New article - Gold Coast '25

Gold Coast '25

27th February 2025

I've been procrastinating this write-up because I don't have much to say. (And uploading photos is a pain.) We just went shopping, did a bit of sightseeing, that's it. My sister wasn't interested in SeaWorld for ethical reasons, and I wanted to swim but couldn't, as my period came early and lasted the entire trip. (The one time my period is not regular...) I suppose I'll do some recounting anyway. All currency is in AUD. Also when I say "in Australia", I may actually mean "in the Queensland area", so feel free to correct me. Also also, hover over photos for commentary, and open in new tab for bigger versions.

Our trip started on the 22nd of January. We boarded the plane where I drew a little and watched some episodes of Violet Evergarden. When we landed, the heat was SUFFOCATING. The high was 36C (that's 97F for the burgers). We stayed at the hote "Bel-Air on Broadbeach". Our room contained two subrooms - one was a double bedroom with bathroom, the other was a living room, kitchen, double bedroom and bathroom. The view from here is pretty nice. Later that day is when I found out my period started, and I hadn't packed enough pads, which pissed me off badly. My retarded ass also forgot my toothbrush.

The next morning, it was thunderstorming. These are frequent here but they tend to last just an hour or two. We ate breakfast and lazed about before we decided to do some shopping. But by the time we got ready at 10am, it was raining again. We took too long, lol. Once it cleared up, we headed to the mall - Pacific Fair Shopping Center, right outside our hotel.

The mall is MASSIVE. None like it in New Zealand at all. Sooooo many shops, and two different food courts. While most shops were not to my taste, I suppose you could get lost all day here.

Today was mostly sister-shopping day. I honestly can't recall all the shops she went to but one of them was Victoria's Secret. No idea why she had any business buying sexy lingerie at her small age... I went to Uniqlo but I didn't want to buy any basic clothing pieces. I went to Miniso out of curiosity (there's none where I live) and just bought a Cinnamoroll keychain for my keys. It lights up! I then went to a K-beauty store to see if there was anything worth buying, but I only got a $2 facemask that a) got me a 50c surcharge for making a purchase under $10, and b) I've already used up. I like using facemasks now.

On the note of surcharges, by God the situation in Australia is fucking dire. On weekends, you have to pay a surcharge of 10% to restaurants, and on public holidays it was 15-20%. This was regardless of whether or not you're using contactless payments. I don't think this applies to cash, but I could be wrong. The government has said it's """investigating""" the banks but we all know how much we trust that statement.

For lunch we went to a Thai restaurant in the mall. I think this is a Pad Thai dish. I quite liked it.

Something funny happened. Mother was dying to drink some beer in this hot weather so we went to a liquor store. We chose some beers and went up to the counter. My sister was holding one and put it on the counter... and she got carded. She's under 18. Usually this doesn't happen in New Zealand if one person is obviously older than the rest and, well, we're family. Well, the person can't serve to anyone, so mother got no alcohol. An embarrassment as I thought the cashier was cute ;-; but I can laugh about it now. The laws are different with regards to vending alcohol as well - supermarkets do not sell them, only dedicated liquor stores do.

Later that evening we went for a beach walk, but I forgot to take a water bottle and I was thirsty, so I didn't enjoy it much. The view of the skyline was great though. We reached ANOTHER mall complex called "The Oasis", but it was a lot smaller. Went to the good old Woolies to get a bottle.

On the 24th we took the light rail up to Helensvale, a 45-minute ride. Broadbeach South station was also right in front of our hotel, and trams left every few minutes. The best part? Public transport throughout Queensland is just 50c per trip. Yes, 50c. It doesn't just apply to the light rail either - you could get off at Helensvale and take the train up to Brisbane, and still just pay 50c for a two hour trip. New Zealand could fucking never. At the time, the fare was in a trial period, but it seems to have been made permanent. Sorry I don't have photos of the view through the window - they were covered in vinyl (advertisements on the outside) so the pictures came out terrible.

