The Gold Coast portion of our Australia trip did not go exactly according to plan.
There was supposed to be considerably more sunshine.
Instead, we got rain.
A lot of rain.
The kind of subtropical rain that doesn’t particularly care about your beach vacation.
Fortunately, we’d made two decisions before arriving that ended up saving this portion of the trip.
We stayed outside the center of Surfers Paradise.
And we upgraded our hotel room.
Actually, calling it a hotel room doesn’t really do it justice.
Sheraton Grand Mirage Gold Coast
We chose the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Gold Coast largely because of its location.
The resort sits directly on the beach at Main Beach, several kilometers north of the high-rises and tourist center of Surfers Paradise.
That gave us exactly what we wanted.
We could easily get into Surfers Paradise when we wanted the restaurants, shops and energy of the city, but we didn’t have to stay in the middle of it.
Instead, we had direct access to an enormous stretch of beach, tropical landscaping and one of those sprawling resort pools that immediately makes you feel like you’ve arrived somewhere considerably more exotic than wherever your flight originated.
It was exactly the kind of resort we’d imagined for the Gold Coast.
There was just one problem.
The weather had other plans.
We Were Not Prepared for the Rain
I’m not sure “rain” adequately describes what we experienced.
This was tropical, monsoon-like weather.
The skies would open and suddenly the idea of sitting beside the pool became ridiculous.
Normally, this would have been particularly frustrating with two young children.
But we’d booked the stay using points and decided to upgrade to one of the Pacific Mirage Villas associated with the resort.
It turned out to be one of the best decisions of the entire trip.
The Pacific Mirage Villas
Our villa was enormous.
We had two bedrooms.
Two bathrooms.
A full kitchen.
A proper dining room.
A massive living room.
And perhaps the most underrated luxury when traveling internationally with two young children:
our own washer and dryer.
Parents will understand.
There reaches a point during a long family trip when laundry stops being a minor inconvenience and becomes an operational requirement.
The villa gave us all the convenience of renting a vacation home while still having access to the amenities of a five-star resort.
And because the Gold Coast fell directly in the middle of our Australia trip, the timing couldn’t have been better.
We unpacked.
We did laundry.
We ordered food.
The kids had room to spread out.
And when the rain came down, we didn’t feel trapped inside a hotel room.
We had a home.
Sometimes we’d simply open the doors, listen to the rain and the sounds of the surrounding subtropical landscape and accept that Australia wasn’t going to give us a beach day.
There’s something liberating about finally surrendering to the weather.
Surfers Paradise
When the weather cooperated, we explored the Gold Coast.
The region is famous for its seemingly endless beaches, but Surfers Paradise is its unmistakable center.
And subtle it is not.
High-rise towers run directly alongside an enormous stretch of sand. Restaurants, shopping, bars and attractions fill the blocks immediately behind the beach.
It reminded me a little of what might happen if someone took a Florida beach town and gave it an Australian personality.
It’s energetic.
It’s touristy.
It’s built for vacation.
And it’s worth seeing.
But I’m glad we didn’t stay in the middle of it.
For us, the Sheraton’s location at Main Beach provided the right balance: close enough to visit Surfers Paradise whenever we wanted, but far enough away that we could retreat from it afterward.
The Gold Coast, however, became considerably more interesting once we started driving away from the beach.
Tamborine Mountain
One of our planned day trips took us inland toward Tamborine Mountain.
The transformation happens surprisingly quickly.
Leave the Gold Coast’s beaches and high-rises behind and the landscape begins climbing into the hinterland.
The air cools.
The vegetation thickens.
Rainforest replaces skyscrapers.
And suddenly you’re in Queensland wine country.
We stopped at Witches Falls Winery, one of the established wineries on Tamborine Mountain, for a tasting.
After several days of traveling with children, sitting down and sampling local Queensland wines wasn’t exactly a hardship.
But there was another stop on Tamborine Mountain that was mandatory.
Not optional.
Mandatory.
Boxer Brewing
We have two Boxer dogs at home.
Their names are Luka and Solana.
So when we discovered there was somewhere called Boxer Brewing on Tamborine Mountain, the itinerary essentially wrote itself.
You can’t own two Boxers, travel halfway around the world and then knowingly drive past a brewery called Boxer Brewing.
There are rules.
We stopped.
The beer was good.
The name was better.
Sometimes travel decisions don’t require extensive research.
Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
We also visited Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the Gold Coast’s best-known wildlife experiences.
It’s an impressive place and offers another opportunity to see Australia’s extraordinary native animals up close.
Koalas.
Kangaroos.
Wallabies.
Birds.
Reptiles.
The entire Australian cast of characters is represented.
Had Currumbin been our first wildlife experience in Queensland, I’m sure it would have been one of the highlights of the trip.
But we’d already visited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane.
And after Lone Pine, Currumbin felt somewhat redundant.
That’s not a criticism of Currumbin.
It’s more a recommendation for planning your own trip.
Unless your family is particularly interested in Australian wildlife, I’m not sure you need to visit both.
