Gold Coast

The Gold Coast was surprisingly boring. You would think that a place called Surfer’s Paradise would be, well, Paradise. It turns out that paradise is not only kind of boring, but also verrrryyyy expensive. Who knew?? We had one action-packed day at the Currumbin Wildlife sanctuary and the rest were mellow and relaxing laid-back days.

At the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary we watched the freshwater crocs get fed, hung out with kangaroos, watched the baby koalas do a weigh-in, rode around on a funny little train, fed lorikeets, watched aboriginal dancing, and ogled at many interesting creatures. The crocs were probably the coolest, but the koalas were the cutest. It may seem cliché and over done to like them best, but they really are just so stinkin’ cute. They look like the kind of fluffy little teddy bear that every kid (and secretly everyone else) wants to cuddle. We saw one jump from on tree branch to another, which is extremely active for a koala. The rest of them were sleeping for the majority of the time that we were there. Apparently, all they really do is eat, sleep and well, procreate if ya know what I mean.

The crocodiles that were fed were the freshwater fellas, which are MUCH smaller than the saltwater dwellers. Even the little guys have some power though. Sometimes when they went for the meat that was dangled over their enclosure, they would miss and their jaws would snap together. The sound that this makes is super loud and very intimidating. It’s exciting and wild when they are on the other side of a reinforced fence, but if I heard it in the wild I would certainly not hang around.

Fun Fact: It only takes about 90 pounds of force to break a human bone. The Saltwater croc at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary can produce around 3,000 lbs. WOWIE!

The aboriginal dancing was really interesting. They did several short dances, each of which has a specific purpose or message. The only two I remember specifically are the welcome and the see ya later (my words not theirs) dances. But all of them were really interesting. There were two male and one female dancer, accompanied by a guy who alternated between playing the didgeridoo and the drums while singing. I am always fascinated by the didgeridoo, I can’t get over circle breathing and how they can play continuously for so long. Its nuts! They also make an impressive array of different sounds, always catches me off guard how much they can do with a hollow tube of wood.

The days that we didn’t spend at the wildlife sanctuary involved some beach time, a lot of reading, an attempt at a bike ride (it started storming and we struggled in the wind), many trips to the grocery store for snacks, long walks, window-shopping (someday I’ll be able to afford to travel AND shop), one funny night out on the town with a new English friend, and one trip to the local movie theater. We saw Ides of March; I’m not super in to political movies, but it was pretty good.

My overall opinion of Gold Coast is that it is a beautiful place, but not one that I will soon go back to. I’m glad I saw it, but I think that I saw what I needed to there and that I can check it off my list. Having so much free time there taught me how much I dislike too much free time. In the future I think I will be happier either planning more to do or shortening the amount of time in places like that. The hard part is not really knowing what a place will truly be like until you get there. I suppose that’s where research and relying on word of mouth from other travelers fits in.