Gold Coast is one of the most densely populated cities in the state of Queensland in Australia. Among all the countries in the land down under, Gold Coast has the sixth largest population especially considering that it is a non-capital city. Tourists in the Gold Coast, however, will no sooner realize the reason why residents come to flock to this small subtropical city. The Gold Coast offers a mixture of different sorts of offers, from sunny surfing beaches, cosmopolitan skylines, peaceful rainforests, cultural and historical sites and structures, and a lively, energetic lifestyle.
The Gold Coast city fringes on the southern part of Logan City, which lies around 38 miles of Coolangatta. This area is already found on the border of New South Wales. On the other hand, the city extends all the way to the Great Dividing Range, almost to the very foothills of what is now the Lamington National Park listed as a World Heritage site. In Queensland, the city can be found in the southeast corner and lies to the south of the state capital of Brisbane. To get to the Gold Coast, you can take the Pacific Motorway and Pacific Highway coming from Newcastle and Sydney.
The Gold Coast was first noted by Captain James Cook in 1770 during the HM Bark Endeavor. However, the region was not inhabited until 1823 when an explorer by the name of John Oxley reached Mermaid Beach. The rainforest hinterland located in the area became like a magnet that attracted people from various sources to the region during the 1800s. In 1875, Gold Coast tourism came alive with the discovery of the secluded tourist offers in Southport. The tourism in the area continued to boost, and this, in turn, bolstered a steady incline in the area’s population until the city held much promise that it became called the Gold Coast, which was proclaimed officially in the year 1958.
As can be derived from its history, tourism became the focal industry in the Gold Coast ever since. More than ten million tourists flock to the promising city annually. The city, of course, responds warmly to this, offering an estimated 65,000 accommodation pieces, 60 kilometres of sunny beaches, 500 restaurants, 6 major theme parks, 40 golf courses, and around 100,000 hectares of natural reserves for nature lovers.
The whole of the Gold Coast can be divided into various parts. In one part, particularly the Broadbeach suburbs, stretches with an array of surfing beaches which provide tourists with the perfect summer destinations. In another part, the Southport and Surfer’s Paradise area, the city’s commercial hotspots are spread out. The western part, on the other hand, provides the city’s hinterland, which is already part of the Great Dividing Range. This area boasts of natural geological features and rainforests, natural parks, and a healthy habitat of rare animal and plant species.
For families, a trip around the theme parks in the area is a must. Kids will definitely enjoy hopping from Dreamworld, Sea World, Wet ‘n Wild Water World, Warner Bros. Movie World, to White Water World. Nature trippers and day trippers will also love the Currumbin Sanctuary, Fleays Wildlife Park, Paradise Country, and the Australian Outback Spectacular. Day tripping is also a popular tourist activity in the area, which has boosted the number of day trip hostels in the city.
The Gold Coast is also the film centre of Queensland. It houses the third largest film production centre in the country. Tourists can venture to the borders of the city and find the studio of Warner Brothers, which have been used as the setting for certain films such as the Scooby Doo the movie.
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