Jump to content

What to Do in Australia’s Gold Coast during the Commonwealth Games.


Hydra

Recommended Posts

 

AAvo5Jt.img?h=582&w=874&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f

© Matthew Abbott for The New York Times Surfers at Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast

 

Australia has an affinity for nicknames, and Gold Coast — the country’s sixth-largest city — has many of them. In fact, “the gold coast” was once a nickname for the stretch of beach enclaves along Queensland’s southernmost coastline. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the name became official, and the area became a city. These days, people sometimes call it the Glitter Strip.

 

What glitters? The beaches. The aquamarine water. The shiny high-rise condos and hotels that continue to proliferate at an incredible rate.

 

When the Commonwealth Games start on Wednesday, they will bring massive crowds, but the Gold Coast is built for visitors. Tourism is the region’s biggest industry, and the city’s infrastructure, from its easy-to-access international airport to its convenient light rail system, caters to that industry. There is no shortage of bland but familiar luxury. If you dig a little, though, there is a lot more to the city than its glittery facade.

 

AAvo5JE.img?h=582&w=874&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f

© Matthew Abbott for The New York Times Elisha Barnes, a safety supervisor at Tree Top Challenge inside the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, demonstrates how to swing on rope.

 

Nature

The Gold Coast is famous for its 43 miles of coastline, along which are some of the country’s most popular surfing beaches. If a crowded beach full of beautiful people is your scene, you cannot do better than Surfers Paradise.

 

For a slightly more nature-focused experience, the tiny Burleigh Head National Park offers an easy hike with stunning views. It ends at the mouth of Tallebudgera Creek, where you can swim in the calm shallow water. This area is the traditional land of the Yugambeh people, and the basalt rock formations in the park are said to be the fingers of Jabreen, a giant who was captured by the mountain.

 

Snaking throughout the city are more than 250 miles of canals, lined with houses, which you can explore via canal cruise or boat charter.

 

For the visitor who cannot leave Australia without cuddling a koala, that experience is (usually) available at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, where you can also feed a crocodile and play with an echidna.

 

AAvocuG.img?h=564&w=874&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f

© Matthew Abbott for The New York Times The Fish House in Burleigh Heads is also one of the best places in the country to sample Australia’s incredible seafood bounty.

 

Dining

 

Australia’s stellar cafe culture is well represented on the Gold Coast, avocado toast and all. The Paddock Bakery, located in one of the precious few remaining old Queenslander houses, is a great place to start your day.

For later, upscale seafood options abound, and it can be hard to parse the tourist traps from the quality establishments.

 

The Fish House in Burleigh Heads (just a short walk from the Burleigh Head National Park) could bank on its view alone — its wide open front windows look out over the arching sweep of the coastline. It is also one of the best places in the country to sample Australia’s incredible seafood bounty, cooked simply and elegantly with a fantastic wine list to match.

 

At Hellenika in Nobby Beach, large pop art portraits of John Stamos and George Michael oversee the dining room, where Greek food gets the fine dining treatment. The restaurant has one of the smartest collections of Greek wine you’ll find anywhere, and slightly updated classic dishes such as dolmades made with veal and wrapped in chard, served with thick, creamy tzatziki.

 

For a less flashy, more intimate meal, it is worth seeking out Lupo, a relative newcomer in the corner of a Mermaid Beach strip mall. Soul music blares, overhead fans stir the air, and the burnished walls and horseshoe bar give it the feel of a vintage expat dive on some tropical island.

 

The food mainly comes from a wood-fired oven but there’s not a pizza in sight — instead, you’ll find modern Australian combinations with rustic European underpinnings. Kingfish ceviche comes with a pea puree rather than the citrus brine it gets everywhere else, and steak tartare is reimagined as a raw steak sandwich, doused in smoky Spanish paprika.

 

AAvo5Jr.img?h=584&w=874&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f

© Matthew Abbott for The New York Times Sunset along Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast.

 

Day Trips

 

There are some charming small towns within easy driving range, and many of them have seen an influx of wealth in recent years as affluence spills out from the Gold Coast and also Byron Bay to the south. Brunswick Heads, about an hour’s drive into New South Wales, has great vintage stores, boutiques and a riverfront park where kids, dogs, and families splash in the tidal Brunswick River.

