Bells Creek

Back in the day we’d shuffle out the front door — helmets on, kid in bike trailer, plans for a quick market run — and somehow end up at 1 Tucker Street. Mummy’s Cafe Bells Creek used to be our unofficial town hall: alfresco breakfasts, a kid‑friendly super‑slide and swings, and the kind of beer‑garden nights Stockland Aura helped put on that made us feel like a festival had crash‑landed in a masterplanned suburb. As Urban List and the cafe’s own pages noted, it was as family‑friendly as a menu can be.

If you wanted bigger spectacle there were two local flexes that kept us proud and slightly baffled. One was QCamel Farm — yes, our very own camel farm — which Urban List cheekily listed as the Coast’s only place to meet camels and learn about camel milk. The other was the Coastal Pathway: a 73‑kilometre ribbon that starts in Bells Creek and ambles up to Coolum, where you can pretend you’re getting fit while actually stopping for two espresso‑adjacent snacks along the way (we say this knowing full well those eateries were catalogued in the walking guides).

We even had big plans on the business park front. Brouhaha Brewery, fresh from Maleny, announced a second venue at Aura Business Park — a two‑storey taproom with state‑of‑the‑art brew kit, supposedly due to open back in late 2021. And looming above it all, Urban List once christened the $45 million Aura Hotel as the community’s showpiece — a music‑venue beast with room for 2,500 people, as ambitious as our roundabouts.

Who would hate living here? If you’re allergic to markets on a Friday — the Aura Twilight Market on Whiteley Ave used to run every first Friday from 4–8pm — or you think a 73‑km coastal walk is overkill, we’ll watch you drive past in judgment. But who would love it? Families who liked a local cafe with a playground, camel enthusiasts, sunset walkers who start at Bells Creek and keep walking, and anyone who finds a $45 million live‑music palace irresistibly optimistic.

We’re proud of our little patch: more masterplanned than mythical, with camels and markets and a hotel that was daring enough to be dreamed. It’s exactly the kind of place we like to call home.