Exploring Gold Coast, Australia: Best Things To do

Intro

16 days, 3 continents and 11 countries later I was arriving to my last destination in Australia, as part of my Round The World Trip 2025-2026. I had just had the best welcome to a New Year ever, in the Sydney Harbour, and believe it or not I was already on a plane mere hours later, kind of a tradition to flight on January 1st at this point. Last year, I was in Barcelona, and made it to Berlin during the first day of the year.

But now, I was coming to a city I had been wanting to go for a long time: Gold Coast in Australia, and maybe if I had time, a little bit of the neighboring Brisbane.

Day 16: From Sydney to Gold Coast

For some reason, Gold Coast had always been in my radar as places I had been wanting to go to. Surfers Paradise skyline, in the Gold Coast, has been appearing as a Windows screensaver since forever, and it always interested me. But now, I was on a Virgin Australia flight from Sydney, and was about to land in this beautiful city.

It was shocking to me that I had been able to see the different climates of Australia: the Tropical Cairns, the Temperate Sydney, and now the Subtropical but very beachy Florida vibes of Gold Coast. In the past I had also been to the desert in Uluru, and a very wintery Melbourne. I still needed to go to the West Australia, but hopefully in a future trip?

I was in shock with the similarities with Gold Coast and what you could see in California or South Florida. The beaches, the waves, the sea, the vibes, and even the architecture seemed a little bit similar from here.

And it was the summer in the Southern Hemisphere, so I was excited to go explore with this amazing weather.

Look at all those waves, no wonder why the have a literal neighborhood called Surfers Paradise lmao.

Landed in the cute little Airport, and now, I had another race. Since my hotel was in Brisbane, due to me flying out the next day from that city, I had to somehow be stopping at the bookmarked spots I wanted to visit, all the way north until I reached Brisbane by tonight. That’s around 100 kilometers. I definitely needed to hurry up. Got on the 777 Bus that would go north and that stopped by my first destination. To pay I just tapped using my phone, very easy.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

My first stop was Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, and this one was one of the best zoos I have ever been to, for real.

Left my suitcase in the Guest Services area, and started walking around with a map in hand.

The Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is a sprawling 27-hectare lush coastal rainforest that serves as a vital haven for more than 1,000 animals across a diverse range of Australian and exotic species. Since its founding in 1947, it has evolved from a simple bird-feeding site into a world-renowned conservation hub where visitors can experience immersive, open-air encounters that blend education with adventure. From the iconic daily wild lorikeet feedings and free-flight bird shows to the high-adrenaline Treetop Challenge and the on-site wildlife hospital that treats thousands of patients annually, the sanctuary offers a unique, hands-on connection to nature that feels more like a protected wilderness than a traditional zoo.

Diverse Wildlife: Home to iconic Australian natives like koalas, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, and echidnas, as well as exotic species like red pandas and ring-tailed lemurs in the Lost Valley.

I experienced a lot of first times here, I do not think I had seen many of the animals I was about to discover.

I first went to the Koala Habitat to see them for what I think would be the first time ever, but I am not too sure about (I have been to plenty of zoos), but then I went to the Repturnal Den where I saw some echidnas.

In the same building, got to see a monitor lizard, similar to the one I had just seen in Cairns.

And other reptiles, like this huge snake.

And this dragon lizard…

After that, it was time to cross the tunnel to what it seems the major area of the sanctuary, but there were some birds roaming and flying on the way there. There’s a little train that takes you from the visitor center (Lorikeet station) to the rest of the park.

Just crossing the tunnel, you would see more facilities, like Wild Burgers, the main restaurant of this whole area, where you could get salad bowls and burgers.

I continued walking across the Extinction Trail, and saw some birds and other animals…

Until I finally reached the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, where thousands of animals are treated every year.

At the Conservation HQ, basically next door of the hospital, there was a Photo Opportunity with an owl, although very expensive at least for me at the moment. I did get some ice cream for here though, it was getting really hot.

Passed by the Wild Skies Arena, where a show had just finished, but since I had a schedule to commit for the day, I had to continue my walk. No bird shows for now. If you wanna see a bird show, read my post on the one in Cartagena, Colombia.

I was almost halfway now, but this part gets a little bit confusing, since there are multiple paths, so a little bit of backtracking is required. For now, I was seeing some tortoises being fed. So cute!

