West of the Bruce Highway between the Caloundra and Chevallum turnoffs, is a network of country roads with Ilkley Road as the main artery running from the M1 into the small railway town of Eudlo.
A comparatively undiscovered part of the Sunshine Coast, Ilkley-Eudlo is a statistical district, even if Ilkley is little more than an assortment of acreage allotments, many steeply-sloping and some still heavily forested.
The district’s sense of being an away-from-it-all rural retreat where lots of properties are hidden away on small roads, is belied by its proximity to the Sunshine Coast University, the M1 and the Sunshine Motorway.
The area, of 7525 hectares with a population density of 0.55 people per hectare, includes Glenview, another rural area where smaller acreages can still be found; and Tanawha on the eastern side of the highway at the south-western base of Buderim.
The Eudlo address extends up into the foothills of the range.
The whole is an area where rainforest still abounds and there is a definite sense of being out in the bush. Tanawha, once a valued timber area providing logs for the sawmill on Buderim, is now a valued residential area with an abundance of prestige homes on small acreage.
The district doesn’t have a major shopping centre, although it is close to Chancellor Park, but is serviced by small local shops at Eudlo and Forest Glen. It is also home to the Bushland Botanic Gardens, the Chenrezig Buddhist Institute and the Tanawha strip’s tourist attractions.
Summing up: Ilkley, Glenview and Tanawha don’t have town centres as such, but are mainly bushy, country areas dotted with large and small acreages served by small, often unsealed roads. There’s not a lot to give away the fact that the Bruce Highway and Sippy Downs is on the doorstep. Eudlo has the post office, general store, railway station and school.
