Gold Coast

The sand runs fine and wide, but in the afternoon the towers behind throw their shadow across it. Lifeguards plant a red flag and a yellow one, and you keep between the flags to swim. Rips form often, so nobody goes outside them however calm it looks.

The wave peels right off the headland and runs long, so the surfers sit in one queue for it. A patch of rainforest under pandanus survives on top, and the track through takes half an hour. Broken shell on the rock side is hard on bare feet.

At Natural Bridge a waterfall drops through the collapsed roof of an old lava cave. Glow worm larvae hang inside and shine blue, but they cut out the moment a beam hits them, so torches go off at the entrance. The walk in from the car park takes ten minutes.

It sits on the tallest building on the Gold Coast and the lift takes under a minute. South, the coastline curves away to the end of sight; west, the hinterland ridges stack behind one another. A guided climb goes up the outside stairs.

A long narrow sandbar between the ocean and the Broadwater. A seawall at the end lets trawlers inside it. They land prawns off the deck each morning, and rods line the outer wall. No towers stand here, so this is the only beach without a shadow.

A plateau village forty minutes above the coast. A steel walkway is strung through the rainforest at branch height, with steps down to the forest floor. The top runs a few degrees cooler than the shore, so long sleeves are needed even in summer.

After rain, leave it a few days. These are pools held between boulders upstream on the creek, not the sea, and rain puts a push into the flow. There is no surf and no rip, so many people bring children, and only one spot has the depth to jump from.

A stack of green and pink hexagons standing in parkland across the river. The rooftop needs no ticket, so you go straight up and take in the coastline and the hinterland together.

It runs north and south parallel to the shore, with a stop at each beach along the way. The windows face the sea the whole way, so you decide which beach to get out at while riding.

No bridge reaches it: you cross by boat to a sand island some twenty kilometres long. A storm in the 1890s cut the bar and split it from the island north. No shops and no roads, so you carry water and food in. Wallabies graze onto the camp grass.

It grew from a beekeeper who, in 1947, began feeding the lorikeets wrecking his flowers. Hold up a nectar dish each afternoon and a flock still lands on arms and heads. An on-site hospital treats injured wildlife, surgery sometimes visible through glass.

Subtropical rainforest along the McPherson Range crest inland, reached by nearly two hours of narrow, twisting road. At Green Mountains a swaying tree-top walkway puts you level with canopy birds. The air is much colder than the coast; bring long sleeves.

Coolangatta's southernmost headland, with the Queensland and New South Wales border crossing its top. Queensland never shifts its clocks for summer, so in those months one step over the line changes the hour. Snapper Rocks below hosts world-tour surf contests.

A tidal creek meeting the sea just south of the Burleigh Heads headland. No surf reaches it, and on a rising tide the water clears until the sandy bottom shows, which draws many young families. On the ebb the current rips seaward; keep away from the mouth.

Founded by David Fleay, the naturalist who first bred platypus in captivity, and today a Queensland government park. Boardwalks wind through mangrove and rainforest past cassowaries and platypus. Quieter than the theme parks, so the animals get your time.

A film theme park at Oxenford that opened in 1991. Roller coasters named after comic-book heroes and street shows run all day. Passes bundle three or four nearby parks, a saving for anyone staying several days.