At some point I passed by the dingos. Omg! I love them so much, I have always been a fan since the Tasmanian Devil show.

The train seemed fun but I preferred explored on foot, although like I said, this part was pretty confusing and I even saw other people going back. This area is also hilly and more underdeveloped but at any point it felt abandoned or bad, there’s a high quality in the entire sanctuary.

Passed by even more koalas, this time there were so many, and eating all the eucalyptus leaves from the trees. They are so cute. To conserve energy, since these plants do not provide much nutrients, they have to sleep about 20 hours in a day.

Look at them 🐨

Also, might be the first time I saw a wombat. This cave was very dark, thank the Cellphone camera night mode for capturing a decent photo of these animals. They are the only animals in the world that produce cube-shaped poop lmao.

Now in the section called “Land of the Parrots” I was seeing many of these creatures. I was also finally returning towards the main gate. I started slowly rushing from this point.

Incredible that these animals could memorize hundreds of words.

Passed by the Crocodile section and it was a bit smaller than expected, given that this is the land of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, but at least I got to see a few of them.

But there were so many lizards just outside of this area… on the way to…

…the Kangaroo Outpost. Although a marsupial, they wallaby are not kangaroos, and they looked so cute from here.

A giant emu was just out in the wild. It looked a little bit scary tho lol. I got out of there real quick.

But the ones that were not scary or scared at all were the actual kangaroos. OMG. So many of them just chillin. Enjoying the summer vibes of the Gold Coast.

Like be for real, look at how many of them are here. There are between 30 and 45 million kangaroos in this country. Wow.

But there is also a section called the Outback Springs were you can see more farm animals like goats…

… and bunnies. You could buy food to feed them as well.

Time to continue rushing back to the front of the sanctuary, where I would have to go to my next destination.

The cute little ducks…

Not without walking around so many kangaroos by the Kangaroo Station of the train. Why I thought these animals were always wild and about to fight you? lol

One last look at the train, before heading to the front of the sanctuary, getting my suitcase, and take the same 777 bus and then the train to Surfers Paradise station. I had to continue going north towards Brisbane.

Q1 – Skypoint Observation Deck

One of the buildings I have always wanted to go to was this one, the Q1 Building in Surfers Paradise. Standing at 322.5 meters, Q1 Resort & Spa, short for “Queensland Number One”, is the tallest building in Australia and a defining feature of the Gold Coast skyline. Completed in 2005, it was the tallest residential tower in the world until 2011 and remains an architectural icon of the region.

SkyPoint Observation Deck: Located on level 77, this is Australia’s only beachside observation deck, offering 360-degree views from 230 meters above sea level. Here you can see the prices of the many offerings they have, as of January 2026.

I was exploring with carry on in hand, and they did not have a coat check or anywhere where to put it, so I had to just bring it up with me. 77 stories up later…

… I was seeing these spectacular views. Wow.

I got to mention that on the way here on the bus I saw many rivers and water bodies where people were just swimming and having picnics by, kind of reminded me of California, and other places of the USA. Definitely this city was the most similar to America. Ans these little islands from up here reminded me a lot of Miami Beach.

The restaurant/bar seemed pretty nice and well equipped.

Up here, I realized the magnitude of this city, with over 750,000 inhabitants. In contrast the neighbor Brisbane has 2.8 million of people.

So many people enjoying the beaches and the waves.

And something I would probably won’t try would be the SkyPoint Climb: Thrill-seekers can participate in the highest external building climb in the country, reaching a height of 270 meters. No thanks.

A large journey to Sydney

It was actually 2 PM when I left Q1, and instead of continuing exploring, I decided to head to Brisbane, and get to my hotel. I was hungry and tired. So I went to a grocery store, got food, and went to the Translink commute train to Brisbane. This train was packed to what seemed what we call in the US Spring Breakers. Mind you it was New Year’s Day, so many of them were drunk still, so the ride was loud and long. I made it to the Central Station in Brisbane, and walked around until I decided to get to my hotel: Brisbane Quarters. The hotel was cute just for one night, with a shared bathroom situation, but at least the room was just for myself. I still had to get up the next day and go to start my journey to another country, so do not miss the next post.