Ballina to Brisbane road trip: Distance, time & best stops
Ballina to Brisbane drive: Gold Coast activities
Tweed Heads and Coolangatta are split by the state border, but essentially the same town. Coolangatta marks the start of the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Things to do in Coolangatta include from Point Danger to Snapper Rocks or taking surfing lessons.
The highway – now the Pacific Motorway – runs to the west, though. It also skips Kirra Beach, the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Currumbin and Palm Beach.
Elsewhere, things to do on the Gold Coast include jet boat rides, sunset cruises, parasailing and amphibious vehicle tours.
Gold Coast accommodation is mainly apartment-style, but good Surfers Paradise hotels include the lavish Q1 Resort and Spa and the wallet-friendly Vibe Hotel.
7 Gold Coast experiences worth booking in advance
- See waterfalls and natural wonders – on a full day Springbrook National Park tour.
- Be awed by massive migrating humpbacks – on a great value whale-watching cruise.
- Feast as you explore the Gold Coast waterways – on a dinner cruise.
- Kayak with dolphins and snorkel with hundred of sub-tropical fish – on the same tour.
- Enjoy high speed thrills along the waterways – on a jet boat adventure.
- Glide above the beautiful hinterland – on a serene hot air balloon flight.
- Taste the best Scenic Rim wines – on an indulgent Tamborine Mountain wine tour, with lunch.
Stay near the Pacific Motorway, however, and you can visit the David Fleay Wildlife Park on Tallebudgera Creek or Nerang National Park.
The key attractions between the Gold Coast and Brisbane, however, are the Gold Coast theme parks.
Warner Brothers Movie World, Paradise Country, Australian Outback Spectacular and Wet N Wild Gold Coast are around Oxenford. Then, a little further north at Coomera, you’ll come to Dreamworld and Whitewater World.
Click through to the next section: Into Brisbane.