And now for the Gold Coast
So, the Brisbane post was a big success, which made me think I ought to do a Gold Coast post too, since the Gold Coast is only about 40-odd minutes away by train from Brisbane, which is about the same length of a lot of people's daily commutes.
....But instead this mostly just became photo-spam of beaches and waves. And it also occurred to me that I've briefly posted about the Gold Coast before anyway. So let's look at photos! I've been meaning to post these for a long time actually.
Honestly, most people in Brisbane think of the Gold Coast as a sort extension of the city, much like how people in Bundaberg think of Bagara as a sort of outer suburb, even though there's a whole lot of empty space between the two. Of course, people on the Gold Coast (and Bagara) would stringently disagree, which is fair enough. I mean, the Gold Coast is even getting a Supanova next year! They're certainly big enough to classify themselves as a city in their own right, at a cool half a million people and growing.
There's a bunch of cool things on the Gold Coast - a whole string of theme parks, like Dreamworld (all the extreme rides, and the Big Brother house) and Warner Brother's Movieworld (kind of like Australia's version of Universal Studios) and Wet N Wild (water slide park) and Seaworld (big aquarium with shows and rides) and the Outback Spectacular (Australiana performances), but repetitive visits eventually rendered those mundane to me (I imagine it must be like how people living in Orlando feel about Disneyworld after a while) and now I'm more interested in the beaches, which are timeless:
This is the beach at Burleigh Heads. It's a little further south than the main beach at Surfers Paradise, but it's got a lot of volcanic rocks that are fun to climb over and a nice lagoon and it's a lot less crowded. More families, fewer bogans.
There's also some nice bushwalks up to a lookout!
With some very cool views.
And some parts of it are also decidedly dramatic.
A bit of trivia - that rock up the top was considered by the local Aborigines back in the day as being a great spot for fertility. Presumably because it's shaped like a penis. Yeah, I went there.
Since the Gold Coast is sort of designed to be a massive tourist trap and amusement strip, there's lot of weird and cool things to do beyond even the main amusement parks, like wax museums and themed restaurants and funhouses. There's also this place with its weird sort of side-show rides and bungie slingshots. It also looks very cool at night.
The tallest building on the Gold Coast is the Q1! It is fairly impressive, though apparently despite being a mere ten years old, has already begun to rust. What you get for building steel and glass skyscrapers next to the ocean. It is also right across the road from Icey Ice, which is what we all know really matters.
It makes for an impressive sight none the less - almost looks like it would be more at home in Tokyo. From this angle it kind of makes me think of an evil corporate headquarters of ShinRa WizLab a major corporation.
You can go up to the observation deck, which of course I did at first opportunity because it is some kind of intrinsic compulsion of mine to seek out the highest place everywhere I go. Some people have complained that the long shadow the skyscrapers cast over the beach in the afternoons ruins the shoreline, but as someone who sunburns very very easily, I think it's kind of awesome! Shade without having to find some tree with burrs and itchy grass.
Another shot from the top of the Q1. That round bit is where all the rich people with personal yachts live.
One thing about the Gold Coast, the eating is pretty good! Especially if you wander off the main glitter strip. Bibimbap! This place probably has the best bibimbap I've ever tried not that bibimbap is that complex, and was really really cheap, too! Six dollars all up, came with some very nice kimchi and soup. It was hidden in one of the many many arcades in Surfer's Paradise filled with restaurants and boutiques and kitschy souvenir shops.
Rather than in idyllic clear weather, though, the most fun time to visit the Gold Coast is right before a storm. This was taken north of Surfers, almost at Nerang. You can walk right out to the lighthouse.
How ominous is this picture. That's Surfers Paradise in the distance where the casino and glitter strip and Q1 and everything are located. You can walk along the beach there, it takes about an hour and a half.
This is the view on the way back.
This building has a fashionable hat. My friend who used to live on the Gold Coast took me around to the Griffith University campus there once, it was kind of one of those 'this is my old school' things, and like all such ventures it felt very weird to be walking around a deserted campus and heaps of fun at the same time. Almost all of Griffith University's buildings are like this actually. Any campus structures built in the last twenty years look like this.
The bridge leading across the highway, connecting two separate parts of the campus. It's like a mini pedestrian version of the Golden Gate!
This photo is just epic. It looks like a crane migration.
...Actually I'm pretty sure this whole post was really just an elaborate excuse to post that photo.