I know I've said this a lot, but the Gold Coast seriously makes me want to move here if it wasn't so far away. We loved Cairns, but I think the Gold Coast may have just taken the #1 spot for us. Everything here is so relaxed, with an emphasis on being on the water whenever possible. There's creeks, beaches, and rock pools... the beautiful hinterland with amazing National Parks is only an hour's drive away... great diving is an hour or so away depending on where you go... easy access to Brisbane and all the islands around it... the list could go on for the Gold Coast. Oh, and no crocodiles or deadly jellyfish like Cairns :) Although we still love Cairns... and that lagoon!
Australia Zoo
On our drive to the Gold Coast from the Sunshine Coast we made a stop at the Australia Zoo. This is Steve Irwin's zoo that his family still runs, it was huge and a lot fun to explore. It was not busy at all the day we went so it felt like we had the zoo to ourselves at times.
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| Tazmanian Devil, he was cute!! |
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| "a dingo ate my baby!" |
Saw some more Cassowary birds and sleeping koalas (they sleep 20 hours a day)...
The theme of the zoo is definitely crocodiles, I have a ton of pics of them but figured I should narrow it down :)
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| Warning signs by all crocodile enclosures |
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| If a croc comes for Justin... ;-) |
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| Cute wombat! |
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| Most venomous snake in the world! |
They had a whole section dedicated to birds of the rainforest, fun to see them all in one place since we've seen a lot of them just walking around. Starting to recognize certain bird sounds! They are loud here in Australia! Well we have been in the rainforest for the most part...
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| We love kangaroos :) |
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| Lemurs!! oh wait... |
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| I mean, Lemurs! This time from the front :-D LOL |
The next three pictures are of Grant the crocodile... when I first saw what the top left picture shows I thought it was a fake crocodile statue because it was so huge and perfectly still. Well... then that "statue" slid ever so slowly into the water... O_O
At the end of our zoo tour we were able to catch the main show in the stadium, the best part was when they brought the crocodile out and it was Grant again! In the pic below the guide is showing why you shouldn't hang over water that may have crocodiles in it... because they sure can reach!
Another interesting part was when Grant first swam out into the arena.
The water here is clear, but when Grant was swimming there were no
ripples above him on the surface of the water, it was completely still.
Basically... yet another reason not to go into crocodile infested
waters, they could literally be right beside you and you would have no idea, and the water is normally murky.
I recorded a video of him showing why you also shouldn't go splashing around in crocodile territory... not that you would be tempted to:
Croc Show
Currumbin
Currumbin is where we've stayed on the Gold Coast the past 10 nights or so. It's a really cute city towards the South end of the Gold Coast, with a lovely creek that feeds into the ocean. The creek is the gathering spot for all the locals, lots of people always out paddle boarding, kayaking, swimming, etc. There are also tons of green spaces and parks right next to the creek with BBQ grills and picnic tables. BBQ grills are a huge thing in Australia, everywhere we've been they have nice setups near the water with people always using them.
Following the creek about a mile from where our street is you hit Currumbin Beach, a nice beach with some cool rock formations off to one side.
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| is that you, Christmas tree?? You look different... |
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| I love this picture of where the creek meets the ocean |
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| On the way to the beach, cool trees! |
We've really enjoyed walks to the creek and beach, laying out and reading, grabbing snacks and doing some workouts in the parks.
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| Being silly :) |
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| everyone's favorite pic, cloudy with a chance of... spiders?!?!? |
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| one of our favorite snacks! |
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| Heaven is a place on earth :-D |
We felt like locals after our Airbnb host offered us his kayaks to use for about an hour on the creek! It was really windy but lots of people were out on the water, so much fun!
Burleigh Heads National Park
Two creeks up from Currumbin is a place called Burleigh Heads. It's a busier city than Currumbin with a national park situated right next to the surfing beach. We decided to drive here one day to check out the area, it was only a 15 min drive from where we are. The hike itself through the national park was not very long, we ended up taking the coastal track one way, laying out on the beach by the creek, then taking the rainforest track back.
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| Views from the lookout, can sort of see Currumbin in the distance! |
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| We found Justin's park right next to the Burleigh Heads Beach! |
Diving Julian Rocks, Byron Bay
One of the days we decided to do some diving down at Julian Rocks in Byron Bay, which is about an hour's drive south of Currumbin. Byron Bay on a Monday was still super busy, it's a very touristy area but seemed like a fun place to hang out with lots of cute shops next to the beach. We spent all our time diving though, except of course I got ice cream at the end :)
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| Julian Rocks is the formation out there in the distance |
At Julian Rocks warm and cold water meet, so you get a large diversity of sea life hanging around. Sharks love cooler water so our guide assured us we would see plenty of Wobbegong sharks, which we did... probably saw 15+ on our hour dive. In addition we saw about 10 grey nurse sharks, some over six feet long! We also saw lots of smaller tropical fish (including my favorite trumpet fish), some sea turtles, and two sting rays mating at the very end of the dive.
