The Sunshine Coast Is Getting Its Own Action Sports Theme Park

If you're a Brisbanite that thrives on the kind of adrenaline only rollercoasters and water slides can offer, then you probably already have the directions to the Gold Coast saved in Google Maps. In the next few years though, you might have to add an extra route north, because the Sunshine Coast is getting an amusement park.

Soon Steve Irwin Way won't just play host to the wildlife tourist attraction that helped give the road its name, though Australia Zoo isn't going anywhere. The patch of Sunshine Coast land will also also boast an "outdoors haven" and "community lifestyle and tourism hub never seen before in Australia", according to local developer SANAD Capital.

Just what this new venue will be called is yet to be announced, but it does have that other important aspect finalised: its theme. Prepare for all the action sports antics you can handle, including Australia's first surfing wave pool (if Melbourne's proposed Urbnsurf doesn't beat them to it, that is). Who doesn't want to jump on a board, Johnny Utah-style, into a man-made approximation of the ocean?

More details are due to be released later this year, and construction is set to start in 2017. However, looking at similar projects in the United Arab Emirates is highly recommended; the $400 million Sunny Coast venture is being built with the support of Dubai-based investment group Najibi Capital, after all. Worlds of Adventure, the world's biggest indoor theme park, is due to open there this year, as is another precinct that will feature the entertainment-oriented Motiongate, Dubai Bollywood Parks, Legoland and a water-based centre.

Via The Courier Mail. Image: Cameron Kirby.