AJ's Golden Day #ExperienceGC

As requested by Fran from STA Travel Buzz; How would I spend a day on the Gold Coast?

Morning

This wasn't asked for but why the hell not! Make the most of any day! (Especially on the Gold Coast)

I would wake up early specifically to catch the sunrise over Burleigh Heads (10 min south of Surfers Paradise). Hire surfboards from the Burleigh Heads Surf club with a bunch of friends that I had made along my travels and ride some waves in the world class surf spot.

Afternoon

After an epic morning of Surf I would take myself and my new found friends on a 30 min bus journey out of Surfers Paradise to the thrilling Wet n' Wild Water Park!

This place is probably "the" best water park I have ever visited, you could do all the rides 3 times and that still wouldn't be enough. It's an awesome place to go and have a good laugh with your friends. A fun, exciting way to spend your afternoon.

Fancy a race anyone?

One particular ride you have to try is the "Tornado", you basically get shot down a very steep ramp in quad rubber ring with three of your buds into a massive cone where you get tipped nearly vertical on the slippery slope before falling into a somewhat plug hole... (any thrill seeker will love this!)

It's addictive... we did this over and over all day long!

The Tornado - I'd want to go on this over and over again.

From my understanding STA Travel can organize a 3 park pass that will get you into this fantastic water park as well as the nearby Movie World and Sea World. Click here for more information.

Dinner

Well for the evening i'd head to the chilled town of Byron Bay. I'd experience the perfect Australian sunset by playing ultimate frisbee with friends and chilling on the beach. This is truly amazing when the sunset is accompanied by the local bongo player [check out the picture].

As a backpacking student on a budget the most amount of food for the smallest price is needed and for this I would head for Cheeky Monkey's located in Byron Bay. Here, I know for a fact that you can pick up Thai noodle rice and Steak and Chips for as little as $5 AUS!!

All this at Cheeky Monkeys $5!!

Evening

I would continue from dinner into the evening at Cheeky Monkey's playing the entertaining games for free drinks and meeting other backpackers that were traveling through, sharing our travel stories with one another.

Cheeky Monkey's Bar - Backpackers Bar in Byron Bay

Cheeky Monkeys do games to win free drink every night, we usually did :)

This place really kicks off around 11 o'clock, the tunes get pumping and dancing on the tables becomes a necessity until the early hours of the morning... an experience that is unforgettable (unless you've had a bit too much to drink).

STA Travel Tour

The STA Travel Tour I would undoubtedly choose would be the 4 Wheel Drive - Eco. Day Trip on Fraser Island.

Fraser Island was definitely on of my favorite moments of my trip and would highly recommend it to anyone, I'd do anything to go back to the idyllic island it is. It's truly beautiful with it's incredible freshwater lakes, massive sand dunes, miles and miles of stunning beaches and of corse the dingos.

If you would like more information click here. I don't get why you wouldn't want to!

If you'd like to see more my photo albums on the Gold Coast are here:

Surfers Paradise, Miami and Burleigh

Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island

Byron Bay

and here's a link to the blog:

Brisbane and the Gold Coast

What more could you want from a trip?

I'd love to visit the Gold Coast at some point in the near future so I can make this Golden Day a reality....