Gold Coast   Holiday Eldorado
For Australia, the Gold Coast is what the Reviera is to the French, or what Miami is to the Americans. And anyway the Gold Coast has areas and beaches called Miami and Palm Beach. It is warm here and sunny. Kilometres upon kilometres of golden beaches stretch from north to south along the east coast of Australia, from Brisbane and as far south as to the Queensland – New South Wales border.

What is impressive is not only the picture perfect beaches and the ocean, but also the tourist infrastructure. High-rise hotels and apartments in Surfers Paradise, Main Beach and Broadbeach just to name just a few, are located just a boomerang throw away from the beaches. For the health oriented locals and visitors the city built cycle lanes and running tracks with exercise stations, as well as playgrounds for the children.  Many tourist activities in the area are also family friendly.

There is a lot to do on the Gold Coast, even when the weather is bad. The thing is that the weather here is a sure thing with almost 300 sunny days per year. During the coldest month of the year July, temperatures can drop to as low as 10C at night, put often still exceed 25c during the day. It is therefore a place that can be visited and enjoyed all year round.

Walking the streets, passing suburbs with luxury apartments, it is easy to see why the Gold Coast is especially popular with retired Australians and New Zealanders. They come here for holiday from the colder southern cities of both countries. Many have invested in houses and apartments to make their stay in the Gold Coast an annual thing. It is also possible to hear many different languages, including Russian, Polish and Portuguese.

Some visitors complain that the high-rise hotels block the setting sun as they laze around on the beaches. It is true that in the afternoon one may have to relocate their place on the beach to catch the sun’s rays, which shine through the gaps between the buildings. If this is too much of a problem, one can head further south where there are far fewer high-rise buildings.

It is worth mentioning that the Australian sun is very intense and you can get tanned, and burned in just a few minutes. A good sunscreen with a high SPF is thus necessary, even in winter (June to September). The ocean is also inviting all year round, but be sure to always swim ‘between the flags’ places on the beach where there are lifeguards on duty. Lucky are those that get an ocean view room, but the view from the viewing deck of the Q1 one of the highest apartment buildings in the world, will really leave you breathless.

To the east is the endless ocean, in the distance to the west are the Tamborine mountains, being a part of the great Australian dividing range. So it is not only the beaches, but also the mountains which make this place so great. You can make a day of it and visit numerous parks and reserves, signed walking tracks and lookouts, and on a hot summers day you may be able to cool off a bit in the mountains. There are also bars cafes and restaurants along the way so one is never far from the comforts of civilisation.

The Gold Coast is also a magnet for young people from all around the world, offering adrenaline filled activities including bungy jumping and go carting and there are many water activities including learning to surf. You can also take a flight in an acrobatics plane above the coast. Another popular place is Water World where you can go crazy on awesome waterslides. There is no place in Australia that offers the number of attraction the Gold Coast does. For people seeking calmer emotions the Gold Coast offers golf and minigolf courses, a Wax Figurine museum, and Warner Bros Movie World, an Australian version of Universal Studios in Hollywood. For those wanting to see Australian animals up close can visit the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. At night many people swarm the Conrad Jupiter Casino, Chile others sip beer to country music in one of the many pubs. There is an endless selection of restaurants offering everything from Chinese to French food, as well as numerous fast food companies offering food on the go. 

Gold Coast airport in Coolangatta has become one of the busiest airports in Australia over the last decade. From a small provincial airport it has been transformed into a world class international airport which holds its own against neighbouring Brisbane Airport. Brisbane, the capital of Queensland is approximately 70km to the north of Surfers Paradise and the Gold Coast, and is also worth at least an all day visit. Brisbane is possibly the friendliest of Australia’s state capitals. Brisbane and the Gold Coast are connected by fast rail, and of course by road. To experience everything the Gold Coast has to offer, a minimum of a week long stay is needed, as you will find that every day here goes by so fast. I started each day by watching the sunrise from the balcony of my apartment, I took a jog on the promenade, went for a swim, then engaged in some of the activities mentioned in this article. Every evening I ate at a different restaurant, with the most memorable being a seafood platter complimented by cold New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

Im not one to laze around at the beach, and I used sunscreen a plenty, however I never had to search for the sun, it always found me, and I still managed to leave the Gold Coast with a healthy holiday tan.
BOGUSŁAW NOWAK