Background: Gold Coast is a city situated in Queensland, Australia. It is the southernmost city of the state, being 100km south of Brisbane and bordering New South Wales, 900km north of Sydney.* Gold Coast is a well-known tourist attraction, the most popular being the theme parks e.g. Sea World, Movie World. Other attractions include the zoos full of Australian local inhabitants and the sea with waves perfect for surfing.
How's the weather: Gold Coast has a sub-tropical climate with plenty of sunshine (average of 300 days in a year). The summer temperature is 19-29 degrees Celsius and winter 9-21 degrees Celsius.*
I went there in October during the spring/summer time (note that Australia is in the southern hemisphere) and the weather was slightly colder than our normal days in Malaysia. It was windy and raining some time of the days. On sunny days you would enjoy the cool breeze but the sunburn could be more intense.
How to get there: For Malaysians, I would think that you would be taking a flight there :D. Previously, one would have to land at the Brisbane airport and take a local budget airline or travel by car to reach Gold Coast. Nowadays you could land at the Coolangatta airport which is about 20km from the Gold Coast city centre. Note: The local authority is keen on protecting the Australian unique environment, therefore check out the list of prohibited items (including food) at the customs website prior to your trip.
The Journey
Gold Coast features 70 kilometres of coastline from South Stradbroke Island in the north to beautiful Rainbow Bay in the south.* Reminiscing the Gold Coast vacation in 2008, it was one of the most memorable holidays for me. And boy did we cover the most that we could out of our 5-day stay there! The first thing my travelmates and I did once we landed at Coolangatta airport was to buy the bus pass. The bus system there was very efficient. The departure and arrival time at each stop were so precise and on the dot! Still, the cost of the pass was not cheap. I couldn't remember the exact amount but it was about AUD80 for return airport transfers and unlimited bus rides for five days. Convert that to MYR, your eyes would blink in disbelief, eh?
Coincidentally, it was the Gold Coast IndyCar Race happening that weekend and so we were lucky enough to experience one of the hip events there!
Once we checked in at Surfers Tradewinds, the action plans started almost immediately. No need to worry about tourist brochures, those pamphlets were aplenty!
Things to do at Gold Coast include shopping, visiting the theme parks (in my case Sea World and Movie World), whale watching and also sightseeing. Since it is not possible to ramble everything away in one long post, I've broken the itinerary to several mini posts. This is to facilitate those who were looking only for certain topics, as well as allowing me to describe my observations a lil' bit further.
The Gold Coast trip was very dear to me, as it marked the beginning of many international journeys that followed thereafter. I truly appreciate the experience gained from this trip, moreover when it was money and time well spent. The adventures do not stop here, mate. Till then, ta!
P/S: News about the flood hitting most parts of Queensland in the recent month made me recalled my days when I visited Gold Coast in 2008. I thought about the places I've been to and wondered about the damages occurring from the flood. Thankfully, it turned out that the tourist attractions at Gold Coast are not affected by the flood and are still operating at normal business hours.
For homework before travelling, try these:
Lonely Planet Discover Australia (Full Color Country Travel Guide)
Frommer's Australia 2011 (Frommer's Complete Guides)
Australia (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
*Sources on geography information:
For homework before travelling, try these:
Lonely Planet Discover Australia (Full Color Country Travel Guide)
Frommer's Australia 2011 (Frommer's Complete Guides)
Australia (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
*Sources on geography information:
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