Gold Coast, Australia, June – August 2007

Written by Narelle

The Gold Coast is a city in south east Queensland. It sprawls over 52km of white sandy beaches and out into the mountains from Mount Tamborine in the north to the Numinbah Valley in the south. This is the city in which I grew up and we make a pilgrimage here every time we go back to Australia.

During our stay on the Coast we frequent Peter's Fish Market out near Seaworld. We pick out wholesale filets of fish, which come straight from the trawlers every day, and have them cooked on the premises.

One bright sunny day we sat overlooking the marina eating beer battered Barramundi and chips. In a flash of inspiration we decided to have our lunch on the beach. The next thing you know, we were setting off across the road with a kilo of prawns.

The beach we ended up at is called Sheraton Beach. If you didn't know it was there, you probably wouldn't find it. Few visitors would think to walk through all the bushland that hides it — but I've been going there since I was a kid.

We made our way along a sandy pathway lined with bushland scrub, stopping every now and then to spot sulphur-crested cockatoos flying overhead or ibis with their big awkward bodies wobbling high up in the treetops.

Eventually we arrived at the sand dunes. They're covered in Spinifex, a pale green beach grass. We took off our sandals and picked our way over the flowering beach morning glory and pigface and set down our towels.

The beach was almost empty but for a handful of people spread out as far as the eye can see. It's always like that there.

This is the beach that even the locals forgot and we almost had the place to ourselves. We sat on the soft sand eating our prawns, seagulls swooping hopefully in front of us, and watched the waves roll in. Later we built a sandcastle and then ran off into the waves for a cool dip.

It was great to be home.