How to Have Adventures in Australia’s Gold Coast

What happens when you put a girl from California in weeks of non-stop rain in Australia…

 A spontaneous, last minute, and a very EXPENSE two day trip to Australia’s Gold Coast, of course 🙂

Recently you read my last solo adventure while living in Australia, and today you get to read about the first adventure!

Here is:

How to Have Adventures in Australia’s Gold Coast

Sydney Airport

For this trip I decided to try a new airline since Tiger Air was such a crap storm last time I flew. I heard wonderful things about Virgin Australia so I paid the extra 30 bucks to get my booty on their flight.

But guess what????? That’s right… wait for it ….. MY FLIGHT GOT CANCELLED!!!!!!!!

Just like the past 4 flights I had with other domestic airlines.

But hey, Australia!  At least you are consistent! 🙂

Anyways, I got a new flight that got delayed, of course, am now am stuck at the airport 2 hours early on a Friday night….

Hmmmm…What to do….how to stay entertained?

After some strolling around, I noticed a bar with some pretty good looking guys chilling inside. How rude it would be for me not to bug them, right?

I sat at the bar and a boy from Adelaide approached me. He told me he played professional footy which I found quite fascinating.  So fascinating that by the time I looked at my phone to see the time, the plane was supposed to be taking off in 6 minutes!!

I told the hunk “thanks for the chat.. gotta run, have fun traveling, marry me maybe and have a good night”, and sprinted to the gate where everyone was waiting on me.

It is either a really really good thing or a really really bad thing when flight attendants know your name before you hand them your ticket :/

Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort & Spa

I arrived at the hotel around 10 pm to check in and stood talking to the reception guy for a while. He was sweet enough to put me in an exceptional room but not too sweet where he didn’t charge me. First thing I did was open up a bottle of sparkling wine (mini bottle of course), drew a bath and just relaxed. Scrubbing the airport germs out of my bones.

I was then in the mood to get out but not “go out” , you know? One involves combing my hair and putting on heels and the other involves throwing my hair in a ball and wearing a sweatshirt.

I called my newly found friend downstairs who suggested I check out the casino.

The Casino!! So not my thing 😉

After no convincing, I was already in a cab with a wad of money and my bird nest hairdo, ready to rock and roll!

The Star Casino Gold Coast

 The casino was huge, just like any casino, but it didn’t feel very classy to me like the one I went to in Melbourne. The vibe was much different..more…Gold Coasty? Which you will understand that meaning by the end of this post.

I sat my little Californian butt down at the first blackjack table and was ready to start winning some money. After 20 minutes of no cocktail waitress coming along, I asked my new pal Ken, the dealer, where these ladies were. He explained they are not allowed to serve at the tables, you must go to the bar for a drink….  I am sorry, but why would someone stop their bet and game, walk 2 minutes to the bar….finish a drink. then walk back to the table to sit there for another hour gambling why thirsty and sobering? Poor business model for revenue but great model for crime reduction.

After loosing 30 bucks and exhausted from my hikes to the bar,  I called it a night and head back to the hotel. I had the nice guy from the front desk bring some fish and chips up to my room so I could enjoy a late night meal and a crappy cable movie.

Ideal Friday night! 🙂

  I asked him to chill and help me eat my high cholesterol sticks but I think he got the wrong impression and ran for the door.  I wasnt trying to hit on him but geez, his response was extreme like I had California rabies.

He left saying he would call me in the morning.

I’m like, “yaaaaa you better!!!!!” wink wink

Him – “Yes, you requested a 7 am wake up call”…

I am an Idiot.

Surfer’s Paradise Marriott Pool

I woke up that next morning at 6 am to the crazy Gold Coast sun blazing in my eyeballs. I got up, grabbed the french fry that was stuck to my butt, threw it on the floor and gazed out at the beautiful view that had just rudely woke me up. I had the beautiful beach to my right and the channels to my left. I was completely surrounded by a stunning view, with a sunny demon bright blue sky to early in the morning,  to accompany it.