We immediately travelled back to an area called "Surfers' Paradise" (my sister didn't want to go to Brisbane and my mother didn't want to look around Helensvale... ah the joys of family travel) and we had lunch there. I ate some kind of crappy white food, idk. There weren't any places serving "Australian cuisine", whatever the fuck that may entail - it was mostly Asian with the occasional European and continental American restaurant here and there. Maybe one or two African places too.

My mum had booked a one-hour tour called "Quackrduck" - an amphibious vehicle takes you through Surfers' Paradise to look at SeaWorld from the outside, the places where rich people live, and a lake view of the city. The bus had a horn that quacked, which was pretty amusing. We were also encouraged to wave at the public, which I found even more amusing, even if it was a direction mainly for children. You bet I waved. I really enjoyed the sightseeing tour, but there was an annoying kid who wouldn't sit still and the tour guide threatened to stop the vehicle if he didn't sit down. He sat next to me for the last half of the trip, and could only be placated by Paw Patrol. Ugh.

Afterwards, we took the tram back home. Mum and sister went out to get acai bowls while I washed my hair, but the mall's fire alarm went off so they came straight back. Another thunderstorm rolled in, so we got a minority to deliver us pizza through Uber Eats. He was gay and European. (That God damn song...) We watched the thunderstorm as we ate, and I saw my first ever proper lightning bolt. So cool! I took a photo of the sunset, and managed to capture a small lightning bolt. Ahhh!

We relaxed the rest of the night. I went into my bedroom and flicked through the channels. Rocky was about to play on one of them, so I partially rewatched that before going to bed. I love Rocky!!!

The next few days were chill again. Should we have gone to an amusement park? I'm not a big fan of any rides other than ferris wheels and big-drops, as I get motion sickness extremely easily. Course I could have taken motion sickness pills, which I did pack, but oh well...

On the 25th, I just got lunch at the Pacific Fair mall for me and my mother. I bought some Cuban fried chicken. I napped in the afternoon, and we had a look at Broadbeach North, which was also filled with lots of restaurants and bars. We ate at a Greek seafood restaurant. I had prawns and affogato with the strongest coffee I've ever had in my life. Like seriously, damn. I decided to be nice and shout everyone's meals.

The next day, we again went to Broadbeach North to have some Fro-yo/yo-chi, which my sister wanted. While we were leaving, a shirtless, old man came up to us to try to make small talk. When he left, my mum told us that she saw him sunscreen his balls. Ah, pleasant. We had some Chinese prawn dumplings for lunch, before we went back to the hotel and I had another nap. For dinner, we went to Kickin' Inn, a Cajun seafood restaurant. Now I have to go to Southern US, because wow this was great. We chose baby octopus, crawfish, prawns, crab and potatoes. We were given gloves to wear since we had to eat with our hands, and the food was laid out on the centre of the table. It's a popular restaurant, and we had to book a table in advance. My only complaint was that it wasn't filling, but I suppose we know what to avoid ordering next time (cough cough crawfish, hardly any meat).

That night we went back to the beach to take night pics of the skyline. Of course my shitty phone couldn't really capture it. The atmosphere was a lot darker than captured.

The next day was our flight home. We had to check out at 10am, and caught an Uber to the airport, where we sat around and had lunch. I had a burger and fries. On the plane back, I just watched episodes of Violet Evergarden.

Would I recommend the Gold Coast? I'd recommend going in the winter instead of the summer like we did. If you do decide to go in the summer, avoid February at all costs, as that's the hottest. There's probably so much more to do that we didn't do (amusement parks, obviously, and some hidden gems we have no idea about), so do your research. I'm not sure if Brisbane is good either, but if you do decide to go to one or the other, it's 2-3 hours by public transport each way, and 1 hour by car. Personally I enjoyed the trip, but I would like to have done more stuff, and for my STUPID PERIOD TO NOT HAVE STARTED EARLY SO I COULD GO SWIM IN THE HOTEL'S FUCKING POOL!!!! I literally bought togs for the first time in like 5+ years SPECIFICALLY for this trip AND DIDN'T GET TO WEAR THEM! I also would have liked to come here without family. My dad didn't come with us, which was great, but I would have liked to visit at least one bar with friends... oh well.

To finish off, here are other pics I took.