an auction 2nds door - there was a ding out of it in the top part (which is hidden anyway, unless you're tall enough to look down on the top of the door ...). Bought some beautiful handles, roller catch and deadlock from these guys as well, and they came out quickly to remove the old door and fit the new one. Total cost for door, door hardware, removal of old door and installation of new one was about $750. Bargain! Great experience, they are family owned and run and really friendly. There's heaps to choose from in their showroom, which has kitchen and bathroom units and stuff like that too.

Approximate cost: $750

After trying (unsuccessfully) to get quotes for our new building signage from several operators on the coast, we had Graham from Steve Baker Signs do our businesses' external building signage (3 sides), door sticker, A-board, flyers and window sign in April this year. The value was excellent and the finished product is exactly what we were hoping for. Their quotes came back extremely fast and they communicate really well. Graham's design skills are great, and he was always patient with us going back and forth with tweaks to wording and things like that, ensuring we got the product we wanted. Our signage is clear, eye-catching and has a quality look. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend Steve Baker Signs to anyone.

Approximate cost: $3000

This is our favourite place to get coffee and food on the coast, great value, really friendly old fashioned service, and an amazing variety of salads, wraps, focaccias, pastas etc. Robyn is lovely and always remembers how I like my coffee, which always comes out hot and strong :-) Highly recommended, seating inside and plenty more outside, really nice in the winter to sit in the sun too. Parking right out the front, perfect for stopping in on the way to the beach.

Approximate cost: $8

Got my last two years tax returns done for $74 each (promo at the moment) ... quick, efficient, and every deduction available was sourced. Recommended.

Approximate cost: $74