My next stop on the itinerary after getting comfortable in Sydney was the Gold Coast. I had heard great things about the beautiful beaches in the area but the main reason I was going was to meet up with a friend of mine that recently moved there. We planned a girls hang out for a few days J I arrived (by plane via Tiger Airways) in the Gold Coast at around 8pm and it was already getting dark by the time I got my bag and headed to the bus stop. I got unlucky with an unfriendly bus driver, who unfortunately didn’t know where I was going (I had the address and the general suburb but he had trouble guiding me in the right direction). I was quite frustrated upon arriving because I was told it would be easy to get to my friend’s place, and I didn’t have a phone on me in case I needed to contact her. The bus driver dropped me off quite a few blocks before he was supposed to so I found myself lugging my heavy suitcase for many blocks to make it to my friend Jill’s place.
Jill is a good friend of mine from Canada who recently moved to the Gold Coast, as she loves Australia, and wanted to come back here someday. I finally found the place in the dark, and got a chance to recuperate! Jill was working so I walked to her work via the coastal walk once I got into her apartment (she lives with a few roommates right on the beach)! It took a while but it was a pleasant and refreshing stroll without my luggage this time!
The Gold Coast is an interesting place. I have heard it called ‘the Vegas of Australia’ as well as ‘the Miami of Australia’. I wouldn’t say I agree with either, as it is not nearly as good as those 2 places. It also does not feel Australian. Now don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed my time there—I met some great people (although almost all of them were Canadian!) and had some really fun nights out—Mustache parties, my friend’s birthday, and random barbeques. The actual atmosphere and group of people I was surrounded by while I was there were great! They were all relocated Canadians loving the weather, surf, and lifestyle of Australia.
However, that is the inherent problem. I didn’t really see any ‘Australia’ on the Gold Coast because I was surrounded by Canadians. A fun time nonetheless, it feels like a part of Australia infiltrated by non-Australians. Unfortunately, the actual location, which does boast a beautiful long, seemingly never ending beach, feels quite fake. There is lots of partying here, and lots of theme parks nearby. There are some cute restaurants and cafes, but I didn’t feel a real culture from each of the suburbs. Each one felt very similar to the other. However, there were a lot of young people, so the general crowd definitely appealed to me.
Another thing that bothered me about the place was the cost of public transportation. I understand extra costs from airports, but inner city travel should be cheap and convenient. It is not really either on the Gold Coast. There are buses that run on 1 main road that roughly gets you to each suburb, because each suburb runs off of this main road. But there is no real connected network, and you pay a lot for each ride you take, even if it takes 10 mins! A 30 minute ride from the airport on bus 702 cost me $7.50 which seemed reasonable. However, a quick 10 minute ride from Mermaid Beach (where I was staying) to Burleigh (where my friend worked) cost me $5.60 one way! And only Queensland student cards gave you a slight discount, otherwise no luck! There is a card you can get that makes the rides cheaper, but nowhere near as cheap as the Sydney or Melbourne transport system options. Also, my friend who had to take that route to work every day, tried to find those cards everywhere and no one was actually selling them! It was kind of ridiculous, because it is advertised that they sell them at all 7 eleven’s and various supermarkets, but from the multiple places she visited, she could not find a card anywhere. Eventually, she ordered it online but had to wait a while and pay those high prices before it arrived. Some of the bus drivers were great though, and let us pay student fares even without showing our ‘student cards’ ;)
Anyways, enough about my little rant about public transportation options on the Gold Coast-- although there is much room for improvement ;) On a side note, just to give you an idea of the price range to get around, after our week in Gold Coast we were flying out of Brisbane to get to the Outback (much more to come on that later). We looked up transportation options from Gold Coast to Brisbane (about a 90 minute drive). The cheapest option we could find that would get us to the airport was a private bus company that cost $48 per person! There was a train option but it only ran at certain hours and was only slightly cheaper. We eventually rented a car for a 24 hour period to get us there because that cost to us was $50 total! A funny comparison in prices if you ask me….
Ok, I apologize, enough about my public transportation complaints. My friends place was a short walk to a long, beautiful beach. It was very different from the Sydney beaches we were used to, and this beach seemed to run endlessly in either direction. It was a great place to just sit and relax and take it all in. There were good waves for surfing, and we often saw kite surfers out on the water, which was so cool to see!
Mermaid Beach was a cute little suburb, with a usually bustling street of cafes, restaurants and pubs. The only downfall was the trading hours. Except for Thursday nights, everything closed before 10pm. I remember getting there the first night and wheeling my luggage down the main street, filled with bustling shops and a nice atmosphere of people. After dropping my stuff off and heading back down the street about 20 minutes later (it was 1015pm at the time), everything was closed and the street was asleep! And these early trading hours are prevalent in many places, including Sydney and Melbourne, but it felt even earlier on the Gold Coast. The only places that seemed open any later than that were certain spots right in Surfers Paradise, which was quite a bit further up the road. Ya right Las Vegas!
We did check out some of the places on the street eventually, a few coffees in the AM, and a few pubs here and there that seemed to have good crowds of people. However, I preferred the suburb that my friend worked at called Burleigh Heads, which was down the road a bit. It had more of a hippy feel, and boasted a Saturday Market at the local school. We really enjoyed the Market, from the fresh produce to the ‘virtue’ card readings. It was a fun morning!
A plus about the Gold Coast is that it wouldn’t be intimidating to the new traveler. It provides good sun & surf, good restaurants and a good night life without being overwhelming, like Sydney & Melbourne might be at first. The Gold Coast is quieter, filled with plenty of foreigners and a touristy introduction to Australia, albeit not the most authentic. However, for less experienced travelers and the more hesitant, it might just be a great place to start! It sits on a beautiful coastline and can provide the calm beach environment that many hope for on vacation. The theme parks would probably be a hit with the kids too.
For me, it was my least favourite place in Australia compared to the other locations I have been. However, I do not want to underscore the great people I have met there and the fun times I had—the moustache party was a blast! And the views from a friend’s apartment were fantastic! Could sit there and relax any day :)
