William Chong

Well we’re back in cold and wintry Auckland – it’s good to be home! You can only spend so much time in the Gold Coast before your money starts to run out…

Over the course of the week we picked up a few insider tips on getting around the place:

• It may be tempting, but don’t use the Gold Coast Tourist Shuttle. It costs an exorbitant amount (e.g. $91 for a 5-day pass) for bus travel that’s on par with the local bus service. Travelling like a local will save you lots: the TX1, TX2 and TX5 routes run to the Theme Parks while route 745 and 750 go past Pacific Fair shopping centre and Jupiters Casino. We went for the fare-by-fare option and only spent about $30-40 each.
• The Gold Coast during the winter actually turned out pretty good. July is usually the driest time of the year, and while it can get chilly at night, you’ll generally get 19-25 degree warmth during the day.
• We booked accommodation using our Entertainment Book and got an 11th floor, 2-bedroom apartment with ocean views at half price. Truly amazing. If you want a place to stay that’s within walking distance to Surfer’s Paradise, we stayed at Surfers Beachside Holiday Apartments and thoroughly enjoyed it. Fully furnished, kitchen, laundry, and if you book early you have a good chance of getting fantastic views of the beach.
• The Entertainment Book’s pretty useful for theme park tickets too. You get a 15% discount, and you can use your NZ card at the ticket office on the day. Don’t buy your tickets too far in advance though, as you never know what the weather will be like on the day. Some rides do get closed during inclement weather.
• When at the theme parks, we made a beeline to the best rides first. Queues built up during the day no matter what the attraction. On the day we went to Movieworld, our first ride was the Superman Escape and had a relatively short queue upon entry. Our choice proved astute as after we came off the ride (all adrenalined up), it was closed for most of the day for maintenance.
• For another type of surfing at Surfer’s Paradise, bring your laptop or iPhone/iPod and you can access free wireless internet at McDonald’s on Cavill Ave.

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