Surfers Paradise, Australia, is now very much a tourist strip with skyscrapers jostling one another against the golden sky.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not has an "odditorium" just off the Cavill Ave pedestrian mall, offering odd and often bizarre exhibits.
Despite the tourist crowds, or because of them, Surfers is still very much the place to go for restaurants and nightlife.
North of Surfers
Just north of Surfers Paradise, at the Spit, is Sea World with its lovable dolphins and precision water skiers.
On the road to Brisbane are Wet 'n' Wild, Movie World (much like Universal City in Los Angeles), and the Disneyland-style Dreamworld.
There is also a Cableski World where you can waterski towed by overhead cables around a network of lakes.
For those more interested in fauna, there are the Currumbin Sanctuary (where you can get the birds to feed from your hands), Olson’s Bird Gardens and Fleay’s Wildlife Park.
Variety of entertainment
For those wishing to flirt with fortune, or just for a couple of hours of fun, there is Jupiters Casino at Broadbeach, just south of Surfers, which is open all hours every day and night of the year.
There are the standard Vegas-type casino games, as well as the uniquely Australian two-up, and a wide range of slot machines offering big-money jackpots.
There are variety shows for the show-goer, and a variety of restaurants and cafes for the famished and thirsty and for those who simply just enjoy their food.
Beyond the strip
Beyond the coastal strip and into the western hinterland, the visitor can easily drive to the McPherson Range, Tamborine Mountain, Springbrook Plateau and Lamington National Park. If new to Australia, look up some driving pointers.
The Gold Coast airport is at Coolangatta at the southern end of the strip. From there, you can take a commuter bus, a taxi, even a stretch limousine, to wherever you’re staying.
There are bus tours to the Gold Coast, mainly from Brisbane in the north and Sydney in the south.
The Queensland Gold Coast > Page 1, 2