We enjoyed Currumbin.
But what we really wanted was something neither wildlife sanctuary could give us.
We wanted to see kangaroos in the wild.
“Where Can We See Wild Kangaroos?”
This seemed like a reasonable question to ask in Australia.
So we asked.
Hotel staff.
Locals.
People we encountered along the way.
Where can we take our kids to see wild kangaroos?
Nobody seemed to have an answer.
We didn’t want another zoo.
We didn’t want another sanctuary.
We wanted to see kangaroos simply being kangaroos.
No fences.
No feeding area.
No scheduled wildlife encounter.
Just Australia.
Eventually, modern technology solved what local knowledge somehow hadn’t.
I opened Google Maps.
Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area
Looking around the Gold Coast, I noticed an enormous patch of green called Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area.
It looked promising.
So we went.
And almost immediately, we realized:
This was exactly what we’d been looking for.
There were kangaroos everywhere.
Not one kangaroo posing conveniently beside a visitor center.
Entire groups of them.
Kangaroos grazing in open fields.
Kangaroos resting in the grass.
Mothers with joeys.
And deeper among the eucalyptus trees, families of wallabies moving through the forest.
No cages.
No handlers.
No feeding schedule.
They were simply living there.
And we were visitors in their home.
Walking Through the Eucalyptus Forest
Coombabah was particularly perfect for us because we were traveling with young children and a stroller.
The reserve has raised boardwalks and relatively easy walking paths through wetlands and eucalyptus forest.
We could push the stroller through the trees while watching for wildlife.
Then you’d hear something.
Movement among the leaves.
A wallaby.
Another one farther ahead.
Eventually the forest would open into grassland and suddenly there would be kangaroos scattered across the field.
It felt completely different from seeing the same animals in a sanctuary.
At Lone Pine and Currumbin, we were visiting animals.
At Coombabah, we had entered their world.
That distinction mattered.
Give Them Space
Wild kangaroos are still wild animals.
We didn’t approach them closely, feed them or attempt to interact with them.
We watched.
That’s enough.
And particularly with young children, I actually preferred that experience.
Our kids weren’t learning that every animal exists for us to touch or feed.
They were seeing wildlife behaving naturally in its own environment.
We were guests.
So we acted like guests.
The Best Experience Wasn’t Planned
The irony is that we’d spent months planning this trip.
Hotels.
Restaurants.
Wildlife sanctuaries.
Wineries.
Day trips.
Reservations.
We’d researched Australia extensively.
And one of the most memorable experiences of the entire trip came from staring at a green patch on Google Maps and thinking:
I wonder what’s over there?
No tickets.
No reservation.
No tour guide.
No gift shop.
Just eucalyptus forest, wetlands and wild kangaroos.
Coombabah wasn’t simply our favorite experience on the Gold Coast.
It may have been one of my favorite experiences in Australia.
Three Different Gold Coasts
That’s ultimately what surprised me most about this part of Queensland.
I’d thought of the Gold Coast primarily as beaches and Surfers Paradise.
And that’s certainly part of it.
But drive around and you discover several completely different versions of the region.
There’s the coast—high-rises, beaches, resorts and the energy of Surfers Paradise.
There’s the hinterland—Tamborine Mountain, wineries, breweries and rainforest.
And then there’s the wild Gold Coast—wetlands, eucalyptus forests, wallabies and kangaroos living surprisingly close to one of Australia’s largest tourist destinations.
You can experience all three within a few days.
Even when it rains.
Sometimes the Upgrade Is Worth It
I don’t normally think a hotel room should be one of the most important parts of a destination.
On this trip, it was.
The Pacific Mirage Villa gave our family something we desperately needed in the middle of a long international trip:
Space.
We could cook.
Order in.
Do laundry.
Let the kids play.
Listen to the rain.
And wait for the weather to change.
Having a two-bedroom villa meant that a day of terrible weather didn’t necessarily become a terrible day.
With young kids, that’s worth a lot.
Using points to book the stay made upgrading even easier to justify.
I’d do it again without hesitation.
Final Thoughts
The Gold Coast wasn’t the trip we’d pictured.
We pictured considerably more time on the beach.
Australia gave us tropical rain instead.
But travel doesn’t always cooperate with the itinerary.
And sometimes that’s where the best memories come from.
We drank wine on Tamborine Mountain.
Stopped at a brewery because we have two dogs with the same name as the place.
Watched the rain from our villa.
Visited Surfers Paradise.
Saw koalas and kangaroos at Currumbin.
And then, almost accidentally, walked into a eucalyptus forest and found ourselves surrounded by wild kangaroos and wallabies.
Years from now, I doubt I’ll remember how many hours of sunshine we got on the Gold Coast.
But I’ll remember pushing our kids through the forest at Coombabah.
I’ll remember the kangaroos scattered across the grass.
I’ll remember watching wallabies disappear between the eucalyptus trees.
And I’ll remember that none of it was on our itinerary.
Sometimes the places you find by accident become the reason you’re grateful you went at all.
