The Hindu Business Line : Touch of gold

A decision to travel to a destination south of the equator, where the seasons are opposite to what we have in India, made us select Australia. We did so for two reasons — cheap flights offered by Air Asia, and the remoteness. And, we could also see unusual animals such as kangaroos, koala bears, opossums and other marsupials, platypus, emus, etc.

We decided to visit Gold Coast on the eastern coast of Australia during autumn (mid-March to early-April).

The Gold Coast region is a complex and fascinating network of five rivers, creeks, lakes, dams, canals, 70 km of golden beaches (including some of the finest surfing beaches in the world) and islands.

The first thing we did on landing at the Gold Coast airport was to hire a car. You can hire a car from a car rental company at the airport with minimal paperwork.

Instead of booking a hotel, we hired a two-room, air-conditioned apartment close to the beach. It had only a weekly change of linen and no room service. It was spacious, tastefully furnished, with a large fridge, cooking range, micro-wave, dishwasher, washing machine and drier. The building also had an in-house gym and a heated swimming pool.

Binoy Gupta

Glitter Down Under: Sunrise in Gold Coast; (below) riding the waves.

Of cruises and aquaduck rides

A visit to Gold Coast is incomplete without a journey on its rivers. We took a two-hour river cruise to the sea. We also took a ride on the amphibian aquaduck — a small bus-like vehicle with its front shaped like a duck — that took us on a round of the city streets, then plunged into a river for a boat ride.

Here you can also fly in a helicopter, a small plane, seaplane or a hot-air balloon and surf, sail, fish, snorkel or scuba-dive. We went to the top of Q1 Tower (78 storeys), the world’s highest all-residential tower, in just 43 seconds through a superfast elevator.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

The 27-hectare Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is situated near the Gold Coast airport, about half-an-hour’s drive from Gold Coast. The trails inside the sanctuary extend over 10 km. You can travel around the sanctuary in the free miniature train, hopping on and off at specified points. There are regular shows for visitors and an aboriginal dance show, which is a huge draw.

At the sanctuary, we could freely mix with the kangaroos, wallabies and emus. It was interesting to see a joey hanging out of the mother kangaroo’s abdominal pouch. At the time of feeding, hundreds of kangaroos hopped to the feeding place from all over the sanctuary and ate in a disciplined manner reminiscent of a military camp. We could also cuddle koala bears.

The sanctuary is home to Australia’s largest saltwater crocodile, opossums, wombats, dingos and a variety of owls and parrots.

Blue Mountains

We took a full-day trip, organised by the Gray Line tour operator, to the Blue Mountains. We crossed the Glass Mountains (so named because when Captain Cook first saw them, they glittered like glass in the sunlight, and he thought they were made of glass), visited the mountain formations known as the Three Sisters, took a ride on the steepest railway in the world, saw the remains of an old coal mine and travelled over the rainforests in a cableway.

En route, we halted at Ettamogah, a man-made cowboy township with a pub and restaurants. The place does transport you to some bygone era. On the way, we also visited another wildlife park, mingled with koala bears, kangaroos and emus, and even saw penguins. You could also explore some wonderful caves in the Blue Mountains.

Mt Tamborine Rainforest area

We strolled across Gallery Walk, a line of shops selling Cheshire tea, cookies; walked over the tall rainforest on the skywalk — a huge cantilever bridge built over the forests, clambered down and walked on the floor of the rainforest. We also visited the Ginger Factory and tasted a variety of products made of ginger. Ginger is not native to Australia. But the Ginger Factory grows it and exports ginger products.

The Glow Worm Caves, a conservation project to breed and save the endangered glow worms, which are found only in Australia and New Zealand, has over 12,000 of them. In the total darkness of these man-made caves, the glow worms glimmered like stars in the open sky. Their lives are very short, and food and living requirements very exacting.

All these are met in these caves so that the glow worms could breed and multiply. In due course, the authorities expect to be able to release them into the wild.

An interesting fact about these insects is that they are very efficient producers of light; and if there is shortage of food, they switch off their lights to conserve energy.

There are a lot of wineries here, where you get to taste different types of wine. Other attractions include several major theme parks — the Movie World, Dream World, Sea World, etc.

The Beaches

There are many wonderful beaches, but the Surfer’s Paradise beach is the most popular.

There are many food and entertainment options around Surfer’s Paradise.

We also visited the Bondi Beach, very popular with surfers.

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