Celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary with a long weekend on the Gold Coast – June 2024

At the end of May 2024 my husband and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary and took the opportunity to grab a fix of winter sunshine, over the ‘King’s Birthday’ weekend public holiday (beginning of June), with a trip to the Gold Coast – on Australia’s East Coast.

We were joined by our children, Sophie and Alice (one now at the local Uni, living at home, and the other in high school). Our oldest child could’t join us, busy in Melbourne with Uni and work, but we visited them later in the month to celebrate their 21st Birthday.

It’s easy to fly direct from Wellington to Brisbane, in around 4 hours (depending on the wind!) and then it’s just an hour and a half’s drive to the Gold Coast. We also have a couple of friends that live relatively close by, so it was a good opportunity to meet up with them. The Gold Coast is one of those places that offers up a mix of activities, from nature adventures like whale watching and hiking, to thrill rides on roller coasters and fun at the beach.

We had four days to play with and this is how we spent them! With a couple of rollercoaster loving people in the family we couldn’t stay on the Gold Coast and not go to a theme park. On this trip we visited ‘Dreamworld’ and ‘Warner Bros. Movie World’. At ‘Dreamworld’, as well as the rollercoasters there’s also the Corroboree & Australian Wildlife area, and ‘Tiger Island’. I liked having an opportunity to let my stomach settle between rides with a gentle stroll around the wildlife area!

‘WB Movie World’ offers up entertainment between the rides, with street parades, dancing, singing and a ‘Hollywood’ style stunt driver show. As we were visiting in the Australian winter (warmer than our summer in Wellington!) not all of the rides were open, but there was still plenty of keep us entertained.

During our long weekend stay there was also a ‘Seafire’ fireworks display, so we planned to meet up with friends for dinner and then watch the spectacle. Unfortunately the weather decided to rain on that parade – which drenched all the spectators (including us – who completely forgot to take rain coats or umbrellas!), but didn’t dampen the fireworks – which burst forth brightly against the night sky (I’m not sure what the migratory whales thought of it all though!).

Since our visit coincided with the beginning of the whale migration season, we headed out to see if we could spot any. Migration peaks in July and August—this is when you can also see males. By September, whales begin their return journey, and in October, you can often see females with their newborn calves. Each year, some 30,000 humpbacks make an epic 10,000 km return journey between Antarctic and Australia. We headed out to sea, choosing to venture out with ‘Spirit of Gold Coast‘, enjoying the scenery and scanning the ocean for whales. It took a long time before we got lucky – and we had nearly giving up hope, but were then treated to a mesmerising sighting.  

It was an amazing experience to see the whales so close and we enjoyed the boat ride (glad we took the sea sickness tablets offered to us half an hour before the boat got out into the swell!).

Our other nature day was a visit to Burleigh Head National Park, where we met friends for lunch and then enjoyed a beautiful walk together.

In between the thrill rides and nature fixes we fitted in a little bit of shopping, a few games of mini-golf (essential on any family holiday!) and some time enjoying the beach, which we had amazing views of from the holiday apartment. We braved the waves one day and on others enjoyed the pool. One morning my husband and I enjoyed a run along the smooth sand – a perfect way to start the day!

Our last night was spent in Brisbane, as we had an early flight back to Wellington the following morning. We spent the evening having a stroll alongside the river.

We flew back to Wellington the next morning feeling very thankful for a little mid-winter sunshine, time catching up with friends and some wonderful experiences.