The Gold Coast

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Wow, what a culture shock! Crossing the border from NSW into QLD was a bit of a non-event as there was no sign to tell us about it, although we soon became aware that we had crossed into a different world. The sun already felt a little warmer but the hippy culture of NSW’s north coast was replaced by high-rises and plenty of glitz on QLD’s south coast. It wasn’t all that dissimilar from Alice’s descent through the rabbit hole: not much distance was covered and yet there was an entirely different way of life.



Even before we embarked in this trip, we both felt quite excited about Queensland. I suppose it conjures up thoughts of sunshine, beaches and generally a laid-back lifestyle. Of course we were aware that the Gold Coast was not part of that image. The stretch of coastline between Coolangatta and South Stradbroke alone attracts over four million visitors every year. Spend-happy visitors! I felt a little lost in amongst the countless high-rise apartment blocks, the Las Vegas style entertainment complexes and the motorways which not only skirt the Gold Coast, but weave their way through it. There’s even a town called Casino. It felt as though we were in an oversized theme park and the many fast food outlets, ice cream parlours and luxury boutiques seemed to confirm this. That’s not to say that there aren’t nice parts and we certainly found that the different towns had distinctly different vibes. Burleigh Heads was lovely with its beachside promenade, national park (great for an afternoon walk) and little shopping strip. As well as the self-serve BBQs that you get all over Australia, they also had boiling water dispensers which seemed rather odd. We weren’t complaining, though, as it allowed us to do our washing up and make a cuppa! Surfers Paradise was much more flashy and modern without much soul. We went cycling to explore the area and soon realised it was actually a shopper’s paradise. I asked a travel agent whether there were any art galleries in the area and the answer was ‘erm I don’t think so, it’s pretty pretentious here, it’s more about fast cars’. Oh and they have meter maids too. We saw some extremely long legs and some very tiny golden bikinis. Unfortunately, the google maps application on my mobile decided to stop working while I cycling around, so I got lost amongst the many highways but thankfully made it back to our caravan park just around dusk.



The next couple of days were spent in Sea World and Movie World. We couldn’t come to the Gold Coast without checking out the theme parks! Last time we were here, I turned up at Wet ‘n’ Wild without my swim suit (in my defense, I had realised it was a water park; instead I thought it was all about water displays and fish etc!) so this could have been my chance to give it another go. However, the weather wasn’t really quite warm enough for us to spend a whole day drenched from top to toe, so we decided to visit just the other two parks instead.



Sea World was Dean’s choice and a great one at that. We saw everything from impressive jet ski stunt performances to sharks, polar bears, sea lions, penguins, dolphins, star fish and all sorts of sea creatures. Did you know that sea cucumbers, when hey feel threatened, can excrete their entire digestive system and leave it behind for a predator to eat… only to grow a whole new digestive system?! My all time favourite bit was the ray reef, where you could stroke and feed sting rays, eagle rays, baby rays etc. They were gorgeous and, after spending an hour and a half with my arms in the water, my skin closely resembled a bloated prune. I had never encountered these beautiful and graceful creatures so closely and just writing this makes me want to dash back there. Come to think of it, our passes are valid for 14 days…! They feel lovely to touch – the smaller ones are soft and silky; the larger ones feel sandpapery; the eagle rays just feel like pure muscle. There are countless different types of rays, for example, the blue spotted mask ray which gives birth to babies that are rolled up like cylinders and the manta ray which doesn’t eat fish but rather filters plankton from the water. Rays are related to sharks but they have live babies and they have crushing plates instead of teeth. I soon realised that those crushing plates are pretty powerful though. This is especially true for the eagle ray which is quite scary anyway as it looks like a swimming count dracula! Contrary to popular belief, rays are quite shy and docile and will only use their barb if they absolutely have to. The fact that it can take up to 18 months to grow back is a pretty good incentive not to use it.



The next day we hit Movie World for an entirely different kind of thrill. A small version of Disneyland, it has every imaginable ride on offer. We started off with a 4D movie experience and carried on with the carousel (they wouldn’t let me go on the characters and insisted I sit in a carriage!) before graduating to the roller coasters. I quite enjoyed the Scooby Doo indoor coaster and the child-friendly Road Runner coaster, but Dean was determined to get me on the Superman Escape coaster. It took a lot of coaxing and, when I finally did make it onto it, it was actually so scary that I closed my eyes for the entire duration of the ride and didn’t utter a peep. It was way too scary to scream. We also watched an excellent stunt driver show and pigged out on a lot of popcorn!



We only spent one night at a Gold Coast caravan park and just went to a swimming pool on the remaining days. I’m really enjoying that and am delighted that my crawl is vastly improving. Last year’s swimming lessons seem to be paying off now :-)



We have now moved inland a little and are vegging out in the back of the van in a supermarket car park in Beenleigh. We’ve been so lucky with glorious weather over the last three weeks, but now it’s raining. A good opportunity to chill out and take it easy.

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