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| Wobbegong shark |
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| Grey nurse shark (our sand tiger shark in NC) |
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| yet another flattering scuba pic |
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| sea turtle! fun to watch him swaying in the surf |
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| sting rays mating |
We only did one dive but it was awesome and really worth heading down to Byron Bay for. I would definitely come back to dive Julian Rocks.
Springbrook National Park
After seeing the beaches and creek area, it was time to explore the Gold Coast hinterland, and we are so glad we did! I chose Springbrook National Park because I had seen some gorgeous pictures of the Natural Bridge and Purlingbrook Falls. Our Airbnb host also recommended Purlingbrook Falls so I figured it was meant to be, and definitely worth visiting!
The hour drive out to Springbrook National Park was really beautiful, lots of farmland, rolling hills, and cute towns.
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| Always think of "them fat things", what my sister called cows on a road trip when we were little. Yes Vera, when I see cows I think of you :) hahaha. |
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| Justin driving on the left! |
Our first stop was at the Natural Bridge Section, a 1km loop that takes you down through the rainforest to the natural bridge itself, and back up to look at it from the top of the waterfall.
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| The Natural Bridge |
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| Really gorgeous... Justin played with the shutter speed on the camera some |
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| Pretty rainforest |
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| Top of the Natural Bridge Waterfall |
Next, we made our way to the Purlingbrook Falls circuit, about 30 minutes from the Natural Bridge where the road became skinnier and more winding!
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| Driving to Purlingbrook Falls |
The Purlingbrook Falls circuit is a 4km (about 2.5 miles) loop that descends through the rainforest to Purlingbrook then back up to the top. About 5 minutes into this circuit you reach Tanninaba Falls, which overlooks the Purlingbrook valley... it definitely kick starts the hike in a big way!
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| View of Purlingbrook Falls from Tanninaba Falls |
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| View out into Purlingbrook Valley from Tanninaba Falls |
After Tanninaba Falls you continue to descend pretty quickly, and make your way to the base of that same waterfall. The waterfall itself was not doing a whole lot when we saw it, the dry season must be having it's effect and it's in need of some rainfall!
Before we reached the larger Purlingbrook Falls, there was an option to walk to Waringa Pool which was a 2km return hike. We decided to do that since we made it to the halfway point of the Purlingbrook track pretty quickly.
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| Posing! |
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| huge roots! These help collect water for the tree and stabilize it |
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| Waringa Pool! |
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| Pretty little waterfall feeding Waringa Pool |
After making our way back to the main track, we headed down the steps to Purlingbrook Falls... and WOW!! You really can't comprehend the size of the waterfall until you are at the bottom looking up, and it plunges more than 100m (328ft) into the valley. Really amazing!
Here's a video I took of it to get a better idea of how wild this is:
Purlingbrook Falls
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| On the struggle bus to get back over the rocks lol |
After hanging around Purlingbrook Falls for a bit, we began our hike back along the second half of the track... that's when it hits you that you have to climb all the way back to the top of that waterfall...
It was definitely a workout back up, but that is part of the fun and sense of accomplishment at the end. This was the best hike I've been on so far in my life!
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| Can you see the suspension bridge I was on before down below? |
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| Looking out over Purlingbrook Falls |
Miami Marketta
Friday night we headed to Miami (the Australian one :) ) that's about 20 minutes north of Currumbin. Our Airbnb host suggested we check out the Miami Marketta, basically a warehouse block that's been converted into a cool space with food stalls, bars, and live music. It was really fun trying different foods, and we realized at the end we only got asian food! Must be our favorite, we had several kinds of sushi, including sushi tempura, pork dumplings, and some type of Japanese noodle mix Justin ordered. I also had to get dessert since there were four vendors with tons of options... but sadly didn't care for the raspberry cake thing I picked out. It was super super sweet, with that being the main flavor, and kind of dry. Oh well! Knew I should have played it safe with ice cream, but we had a great time!
Now, it's on to Surfers Paradise! And CHRIS will be here TOMORROW!!!! SO excited to spend the next 2 weeks or so with him exploring Surfers Paradise, Brisbane, and Sydney. I'm hoping being in the bigger cities makes it feel more like Christmas with some parades and special events. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! Know that we are thinking of you from Down Under and love you!!
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| Surfers Paradise in the distance (from Burleigh Heads) |
Sarah
"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; It is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living"
~ Mary Ritter Beard
p.s: Pretty much everywhere we've been hiking in Australia so far there's been a turkey spotting... whenever we here rustling in the leaves we know what to look for! lol. This one was actually at the zoo.
