It has long been a holiday destination for Australians, with people flocking to Surfers Paradise and the many locations between here and Coolangatta on the border. Even the movie Mad Max II (The Roadwarrior in USA) had Surfers Paradise as the goal of the people stuck out in the desert in the post-nuclear nightmare.

Nowadays people go to the Gold Coast not just to see the beaches, but to go to the many tourist attractions. Places like Warner Brothers and Sea World attract people from all over Australia and overseas.

One thing that many people do not realise is that there is excellent diving located within a few kilometres of the centre of Surfers Paradise.

GETTING THERE

You can fly into Brisbane from most capitals in Australia and many overseas locations. You can fly into Coolangatta (Gold Coast) from Sydney and Melbourne and some other Australian capitals as well as some New Zealand cities. Within Australia, you can use Virgin Blue, Qantas or JetStar. I would not use JetStar if you are taking your dive gear as you WILL have to pay baggage excess.

Of course, you could drive from locations within Australia. It is about 12 hours from Sydney, one hour from Brisbane and two days from Melbourne.

GETTING AROUND

If you fly you will need a hire car to get around. Cars can be hired from the airports.

ACCOMMODATION

There is no shortage of accommodation in the Gold Coast area. There are thousands of hotels, motels etc.

DIVE OPERATIONS

There are not that many dive operations.

DIVES

The following are just some of the dives available in the Gold Coast area.