Where is the Gold Coast?

Dolphins at Seaworld

The Gold Coast, with a 35km strip of golden beaches, is situated on the east coast of Australia in the southern region of Queensland and almost bordering New South Wales. It’s not my choice travel destination but during May we had a short family holiday there to spoil the children with a visit to the theme parks. Why I say it’s not my choice destination is largely for the commercialism. It would have to be the most commercialised areas in Australia, with towering hotels and apartment blocks lining the coast for miles. I would hope readers of my blog would recognise that I prefer remote landscapes and towns steeped in history and culture.

It was Mother’s Day and we left a chilly Melbourne on a 6.30am flight, to arrive at Coolangatta to a beautiful, mild morning and off came the jumpers! The hire car was organised and off we went. We enjoyed a Mother’s Day brunch at nearby Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary before we spent the rest of the day exploring the sanctuary.

The week on the Gold Coast was then filled with three days at each of the following theme parks: Seaworld, Movie World and Wet ‘n’ Wild. The children had a fabulous time. I think their favourite was Wet ‘n’ Wild. I was the ‘bag lady’ and happy to sun myself in the glorious 28C Autumn sun!

Sunset from Marina Mirage

My choice day was a trip out to Mt Warning, the highest easterly peak where day break is first enjoyed. The rainforest of the lower slopes are beautiful and full of plant-life we don’t see in the southern states. We continued to travel south through the rolling hills of the hinterland and crossed the border into New South Wales to visit Nimbin, the hippy capital of Australia. The children’s eyes were wide here! We headed back to the coast with a brief stop at the Byron Bay lighthouse (the most easterly point of mainland Australia) and returned to Currumbin by night fall.

The week was made complete by meeting face-to-face one of my favourite, fellow Aussie bloggers, Linda, and the creator of ‘Journey Jottings‘. We met at the Marina Mirage and exchanged many travel tales over coffee as the sun set.

Lonely Planet Queensland

Map

TravelTipsPlus Google Map of Gold Coast

One Great Reason to Visit the Gold Goast

One great reason to visit this travel destination is for the expanse of golden beaches as far as they eye can see. Oh, and it’s Queensland “Beautiful One Day, Perfect The Next”!

Gold Coast Tourism Travel Video

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 1:00 am and is filed under Australasia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.