The GC: All that Glitters is Gold Coast

This week's adventure took me three hours south to the Gold Coast, the "Vegas" of Australia. Dubbed by opinion polls as everything from "Tacky" to "Terrific," it's easy to see why millions of people, from tots to tattooed techno lovers, flock to the place where the skyscrapers touch the sand.

The Gold Coast has 70 kilometers of uninterrupted dazzling, white sand beaches, entertainment districts, theme parks, and high-rise residential towers. Staying with the Powell family (Kerry, Gunde, Stephanie & Klaus, Luke) in their beautiful new home in Tweed (Don't call us Coolangatta) Heads, immediately south of the New South Wales state line, we popped in some tunes and headed down the M1 to explore. Below is a sample of the various enclaves and indigenous peoples of the G.C.:

• Surfer's Paradise: Probably one of the seedier parts of the GC, this enclave is home to Q1, which opened as the world's tallest residential tower in 2005. Apparently, the Gold Coast and Dubai have this tit-for-tat game of outbuilding residential towers (mine is taller than yours), so I'm unclear whether it still retains this coveted title, but I do know Q1 is taller than the Eiffel tower, the Chrysler Building, and even our really tall friend, Chris Carr, who we creatively nicknamed "Big Chris." Because observation decks hold that same inexplicable extreme magnetism on me as kitschy tourist traps (see last entry), we had to take the elevators to the top. It was a clear day, and I do believe I could see Hawaii from there. I sat and wondered for a while how much of a pain it would be to move a couch up 70 flights of stairs, and then used the bathroom, not really because I had to go, but because I think it's really cool to use loo's in high places around the Southern Hemisphere.


• Byron Bay: A fantastic little hippie town nestled snugly between the Easternmost point in Australia and a bunch of stoners, Byron Bay is a not to be missed spot south of the Gold Coast. Full of trendy design shops, music festivals, heaps of backpackers in "Wicked" Camper vans, and a lighthouse, the new day dawns on this part of Australia first. At the gateway to Byron Bay is the Byron Bay Cookie Factory. After stocking up on enough sugar to attract Cane Toads, I entered a drawing to win a free cookie hamper...I hope that means "Basket" and not lemon shortbreads and dirty socks.


• Currumbin Animal Sanctuary: Talk about it being all about who you know, Stephanie, whose home I was staying at, works at the wildlife park in Currumbin, where I got to take the "Green Challenge" ropes course high in the canopy. An activity I had assumed was relegated to REI-clad stooges or hokey corporate teambuilding events where everyone in the office would have rather gone drinking, I actually quite enjoyed navigating the pulleys, zip lines, and tunnels several meters up in the trees. The course begins with relatively easy tasks and then progressively increases in height and intensity until you admit the 12-year olds on holiday from England are kicking your Yank bottom and you stop. Kids have an unfair advantage at the Green Challenge. They have no fear.


• Snapper Rocks: This beach is home to the Roxy/Quicksilver Pro surf competitions, and is one of the more unusual breaks I have seen. Sounding more like the name of some playboy villain in a James Bond Flick, Snapper Rocks is a great spot to watch the surfers with the skyline in the background. We stopped to go swimming here.

All in all, my trip to the Gold Coast was fantastic, and I got to see pretty much everything I had mapped out in my travel guide. Today marks one month left in Australia, and after going to a professional footie game (as scheduled in a couple weeks), I will have seen all the major attractions around Australia that I wanted to catch. Let me know if there's anything else I must see.