Surfers Paradise Australia - Mid Winter Getaway

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Surfers Paradise - A travel report by tara

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Surfers Paradise, Australia - Queensland	7295 readers		quikflikchiq's travel reports
Mid Winter Getaway - Better than a book!	15 votes		Page: 1 2

A friend of mine asked me to read a book for her birthday and then she asked if I wanted to go to Surfers Paradise for 5 nights. I havent finished the book yet!




	Good Morning Surfers Paradise

We flew into Coolangatta airport at 8am on Friday morning. We shed our kiwi kathamandu warm gear and headed straight for the apartment to dump our bags and get changed into our swimming togs.

Mornings are the best. Get out of bed as early as you can. It was easier for us as New Zealand is 2 hours ahead - so 5am was like 7am! And if you are up that early, the sunrises are spectacular!

We had a total of about 20 minutes of rain the entire time we were there - and we were under cover at Seaworld when that happened! I estimate the average temperature was 24 degrees - not bad for the end of the Southern Hemisphere autumn. The water temperature was just as good - usually 22 or 23 degrees.

Favourite spots:




	Swimming and sunbathing .. in Autumn?!?!?

I loved Surfers Paradise - the main beach and surrounding area.
The beach is groomed every morning at around 6am so by the time every one starts walking down to the beach it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Huge high rise apartments run the length of Surfers, right up into Main Beach and back down to Coolangatta. On the other side are smaller suburbs nestled along a river.

As we didnt venture through the central area and over to the otherside near the rivers and the mountains, I am going to have to rate the beaches (and the view of the Broadwater) as my favourite spots.

What's really great:




	The Jetstream and SideWinder slides at Wet and Wild

The best thing about the entire trip was that I had a great day - every day. I got to run around in shorts and act like a great big kid!

My highlight has to be the afternoon we spent at the water park. Okay so you might think that the beginning of winter is the best time to go to a water park - but remember, its Queensland and the weather rocks. We raced through the BlackHole several times (and its cool as you have 2 or 3 people to a tube), then my friend thought she would try the Jetstream - 160 metres! I chickened out on this one and for good reason it turns out. Her backside left the slide coming over the last bump and it was bloody scarey! That was the last of that slide.

Sights:




	Watching the Dolphin show at the cove at SeaWorld

If I went back, I would try and do a bit more sightseeing - although I think everything you need to see is pretty much the beach!

I took a walk up to Harbourtown (a huge outlet store shopping mall) - but honestly, with Queensland boasting 300 days of sunshine a year .. I think I will leave that til the next thunder and hail and rain show!

Down in Surfers we could have hired scooters. I thought they were a pretty reasonable price ($25.00 for 1 hour) but we walked around a lot. Didnt quite make it into Broadbeach, I think by the time we had walked there, we walked to get off the road and back onto the beach. And there were always some nice people to look at doing exactly the same thing as us.

SeaWorld was a blast. Its in a great location - lots of buses go there. The park is really clean, although its a bit expensive, but with all the work they do, I figure its a donation. Go and watch the 4D movie - brilliant!

Accommodations:

Rent a holiday apartment if you can - or book into the Backpackers in Paradise backpackers on Peninsula Drive.

Nightlife:

Sunday night goes off in Surfers.

We started at Tooleys in Main Beach where there was a musician playing an acoustic guitar and singing lots of Australian and New Zealand pop and soft rock tunes. We then had a bit of a chat to the barman who told us to head down to Fishermans Wharf - which was jam packed! There was a great rock band playing covers there so we stayed and jumped around like idiots.

We met some guys who suggested that we go right into Surfers to a place called Melbas. We had been recommended this place by a few other people when we had asked around - so we jumped in a cab with them and headed down there.

Melbas was pretty good - but alcohol (esp cocktails) in bars in Australia is pretty expensive. We actually dodged the guys we had caught a ride into town and went upstairs where they have pool tables and it was slightly more our scene.

Restaurants:

If you want good cheap food and even cheaper beer, I suggest the first place you try is the local Surf Lifesaving Club. You have to sign in (or you can join for a really cheap price). The food is not gourmet but nothing on the menu is over $15.00 and when happy hour rolls around, beers are $2.00 each.

My 2 favourite clubs are Southport for the food and Surfers for the beers and the bartender!

There are a lot of good places to eat. On my friends birthday, we did a bit of window shopping and selected a place in Cavill Mall called Toscainis. We ordered the seafood platter for 2 - and couldnt finish it!

Other recommendations:




	If the kids can do it ...

Register with the Cheyne Horan surf school and take a lesson with the best surf instructors I have ever come across. They even guarantee that you will stand up in your first lesson (and not just once) and if you dont - the next lesson is free!