Gold Coast Local Customs

2 more images

Coolangatta (In Queensland) and Tweed Heads (New South Wales) are completely alongside each other, but separated by the State border defined in 1863 – and now marked by the large concrete structure (monument?) in the main photo. The border check gate (for agricultural pests) has long disappeared and Coolangatta and Tweed Heads now are often referred to as the Twin Towns.

But the border has had some significance over the years at a social level. One of Australia’s curiousities is how different States have had diffferent laws in certain areas: and how the population have responded! Look again at the border marker in photo 2 and you will see, on the right, a large sign welcoming you to New South Wales. Immediately behind the sign is a largish modern building. There’s a better photo of it in photo 3, where you will see that it is in fact part of the Twin Towns Club. This became a very popular destination for Queenslanders and other holidaymakers when NSW introduced poker machines many years ago – but other States did not at the time. So gambling produced a surge of visitors to Tweed Heads and the Club membership and facilities grew enormously with dining rooms, concert halls, sporting facilities and so on.

A somewhat similar custom applied years earlier, when Queensland had a legal drinking age of 21 while south of the border it was 18. “Rumour has it” that crowds of young people headed south to the pubs and clubs across the border for their first ‘legal’ drinks.

This is generally Australian matter.
On Australian Coin, you can see her face. Of course she is ELIZABETH 2. Coins show aging of her face corresponding to the year of manufacture. So they change coin mold every year? I was surprised. May be changed by five years a time?

The beach volleyball seems to be just part of Surfers Paradise beach...We were on the beach after 4.00 and they were still playing hard..BTW...for all those girls out there....these guys looked pretty good!!!!! LOL

Here's the finished pathway. After about 6 months this pathway looked totally different. The new natives planted had grown heaps and it looked more green and healthy. It probably looks heaps better now :o)

Hubby & crew had to clear a nice path and fence if off before going any further. Each side of the path looks a bit bare. That's because they removed a tonnes of bitu bush, a weed that had gone out of control. But it wasn't long before the natural Australian bush grew back.

Ran out of travelogue space so I decided to make dune care a local custom. South of the Gold Coast has lovely beaches. The reason why they are so lovely is because they are protected by leaving the natural dunes in tact. Hubby was involved in caring for the coastline and enhancing it. He supervised 3 projects to take care of our natural flora and fauna, removing the spreading weeds and restoring the natural environment for all us tourists to enjoy.

The Big Day Out music festival held on the Gold Coast in January is one of my favourite events of the year.

The bands start playing from 11am and go late into the night (around 11.30pm). The festival features bands from all over the world and Australia. There are two main stages featuring the headlining acts, some smaller stages for local bands and the Boiler room, for DJ's and dance music.

If you enjoy live music don't miss this one!

Queenslanders in general have a very odd habit in speech. Rather than place the word but at the beginning of a sentence, they put it at the end which often makes people think they still have something to say. For example:

"Shall we go swimming today?"

"It's raining but."

This leads the uninformed to think that the speaker is still going to say something like:

"It's raining but we are going to get wet anyway," when really they are saying "But it's raining."

Apparently this drives most people crazy, especially Victorians. That's their own fault for liking AFL but. ;-)