Glass House Tropical Fruits
A former pineapple farm on Steve Irwin Way sat dormant until Glen Austin, who comes from a lychee-growing family near Yandina, bought the 65 acres and put in roughly 50,000 strawberry plants alongside potatoes, pumpkins and young lychee trees for the years ahead. It opened this year as the only season-long pick-your-own strawberry operation left on the Sunshine Coast, taking up the ground vacated when the long-running McMartin's farm shut its gates to the public. No pesticides or herbicides go on the plants; punnets are picked by hand for $15 a half-kilo, a price Austin expects to ease as the plants mature. For now the gates open Saturday and Sunday from 8am until the fruit runs out, with weekday openings planned as supply builds — the first weekend alone drew around a hundred cars a day, a sign of how much appetite there was for a pick-your-own return to the Glass House Mountains. Check the farm's Facebook page before driving out, since hours are still settling into a routine.