Paradise Found

One of the reasons Brisbane is known as Brisneyland is that to the south there is a stretch of coast known as the Gold Coast. It contains the very colourfully named city of Surfers Paradise along with many other lesser known settlements. This colossal conglomeration of beaches and high-rises makes the Gold Coast a popular tourist destination; this along with several major theme parks. All this excitement within an hour of Brisbane is where my brother and I were off to next.

Surfers Paradise began its existence as the town of Elston along a very beautiful stretch of southeastern Queensland coastline. In the 1930s, hoping to increase tourism by realizing that no one would, and more to the point, no one was, travelling hours on end to visit a place called Elston, the local council decided to change its name. After some searching, they found a slightly ramshackle hotel in their fair burg called the Surfers Paradise Hotel and they liked it. Surfing had recently been imported to Australia from Hawai'i and had skyrocketed in popularity; surfing is still one of the most popular Australian recreational activities. The name stuck and Surfers Paradise, or simply Surfers as Australian call it in their habit of truncating names, hasn't looked back.

Things didn't really take off until the 1950s and the post-World War Two boom. Suddenly, everyone wanted to go to Surfers. In the 1960s, the first high-rise was built, and then another, and then another. Within two short decades, Surfers' coast had bed transformed from a beautiful stretch of beach with solitary cabins to a full-blown resort with skyscrapers. According to many, some of the money that helped build it was not entirely clean. The Yakuza (Japanese mafia) are said to have "invested" heavily into Surfers. The best way to describe it is that it resembles Miami Beach or Waikiki --- endless sand, surf, sun and skyscrapers. In case your wondering about the hotel that started it all, it was torn down in 1983 to make room for a large shopping mall and a Hard Rock Cafe now stands on that spot. The only memorial to the Surfers Paradise Hotel is an inconspicuous bronze plaque on the sidewalk. I kind of made me sad.

Getting to Surfers is easy and relatively cheap. It doesn't sit on the main, or any, rail line from Brisbane but included in your train ticket is the fare by bus into Surfers. From Roma Street Station to Surfers costs $21.20, which isn't too bad in my opinion. The whole trip took about an hour so I made sure my brother awoke early so we could make the most of our time.

After getting off the bus in central Surfers, we took a little bit of time to get our bearings. You could see Surfers long before you got there thanks to the Q1 Tower, the tallest residential tower in the world at over 300m. I had a map of Surfers with me but we sort of just walked where we willed without any real purpose. But the first order of business was to get lunch. Australian restaurants seem to give really good deals on lunch specials and I remember having a steak with salad and chips (fries) for just under $10. My brother had a reasonably priced caesar salad. We ordered drinks from the bar and I realized another one of Australia's quirks caused by interstate rivalries. While New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) have Coca-Cola as the primate soft drink, in Queensland (QLD) it's Pepsi.

My brother and I then took a stroll to what Surfers is known for, the beach. There was a nice breeze from the sea and although there were many people about, there were not as many as I thought would be. In front of us was the blue south Pacific while behind us, as far as the eye could see north and south, there were the skyscrapers. This extends almost all the way to Brisbane to the north and to Tweed Heads/Coolangatta on the QLD/NSW border to the south. We marched up and down the length of the beach before heading back into central Surfers.

Walking along a pedestrian mall, we happened upon a large indoor shopping center and went in to check it out. Inside, we found a game complex and brother just had to play. I waited around, did a little internet surfing, before my brother, finally having had his fill of computer games, came out. We did a little more exploring and came to the base of the Q1 Tower. I must say that it is impressive and its architecture is quite stunning. I can only imagine how much the penthouse must cost.

After another quick walk along the beach, we decided to grab some dinner. We stopped in to the Hard Rock Cafe, the same one that I later saw was on the site of the Surfers Paradise Hotel. After dinner, and a little more walking, we caught the bus back to the train station. We just caught the train. An hour later, we were back in Brisbane and our hostel. It was a great excursion to a fascinating part of QLD. I encourage everyone to go see Surfers for themselves at least once. Maybe you could even go to the theme parks, something we didn't do. But the next day, we celebrated something special. That will have to wait as the next post will be my weekly update.