Gold Coast

Ooaj Travel Guide, tourism, hotel reservation, residence, plane, cheap pension for you holidays in gold coast

Free Travel guide Ooaj.com A free travel guide for holidays. Hotels in gold coast, Bed and Breakfast!

Gold Coast is an extensive coastal city (actually, a conurbation of cities, towns and suburbs) in the south-east corner of the state of Queensland in Australia, located between the state capital of Brisbane to the north and the New South Wales state border to the south. Now combined into what amounts to the 6th largest city in Australia (500,000 inhabitants), the Gold Coast has long been a high profile tourist destination for Australians and overseas travellers alike. The name of the chief constituent city of the region, Surfers Paradise, says it all...

	gold coast Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By plane 2.2 By train 3 Get around 4 See 4.1 Beaches 4.2 Hinterland 5 Do 6 Buy 7 Eat 8 Drink 9 Sleep 9.1 Serviced Apartments 10 Get out 11 External links

Understand

The Gold Coast was once an informal name for the stretch of coastal towns from Surfers Paradise in the north to the state border with New South Wales in the south. With a warm climate and miles of beaches, the towns have grown rapidly, especially with migrating southern retirees. The merged towns are now suburbs of the City of Gold Coast, and the city has also stretched out to take in more areas to the north and west.

The northern end (especially Surfers Paradise to Broadbeach) is more commercialised, with plenty of action for backpackers and "schoolies" (school leavers celebrating the end of exams). The southern end still mainly caters to families holidaying from the colder southern states. Away from the coast, the western side, called the "hinterland", consists of mountain ranges covered with rainforest, much of it national park.

Get in

By plane

Gold Coast Airport (OOL) 1 (http://www.goldcoastairport.com.au/) is located in Coolangatta and has frequent connections from major Australian cities and some international flights from New Zealand and Asia. A viable alternative is to fly into Brisbane Airport (BNE), and catch the direct train (90 minutes from International Terminal to Robina).

By train

Queensland Rail runs an electric CityTrain service 2 (http://www.citytrain.com.au/) from Brisbane to Nerang and Robina, with connecting buses to Surfers Paradise, Coolangatta, and into northern New South Wales.

Get around

Surfside Buslines (http://www.surfside.com.au) provide the main form of public transport around the Gold Coast and stops are located on most main roads. Buses run 24 hours a day, but are more frequent in daylight hours. All the main tourist attractions are serviced by bus, but taxis are a better option if time is of the essence, or you are travelling at night. Expect to wait up to an hour or more for a taxi on busy nights. A taxi fare between the Gold Coast Airport at Coolangatta and Surfers Paradise costs around $55 and a sedan limousine is about the same. The best way to get from Gold Coast Airport to an accommodation house further up the coast is to book a bus transfer. These usually cost somewhere between $15 and $30. Trains run between Robina, Nerang and Helensvale, but the rail service is more useful for commuting to Brisbane than getting around the Gold Coast.

See

Beaches

There are 40km of beaches to see and almost all are patrolled by volunteer and professional lifesavers. Greenmount beach in Coolangatta offers the most spectacular scenery and views up the Coast and across to the famous Snapper Rocks surfing break, home of the Quiksilver Pro (http://www.aspworldtour.com/res05/kirra05/qgc_home.asp). Tallebudgeera Creek is a popular swimming lagoon with families, Burleigh Heads and Kirra are home to world-renowned waves and Surfers Paradise is home to backpackers, beach volleyball and countless tourists. 105.7 Radio Metro (http://www.radiometro.com.au) has detailed surf reports at 7am, midday and 3pm each day.

Hinterland

Referred to as 'the green behind the gold' the Gold Coast Hinterland is home to three national parks, numerous mountains, creeks, waterfalls valleys and natural rock formations. The area is mostly covered in sub-tropical rainforest, but sections have been cleared for dairy farm land and wineries. The Hinterland is best seen by car or on a bus tour.

Do

The Gold Coast region is big on theme parks:

• Sea World 3 (http://www.seaworld.com.au/) - first opened in 1958, moving to its present site in 1971, Sea World is the oldest, but also one of the best established theme parks in Australia
• Dream World 4 (http://www.dreamworld.com.au) - traditional theme park with popular tiger zoo and the home of the Australian Big Brother House
• Warner Bros. Movie World 5 (http://www.movieworld.com.au) - movie-themed park with theatres and Warner Bros. themed rides
• Wet'n'Wild 6 (http://www.wetnwild.com.au) - water theme park with slides, wave pool and 'dive-in movies' at night

Buy

The Gold Coast is renowned for cheap souvenir and t-shirt shops; plastic koalas are one of the most popular items. There are dozens of stores catering exclusively for the Japanese tourist market and Australian opals, sheepskins, wool products and aboriginal 'artefacts' are popular, although often overpriced. Local newspapers regularly run stories about 'discount warehouses' being taken to court for selling souvenirs at exorbitant prices to Asian tourists on organised tours.

Eat

The back arcades of Surfers Paradise have dozens of cheap Japanese and Korean 'lunchbox' style restaurants and the quality is usually excellent, not to mention the price (less than $15 for a large main meal). Tedder Avenue in Main Beach and the Broadbeach area have the largest concentration of restaurants and cafes with food ranging from gourmet seafood to pub fare. Expect to pay $20-$35 for a main meal.

Drink

Try a local surf club for a cheap beer with a great view, you'll find one or two in every beachside suburb of the Gold Coast. Currumbin Beach Surf Lifesaving Club and Nobby Beach Surf Life Saving Clubs are the picks for their location and friendly service. Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise offer the biggest choice of bars, clubs and cafes and you can order almost anything you can dream up.

Sleep

Serviced Apartments

Serviced, short-term apartments are widely available throughout the Gold Coast and are available for stays as short as one night. Amenities typically include kitchen, washer and dryer, and separate bedrooms. A full range a quality properties exist from budget to 5 star.

• Southern Cross Apartment Rentals (http://www.sthrncross.com/) Offers a wide range of serviced apartments through out the Gold Coast region.

Backpacker hostels are located in Surfers Paradise, Southport and Main Beach with dorm beds starting at around $18 a night. There are a handful of luxury resorts, including the six star Palazzo Versace Hotel (http://www.palazzoversace.com), but apartment accommodation in high and low-rise family resorts is by far the most popular choice. A two bedroom apartment in Surfers Paradise will cost around $150 per night in the off-season, and upwards of $300 a night in peak summer periods.

Get out

• Byron Bay is only an hour's drive south
• Lamington National Park (http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?parkid=97) is half an hour's drive west

External links

• Very Gold Coast (http://www.verygc.com/) - official regional tourism web site
• Gold Coast City Council (http://www.goldcoastcity.com.au/) - official municipal web site

Biggest country to travel: Biggest cities to travel: Islands in the top travel 40: World Travel guide Random travel link: Egypt Pakistan United Kingdom Japan Shanghai in China Tehran in Iran Los Angeles Sydney in Australia Phuket Aeolian_Islands Hawaii Zanzibar Bali Angola Tajikistan Paraguay Venezuela Palau Singapore Travel Germany Cambridge in England Provence alpes cote d azur Switzerland

• Url Rewriting et referencement made by Atuvu
• Photographe aix en provence Daniel Weiss
• Ooaj Travel Guide Home Page