Surfers Paradise is a town on Australia’s Gold Coast in Queensland. Colloquially known as ‘Surfers’, the suburb is famous for its many high-rise apartment buildings and wide surf beach. The central feature of the Surfers Paradise central business district is Cavill Mall, which runs through the centre of the main shopping precinct. Cavill Avenue, named after Jim Cavill, an early hotel owner, is one of the busiest shopping strips in Queensland, and is the centre of activity for night life and ’schoolies’ trips.
Imagine Hawaii, only with wider, whiter beaches, and cheaper to stay and eat, and not so commercialized, and weather just a little more temperate, and Australian beer. Now you are starting to get the picture of Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. With 70 km of beaches and several hundred km of tidal rivers and basins, water sports rule Surfers Paradise.
Many Australians believe that Surfers Paradise has been spoilt, and the whole of the Gold Coast area now has a somewhat dubious reputation for being a place where foreign tourists go to get ripped off or locals go for a night out in seedy strip clubs (which are plentiful).
Although there can be no doubt the area has been overdeveloped, this reputation is probably a little bit harsh and in recent years many of the seedier aspects of the Gold Coast have been redeveloped into more lucrative upmarket ventures. The beaches are undeniably great but be aware that high rise developments just off the main beach mean that every afternoon huge amounts of the beach sit in the shadows!
The Gold Coast Oceanway is a foreshoreway that travels along a beachfront alignment between Narrowneck and Surfers Central but then diverts inland to travel along a narrow corridor along Garfield and Northcliffe Terraces behind the beachfront highrises. Gold Coast City Council proposed to create a new Oceanway pavement along the public road reserve between the highrise buildings and the dunes but there was considerable opposition from local residents.
The Surfers Riverwalk travels along the Nerang River foreshores through to Surfers Paradise. The CavilWest corridor is proposed to be developed to link Cavil Mall westward to the Gold Coast Arts Centre and on through the Bundall business district to the Gold Coast Turf Club. The corridor will encourage pedestrians and cyclists to enjoy more sustainable lifestyles through the construction of two new green bridges:
- From Tiki Village Surfers to Tarcoola Avenue Chevron Island.
- From Mawarra Street Chevron Island to Evandale.
Since 1991 the Champ Car World Series has run an annual race on the streets of Surfers Paradise, an event known generically as the Nikon Indy 300. For 2008 the Indy Racing League will take up the event. Schoolies week is celebrated by around 50,000 high school graduates each November. Assuming that you want to experience the sea, the best time to hit the Gold Coast in between October and March when temperatures climb.
Surfers Paradise is located on the Gold Coast of Australia, about an hour by car south of Brisbane. A train service also connects to Brisbane Airport and arrives at Robina just a 10 minute bus ride from Surfers. Coolangatta Airport is on the southern side of the Gold Coast and is about a 30 minute bus ride to Surfers. Frequent domestic flights are available.
There are 21 theme parks and attractions on the Gold Coast, including Sea World, Warner Brothers Movieworld, Dreamworld and Wet ‘n Wild Water Park. At Currumbin Sanctuary you can see hundreds of mountain parrots. If you want to pet kangaroos and emus, then Fleays Wildlife Park is where you should head.
As with all beaches in Queensland you need to swim between the Red & Yellow flags at all times. These flags mark the safest area of water in which to swim & also the area in which the lifeguards are supervising. Many lives have been lost due to people not swimming in the marked area.
In the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, the paradise that the refugees hoped to reach is Surfers Paradise. Surfers Paradise beach was voted as one of the best beaches in the world by the American Travel Channel. Surfers Paradise beach was judged Queensland’s Cleanest Beach in 2006 by the Keep Australia Beautiful Council.
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