The Gold standard: Australian coast has great surfing and its wildlife, nightlife and hot air ballooning are top-class

THREE years ago, it brought with it a real celebration when the Commonwealth Games baton arrived in Glasgow.

Thousands lined the streets to see the baton in all its glory.

Last month, it began its long journey to Australia, where the 2018 Games will be held.

Countless Brits will travel across to the Gold Coast to see the event, so I set off to discover what they’ll find.

The Gold Coast is 57km of honey-coloured, surf-soaked beaches, 66km south of Brisbane in Queensland, eastern Australia.

It stretches from Main Beach in the north to the sands of Coolangatta in the south.

The Gold Coast’s star attraction is its beaches. But beyond those, there are laid-back neighbourhoods, a booming culinary scene and famous theme parks, including Dreamworld and Movie World, to be discovered.

Not to mention a trip into the subtropical hinterland for rainforest walks and waterfalls.

The undisputed “capital” is Surfers Paradise, where suntanned locals merge with sunburned tourists, and bars offer cocktails and dancing ’til dawn.

I stay in the quiet, chic suburb of Broadbeach, where the sand is pristine.

While the coast is known for surfing, there are many other ways to enjoy the water.

Just 10km north is The Broadwater, an area protected by islands, where Australian Kayak Adventures run paddling tours.

We set off from a beach next to a small lagoon. Within minutes, a bottlenose dolphin arches out of the sea in front of us.

As the sun glints off distant skyscrapers, we haul our kayaks on to South Stradbroke Island, and pad through dunes to the beach on the far side.

Straddie, as it’s called by locals, is a favourite haunt of surfers. It’s also home to the swamp wallaby.

The Gold Coast – just one hour from Brisbane – however, isn’t just coastline.

Beyond the shore is what locals call “the green behind the gold” – the region’s hinterland, defined by the Scenic Rim, an area surrounded by volcanic mountains.

From just outside Canungra, a rural township 25km inland from Surfers Paradise, I take in the forests and farmland from the sky.

It’s just after dawn, and Ben from Hot Air Balloon Gold Coast, is gradually turning our balloon eastwards, so we can watch the sunrise.

He points out Tamborine Mountain, a 500m-high plateau formed by eruptions 22 million years ago. The rich soil is ideal for growing avocado, kiwi and macadamia nuts.

We float gracefully over the countryside and land so smoothly, I’m not even aware we’ve hit the ground.

I stay at O’Reilly’s, a guest house in the heart of Lamington National Park. Owned by the family since the 1920s, it was built before the rainforest was declared a national treasure.

My rustic room, overlooking the mountains, has black and white pictures of the O’Reilly boys on horseback. Scatter cushions depict the bowerbird which Sir David Attenborough came to film here.

I venture on bushwalks, wobble along the Treetop Boardwalk (a rope and plank suspension bridge) and climb a 30m fig tree observation deck for views of the canopy.

One of the guides, Luke, invites me to look for glow worms. I join him and a Chinese tour group and stumble into the night.

The glow worms we’re looking for are actually the larvae of the fungus gnat. They give off light to trap insects in sticky threads which they trail from rocks beside the creek.

My companions and I have no common language, but when we reach the riverbank, we share a sense of awe.

It’s as if we’ve stumbled across a huge display of twinkling, fairy lights.

It reminds me of the Gold Coast’s flashing Games baton.

Although the tiny grubs can’t match its colours, they are easily the region’s spectacular, and completely natural, alternative.

A visit next year will not only guarantee the greatness of the Games, but a whole new world, too.

Facts

For information on the Gold Coast see visitgoldcoast.com and for Queensland, see queensland.com

austravel.com 0800 988 4676 offers a nine-night holiday to Brisbane and the Gold Coast from £1,119pp The offer includes transfers and return flights from London Heathrow.

For more on the 2018 Commonwealth Games, visit gc2018.com