Viva Las Gold Coast!
The Gold Coast - no eco-tourism here!
There are people who get very sniffy about the Gold Coast. They point to its massive over-development, its mad commercialism and its culture of theme parks, booze and sunburn. I’ve heard it compared to holiday resorts like Benidorm and Florida – and not in a nice way either.
You know what? Stuff ‘em – I say it’s a great place.
There’s no doubt that if you are looking for “eco-tourism” then you had better look somewhere else quickly before you upset yourself. But if you are looking for un-pretentious, uncomplicated good times in the sunshine then the Gold Coast might just be for you. And if you lived in Britain and DID pop over to the Costa Del Sol for your holidays I would say its an absolute must!
The Gold Coast is a long narrow strip of mostly holiday-resort activity that stretches from the border of New South Wales along the coast and fizzles out south of Brisbane. It’s a motley collection of apartments, theme parks (notably Movie world and Sea World), bars, restaurants and shopping. And it also has some excellent beaches and surf. White sand, turquoise ocean, booming surf, gently swaying palm trees – that sort of thing.
The Queensland lifestyle...
Fair enough, at its most intense (e.g. “Surfer’s Paradise”) it does get a bit full on and there are plenty of people getting silly on the drink well into the night. We stay at the southern end of the Coast near Palm Beach / Coolangatta though and we have never had any trouble at all – other than a long bus ride up to the theme parks.
I’ve got a soft spot for the place because it is real “Rugby League Country”. Living in the RL-deprived state of West Australia it makes a nice change for me to visit a joint where the game is absolutely dominant. Apart from the professional club, the Gold Coast Titans, there is a whole swag of clubs playing in the Queensland Cup and I find it reassuring to see loads of RL merchandise in the shops rather than the Aussie Rules stuff we are swamped with in Perth.
My real sentimental attachment to the Gold Coast is because it’s where I got married. I got hitched last year on Palm Beach and had a blissfully happy – but short – honeymoon afterwards. We only had a week there and my son was only around for about three days of it so I think we all felt a bit short changed. Anyway we are going back for another holiday soon so we can pick up where we left off!
Our wedding on Palm Beach...
I remember a couple of days after our wedding, we were walking along Palm Beach in the evening thout a care in the world. You could hear the boom and hiss of the surf in the background as we strolled towards the Surf Club for an evening meal (excellent steak dinner and a pot of XXXX bitter at giveaway prices!) and I said to my wife “you know – this is what British people imagine life will be like when they move to Australia”. A lot of the time life is nothing like as happy as that at all but sometimes, just sometimes, it is.
And that’s why I won’t hear a word against the Gold Coast!
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Themocracy
Wow this looks like a awesome place to me. I’m planning a trip for sure.
Yes its a good spot alright Charles. Lots of fun…