Introduction to the Gold Coast
THE GOLD Coast marks the start of the enormous sand deposits of Eastern Australia. Although there are a lot of large beaches south of the Gold Coast, it all changes as the east coast turns around forty degrees to the west as it passes the enormous extinct Tweed Volcano. North of the Tweed volcano are several isolated peaks of extinct volcanoes which act as anchors to hold the enormous masses of sand making their way up the coast, carried by the current and blown inland by the south east trade winds.
The Gold Coast was once a remote sandspit with a beautiful sweeping beach and good surf break coming across the Pacific Ocean. In 1917 a section of this narrow sandspit in the farming village of Elston was marketed as Surfer's Paradise, selling small holiday cottages. The rest is history.
From Point Lookout, I head southwards along the long beach of the northern Gold Coast before reaching the channel between North and South Stradbroke Islands after 38 kilometres. I cross over to South Stradbroke Island, and continue along its desert beach and dunes for another 23 kilometres before crossing the next channel to The Spit, from where I walk down the Gold Coast beaches, crossing rocky headlands at Burleigh Head and Currumbin before eventually reaching Coolangatta and wrap up the trek at my starting point at Point Danger, having completed 104 kilometres in this leg and 1196 kilometres since starting here a year ago.
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