Beaches., Gold Coast

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Currumbin Lake is located just around the corner from Currumbin Beach. It is where Currumbin Creek enters the Ocean, so it is tidal.

A very nice spot, it is popular with families, as it has a roped off area making it very safe for swimming. Nice, calm water to swim in and a nice beach to relax on!
This area is popular with swimmers, kayakers, canoeists, paddle boarders and Kite surfers.

There's a free carpark accessed off Duringan Street, and more parking spaces along the beachfront (Pacific Parade). There's a picnic area opposite the carpark along Duringan Street with covered picnic tables, toilets, kids playground and electric BBQs.

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Currumbin Beach has some special rock pools and the surf is small enough for beginners.

It is a patrolled beach, so swim between the flags and you will be safe!
Plenty of nice clean sand, that stretches for miles and miles......
We were here on a hot day, and there were very few people swimming or surfing, it was quite quiet!

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Usually known in Australia simply as ‘Surfers’, this has somehow become one of the most-known beaches in Australia and certainly the best known on the Gold Coast. I say ‘somehow’ because it certainly is not the best: other adjacent beaches (Southport, Broadbeach, Nobby’s) are virtually identical but are not compromised by the skyscrapers which cast shadows across the sand in the afternoon: other beaches further south on the Gold Coast are better because of their orientation to the prevailing winds.

So ultimately, the main appeal of Surfers is its association with the image of ‘the place to be’ and the associated town centre. It’s all about marketing, people – but if you go to the Coast you have to go to Surfers. If you didn’t, it would be a bit like going to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower! And, for all my reservations, if you pick the right weather on the right day, you will have a very jolly time! When we visited, despite offshore showers and some cloud, the weather was quite tropical and a relaxed crowd were enjoying the beach. Immediately across the road behind, the Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club was doing a very busy trade providing life saving cold beer and lunches!

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Although Nobby’s is only a short distance south of Surfers Paradise, where the main crowds congregate, it is one of the less known beaches. Because of that, it is frequented mainly by holidaymakers from the immediate vicinity and does not attract the same numbers of beachgoers. I must admit that I don’t think I have ever used it! It is on exactly the same stretch of sand as Surfers though, facing in exactly the same orientation to the wind and waves, so if swimming without crowds is more important to you than being seen at ‘the right places’, this would be a good alternative.

At some time in recent years, Australia’s place names authorities have decided to dispense with apostrophes – maybe they found them too challenging while at school (LOL). So poor Nobby’s has now officially lost it’s ‘s and is officially now just Nobby Beach. The Surf Life Saving Club retains the original name, but most signs have changed. I’m sure some ‘VT Travel Bears” will be suitably outraged.

We were there on a windy and cloudy afternoon, in weather which was not ideal for lounging on beaches. The lifesavers looked somewhat bored as a scattered group of surfers braved the waves, while several kite surfers provided entertainment. The final photo in this set gives a good view of the headlands to the south, first Little Burleigh, then the larger Burleigh Heads, next Currumbin, then finally Coolangatta is in the distance to the left.

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Burleigh, as it is generally known, is the beach immediately on the northern side of Burleigh Heads, one of the few headlands on the Gold Coast. Beyond that until Point Lookout on Stradbroke Island something like 100 km further north, nearby “Little Burleigh” (middle distance, main photo) is the last rock outcrop in a vast near-continuous beach.

The good news is that this is one of the best beaches on the entire Gold Coast. Like the Coolangatta beaches, it is relatively sheltered from the south-easterly winds but, unlike them, is not a vast sahara-esque expanse of sand. This is a great place for surfing, though on the afternoon we visited, the waves were smallish. A few board riders struggled to pick up waves, while the Surf Rescue people amused themselves by jumping waves with their Zodiac. (photos 2,3)

Burleigh has good beachside facilities, quite reasonable parking, barbecues (photo 4) and a large surf clubhouse which includes changing rooms. The township (now suburb) of Burleigh is built right up to the headland which contains a small area of National Park (photo 5). Years ago there were koalas here and a warning sign on the road that “koalas cross here at night”, but I’d have to wonder if any remain.

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Coolangatta has several very pleasant beaches which face more or less north to northeast. That may seem a small point but the significance is that the prevailing winds tend to be east to southeast, so the winds do not blow directly onto the beach as they do with some of the beaches further north on the Coast.

The Coolangatta beaches seen in photo 1 are Rainbow Beach (nearest), Greenmount and Coolangatta (middle distance), then Kirra (behind the second headland). Beyond that, the sand curls away northward to Bilinga, with the airport a short distance inland. In the distance we can see the ranges with the National Parks. There certainly is more sand than I recall ever seeing before at these beaches.

Photo 2 is positively archival and shows, in the background, the former Coolangatta guesthouses. I was quite intrigued that one of them, “Beach House” now has transformed into high-rise apartments and can be seen in the background (RHS) of a photo in my previous “Coolangatta” tip. The internet also tells me that another guest house, “Stella Maris” where I once stayed some years after the second photo in this tip, now has been replaced by a bar and restaurant of the same name.

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All the items were for sale though the first here had already been purchased but the "Ghost Crab" by Ben Sommerville in pic 2, a snip at $8,500 was still up for grabs.
Pic 3 was late inclusion and not in the catalogue while pic 4 shows "Power of the Pacific" priced at $33,000 and mad of recycled steel and bronze by Christopher Trotter.
The last was a birds nest, entitled "Who Came First" and you could have that in your backyard for just $8,000. Done by Potts, I couldn't help but wonder what the birds would have done with it if it was in your backyard.

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Kylie Mitchell-Smith is the driving force that started this cultural exhibition, essentially sculpture with lots of other arts (musical, visual etc.) tacking on.
It's only been going for a few years but already its popularity is manifest, for me never more so than allowing one of the sculptures pride of place on Elephant Rock,
Personally I think it's a great idea and my only disappointment is that it only goes for about 10 days in early September.
The first work shown is called "Solo Brother" by Garth Lena and purportedly is about his brother going surfing and how you don't need other people around to enjoy the water. (No, but it's safer and more enjoyable if there is!)
pic2 shows "Clowning Around" by Wayne Kelly and shows a clown fish navigating the reef while pic 3 shows one of my favourites "Coccolith Cave" (to a place of quiet we may always return), partly because it was done in wool by Lindy Davidson.
The classic wave shape by Todd Costa in pic 4 is done mainly with copper, some recycled timber and steel and is called the "Green Room" taken from his adolescent memories while pic 5 is entitled "Reef Sentinels" by Jack Quilter from Queensland (all the others are NSW artists) and is made from recycled aluminium boats.