Locals describe weather in the Gold Coast as ‘beautiful one day, perfect the next’ – and with over 300 days of sunshine per year, it’s not hard to see why. Sprawled across a 35-mile stretch of golden, sandy coastline, the subtropical city is a traveller’s paradise. Surfers flock to the Gold Coast for its incredible point breaks, A-listers frequent its avenues inbetween shooting blockbusters, and conservationists use it as a base for exploring the spectacular Great Barrier Reef, which is situated just off-shore. As a result, the Gold Coast has swiftly become one of Australia’s fastest-growing cities. Around a quarter of the city’s 500,000 population hails from overseas, bringing with it a series of diverse ideas and flavours to a nation that is too often associated with over-assimilation.
The Gold Coast maintains nine times more navigable man-made waterways than the city of Venice, is littered with Michelin-star restaurants, and offers visitors some of the best-preserved slices of rainforest in the southern hemisphere. Around 10m visitors flock to the area each year, even though the laidback city’s international profile is still relatively low-key. After it hosts the 2018 Commonwealth Games, however, that might start to change.
Lofty ambitions
While the Glasgow 2014 Games served as a major rebranding for Europe’s unhealthiest city, the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games will act as more of a grand unveiling. The competition, which is predicted to bring at least AUS 2bn (£1.1 bn) into the regional economy and provide around 30,000 new jobs, is already being pegged as Australia’s biggest sporting event of the decade. This is the first time that a regional city in Australia has been given the opportunity to host the Commonwealth Games and, as such, a costly infrastructure boost to help support the venture is already underway. And the region’s authorities aren’t taking this task lightly: construction is set to begin next year on two new leisure centres, each with a capacity in excess of 10,000, and in July this year officials cut the ribbon on the city’s new AUS 41m (£22m) world-class aquatics centre – which arrived both ahead of schedule and under budget. Yet even so, the city’s single biggest pre-Games undertaking will be the creation of its new Athletes’ Village.
Sprawled across a 35-mile stretch of golden, sandy coastline, the subtropical city is a traveller’s paradise
Home to the Gold Coast’s decrepit greyhound racing industry, the Parklands area of the city has had a long-standing need to be placed under the hammer. Now, developers have finally been given a licence to reimagine the prime potential of this palm tree-loaded locale, which will see it being transformed into a village to support the Commonwealth Games’ 6,500 athletes. It’s already being hailed as the biggest urban renewal project in Gold Coast history. After the sporting event is over, the site will go on to form the key residential, commercial and retail section of the new Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct, with work on over 1,200 apartments and townhouses and a neighbourhood retail centre already underway. The project will inject some AUS 500m (almost £273m) into the local economy, and will require a locally sourced crew of 1,500 during construction. Tourism bosses reckon that the city’s infrastructure will be the envy of every Games visitor – although there’s still plenty to admire in the meantime.
Movie magic
The Gold Coast might be striving for sporting excellence in the run up to the 2018 Games, but the city already serves as the continent’s Tinseltown capital. Situated 20 minutes outside the city are the Village Roadshow Studios; a vital outpost for the likes of Warner Brothers and several of Hollywood’s other big production operators. Comprising of eight sound stages, editing suites and world-class workshops for wardrobe and carpentry, the complex has accommodated a vast number of international blockbusters. The studio back lot, one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, also features three colossal water tanks that are able to house an entire fleet of Spanish galleons.
The studio is so well equipped that municipal officials are relying on it to provide the overspill for the 2018 Games. Two sound stages have already been booked to host rounds of boxing and table tennis, which will also give over 6,200 people a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse of a back lot that is typically held under lock and key. And those unable to secure a ticket or tour of the Village Roadshow site can still take solace in the neighbouring Warner Bros Movie World – operated by adjacent studio executives, the sprawling complex is Australia’s only film-related theme park and features diverse street shows, costume characters and river rides. The park is a must for any family passing through the area. Yet further up the coast, a vast majority of Gold Coast visitors prefer to take on slightly more daunting outdoor pursuits.
Surf’s up
The Gold Coast has long been a haven for surfers, even boasting a district named Surfer’s Paradise. With over 35 beaches, wave riders are spoilt for choice. Winds and easterly surges regularly conspire along the length of the city’s coastline to produce two-foot swells, while the point break delivers a constant barrage of uncrowded waves. Every few months offshore cyclones also sweep in, creating the four-foot waves that are known to draw in throngs of people with boards in tow. Standout beaches like The Spit, Narrowneck and Mermaid Beach are frequently littered with would-be surfers looking to catch their first wave.
International competitions are also fairly commonplace in the city, but beginners are more than welcome on the circuit. World champion Cheyne Horan runs his own Gold Coast surf school on the corner of Surfer’s Paradise Boulevard, which guarantees to have newcomers standing on their very first lesson. Those who laugh in the face of danger – namely, sharks – also often paddle across the Gold Coast Seaway to South Stradbroke Island, which boasts some of the most challenging waves in Queensland. Further south, the aptly named Superbank is home to the world’s longest waves, which can be ridden for nearly 2km if fortune favours the surfer.
Hidden depths
Yet the coast’s prolific surf is only the tip of the iceberg: scientists and travellers alike are often far more concerned with what lies beneath the city’s waves. Stretching for more than 2,000km along the Queensland coastline, the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef is among the globe’s most lauded natural creations. The sprawling, vibrantly coloured coral underworld plays home to tens of thousands of endangered species, and the opportunity to experience it first-hand is a life-changing adventure to many. Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the globe flock to the Gold Coast just to experience the reef, bringing an estimated AUS 3bn (£1.6bn) into the local economy. Vast swathes of the delicate reef are protected by the authorities, but numerous drop-off points and specially allocated visiting sites offer would-be scientists a brief taster of the underwater realm’s endless wonders.
Glass-bottomed boat tours leave every hour from coastal hubs outside the Gold Coast, with travellers also welcome to snorkel or dive into the waters on various day trips. The continental shelf is best experienced at Agincourt Reef from nearby Cairns, but once-in-a-lifetime diving options exist all over the coast. As the reef slowly continues to dissipate at an alarmingly rapid rate, visitors to the Gold Coast would do well not to put off an excursion – they might not get another chance.
From towering skyscrapers to the prehistoric coral barrier, there is something in the city to soothe every palate – yet these stark contrasts are united by the fierce determination of locals to maintain a lifestyle that emulates the clear, relaxing waves that line the city. Even as municipal officials scramble to secure space and build infrastructure that will dazzle the visitors of its Commonwealth Games, the Gold Coast already maintains a magnetic pull that’s near impossible to resist. 2018 might serve as the city’s grand unveiling to the world, but it never hurts to try and get a sneak peek of what’s to come.