 

It is also home to one of the country’s most lauded new restaurants, Fleet. Reservations at Fleet are basically impossible to secure; for a far more accessible dining experience, the sprawling patio at the historic Hotel Brunswick is one of the region’s great pub experiences.

 

The area’s history as a hippie haven offers some unique sightseeing, such as the Crystal Castle Shambhala Gardens in the breathtakingly beautiful hinterlands above Byron Bay. The gardens are home to some of the biggest crystals in the world, and aura readings (and aura photographs) are available. On your way back down the hill, stop by Federal Doma Cafe in Federal for fantastic Japanese/Australian cafe food.

 

AAvo9MC.img?h=582&w=874&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f

© Matthew Abbott for The New York Times Aboriginal dancers from the Yugambeh people performing at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.

 

There’s plenty for adventure-seekers nearby, including a ropes course and zip line parks, the largest of which is in Mount Tamborine, a little less than an hour northwest of the Gold Coast. Tree Top Challenge also has a smaller course inside the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, but the original Mount Tamborine park has six courses spread over nine acres of forest, with about 100 challenges and 11 zip lines.

 

The surrounding area offers multiple natural attractions, including Springbrook National Park’s Natural Bridge waterfall, which at night is lit by glow worms, fireflies, and luminous fungi.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-au/travel/tripideas/what-to-do-in-australia’s-gold-coast/ar-AAvoDiF?ocid=spartandhp

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, FischerTal said:

i have been to sydney once . easily one of the most beautiful cities in the world.. planned to perfection 

You should come to Melbourne, Sydney only has the harbour Melb has a lot more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 05/04/2018 at 2:15 PM, FischerTal said:

i have been to sydney once . easily one of the most beautiful cities in the world.. planned to perfection 

Should’ve come to the west of Sydney, would look like you’ve just walked into Lebanon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Ellipsism said:

Cronulla is decent, good beaches, nice houses but the people are racist as Fok.

couldn't care less. i was only there for a month lol. 

 

btw why are there so many lebanese in australia? 

Edited by FischerTal
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Ellipsism said:

We punched above our weight big time. We’ve been certified minnows for more than a decade now. 

 

Anyhow is there a CWG thread here?

Yeah India being firm favorites should have won this. Feeling absolutely gutted.

No idea about the thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Stradlater said:

Yeah India being firm favorites should have won this. Feeling absolutely gutted.

No idea about the thread.

Disgraceful 2nd half. What is wrong with our body language the minute we see Pak at the other end? It is as if we hold back and become meek kittens, OTOH those guys play as if they are waging their holy war. The gulf in class between the teams is so much that we should have won by a margin of 3-4 goals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, FischerTal said:

couldn't care less. i was only there for a month lol. 

 

btw why are there so many lebanese in australia? 

Australia allowed them to enter during the Lebanese civil war, now they run all of Western Sydney and some suburbs of Melbourne. The most arrogant and self entitled people you will ever come about. They get married in their teens and pop out as much babies as they can (four, minimum) to get welfare payments (they usually drop out of HS in year 10, or if they work it’s jn construction) the overwhelming majority are also tied with drugs and gangs. And then they play the victim card whenever they come into question.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Ellipsism said:

Australia allowed them to enter during the Lebanese civil war, now they run all of Western Sydney and some suburbs of Melbourne. The most arrogant and self entitled people you will ever come about. They get married in their teens and pop out as much babies as they can (four, minimum) to get welfare payments (they usually drop out of HS in year 10, or if they work it’s jn construction) the overwhelming majority are also tied with drugs and gangs. And then they play the victim card whenever they come into question.

Basically like British Pakistanis then.

 

Edited by Stradlater
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Ellipsism said:

Australia allowed them to enter during the Lebanese civil war, now they run all of Western Sydney and some suburbs of Melbourne. The most arrogant and self entitled people you will ever come about. They get married in their teens and pop out as much babies as they can (four, minimum) to get welfare payments (they usually drop out of HS in year 10, or if they work it’s jn construction) the overwhelming majority are also tied with drugs and gangs. And then they play the victim card whenever they come into question.

reminds me of a particular community in England. :phehe:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...