After a delicious breakfast feast from the restaurant downstairs, I walked over to the pool to find that it was not a pool but a mini beach lagoon with people snorkelling!

SWEET!!

It was quite beautiful so I grabbed a fruity drink (only appropriate) from the bar and began chatting it up with the bartenders from Colorado. After two fruity “not really your friend” drinks, I went back up to the room to get myself ready for some Gold Coast Adventure.

Paradise Speed Jet Boat 

Next up was some fast action boating with Paradise Jet  Boating , I signed in and began getting nervous for this jet ski speed boat ride I signed up for. As much as I love these things, they still freak the crap out of me. I began chatting with a family that was taking  3-week road trip up the coast. The daughter was super excited I was from LA as she was going to go this summer. I swear, teenagers think I am so cool. If they only knew 🙂

We rode up and down the channels and extremely high speeds and did crazy turns where everyone got soaked. He gave us a tour around the rich fancy houses along the river and showed us some rare wildlife as it popped up. It was really fun (and scary) and I am glad I forced my scaredy cat self to go on the ride.  I was able to sweet talk my way into getting the driver to give me a ride to my next adventure, so off we went to the helicopter ride at Seaworld.

SeaWorld Adventures in the Gold Coast

 

Now here’s the thing with SeaWorld that I found interesting as I was getting chauffeured through the park to the helicopter ramp by an employee. You ready??

They do not know who Shamu is!!? Shamu is Seaworld in America, my mind was blown! It is like having Disneyland without Mickey Mouse. I was told they do not have animals in captive as harshly as other places, and the whale would never love the Gold Coast douchebags.. I mean weather. I  Australia does not have the negative outlook on Seaworld like many Americans do because they do not treat their animals the same. (or so I was told)

I arrived at the helicopter pad and was ahhhh excited as I have never been one on before. After the pilot ensured me he was not going to kill me, I jumped in and prayed to baby surfer Jesus. It took me a good  5 minutes to get used to the headset as he kept saying to me.. I can’t hear you, talk in the mic. 2 minutes later, I can’t hear you talk in the mic… I guess I was supposed to talk in the mic! But hey I probably saved him from hearing a lot of jibber jabber coming out of my mouth 🙂

The view was amazing, just breathtaking. You could see the ocean with the channels, the skyscrapers with the river. The water was blue, turquoise and just gorgeous. As we were landing, a group of girls who were dressed up to go to prom in 1999 showed up saying they missed the time, the pilot being extremely nice and awesome cause we both made fun of them on the helicopter, and he allowed them to jump in the back and we went out again!

   After my fun-filled day, I was exhausted. Did I have the energy to go out? Did I want to start Tindering up to meet some friends? Well, I thought I did. Until I ordered room service, drank some wine from the mini bar and fell asleep watching Space Buddies. Yeahh.. not so exciting.

Surfers Paradise

Sunday came, way too quickly, and I was in no way ready to say goodbye to the Gold Coast or my comfy bed, or the pool, or the weather, or.. sorry, you get the point.

From my hotel I walked to Surfers Paradise which is the go to beach when in the Gold Coast .  It had a bunch of surfers, shops and a lot of tourist. I passed a Hard Rock, Hooters, wax museum and many more American places before I realized this was.. indeed, Huntington Beach, CA in every aspect. I devoured some naughty food before rushing to my flight home.

My adventure was over 🙁

So to sum up, this quick adventure get away to the Gold Coast was just what I needed to get away from the rainy stressful life back in Sydney.  Australia’s Gold Coast was  beautiful, with beautiful people, tons of tourist, and a lot of people who like to party.  The Gold Coast has so much to offer no matter what your holiday objectives are, its just organizing it before hand because there is so much to do!

I would not call the Gold Coast the most classiest region of Australia, but it is definitely a great place for adventure no matter how long your stay is.

<3 Hot Mess

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Originally posted July 2014, revamped for 2019

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