A few pictures of the Gold Coast

I spent 3 full days (Friday 13th - Sunday 15th Feb) at Broadbeach, on the Gold Coast just 2km south of Surfers Paradise, relaxing after 10 consecutive days of fairly arduous cycling; I felt that I'd earned a bit of a rest.

As it turned out, the weather would have prevented me from making much progress anyway, because it rained hard most of the time I was there. Not a big problem because there are plenty of indoor things to do there, in particular the casino where I played quite a lot of poker, a huge multiplex cinema where I saw "The Reader" (not bad), and loads of good restaurants and bars to check out.

It was sunny and warm most of the last day I was there and I really wanted to hire some inline skates (I'd left mine in Sydney) but there's nowhere hiring skates on the Gold Coast, I found to my huge disappointment. Pity as the area is dead flat and has loads of good bike paths which would be ideal for skating.

Anyway, the tallest of the many high rise buildings on the Gold Coast is the Q1 Tower, a residential tower completed in 2005. This is the 20th tallest building in the world, and the tallest residential building in the world.

The Q1 Tower is on the left

From the top, the views are simply breathtaking and a trip up there is a must if you are ever visiting the Gold Coast:

Looking South

Looking North

I could easily have spent a lot more time in the Gold Coast; however the rest of the ride still had to be completed and I wanted to spend a few days in Brisbane as well. So it was time to get on the bike again for the final stage of the journey....