Gold Coast Travel Guide
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About Gold Coast
The Gold Coast is a city built along Queensland's coastline from the New South Wales and Queensland border to Southport. The city's most famous attraction is the beach and it is impressive. Long stretches of white fluffy sand and huge surf make it a kind of surfers paradise of which the main centre of the Gold Coast is named.
Other areas or suburbs include Southport, Main Beach, Broadbeach, Mermaid Beach, Miami, Burleigh Heads, Palm Beach, Currumbin, and Coolangatta.
Surfers Paradise the centre of the Gold Coast is an area of intense high-rise development with apartments and hotels competing for the best views of the beach. Relaxed restrictions in development have opened the way for this extensive development and even the world's highest residential block Q1 is located here.
Behind the beaches and development of the Gold Coast are smaller bungalow type houses wrapped around a canal system bigger than the one in Venice, Italy. Houses located around these waterways have the luxury of their own personal stretch of sand and a place to park the family boat.
Further inland are areas of lush hinterland providing spectacular views and great trekking opportunities. Lamington National Park for example, is Australia's largest reserve of subtropical rainforest and offers nearly 160km of walking tracks. Springbrook National Park contains many waterfalls and great views over the Gold Coast. The nature behind the Gold Coast is sometimes called "the green behind the gold". There are also a a number of notable animal parks in this area.
The Gold Coast is the theme park capital of Australia. Parks you can visit include: Australian Outback Spectacular, Dreamworld: Amusement park, Sea World, Tropical Fruit World, Warner Bros Movie World, Wet 'n' Wild: Water park, WhiteWater World. Some of these parks are owned by the same organisation and you can get discounts if you visit multiple parks.
There are many places to dine or enjoy a coffee. In Surfers Paradise, there are dozens of well priced Asian restaurants. A popular food court in Cavill Avenue Mall offers eat in or takeout meals. Main Beach and the Broadbeach has a high concentration of restaurants and cafés. Near Broadwater is a fish market where you can get fish and chips cooked and wrapped, so you can eat them in a park of location of your choosing.
Author & photographer: David Johnson (Virtual Australia). Providing a credit or link is appreciated.
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