The Gold Coast is located southeast spot of Queensland and is a popular destination for international students, tourists and Australian families looking for a local getaway. Tourism is the city’s biggest source of revenue. The City is known for its subtropical climate, beaches, energetic nightlife, theme parks and other tourist attractions.

Surfer’s Paradise is a suburb within the Gold Coast, a tourist hot spot and is well known for being the destination for Schoolies Week, an end of year celebration in November for high school graduates. Around 50, 000 students travel to the city every year.

Q1 Building opened in 2005 and is the second tallest building (accessible to the public) in the southern hemisphere. The first is Eureka Tower located in Melbourne.
Q1 is over 300 metres tall and is a residential tower.

Dream World opened in 1981 and is Australia’s largest theme park. It was also the location of Australia’s version of popular reality television show Big Brother. At the end of 2006, in association with Dream World, the water park, WhiteWater World opened next door.

Some of the park’s most popular rides and attractions include:

• The Claw – Was the most recent ride to open. It is able to swing 120 degrees and up to nine storeys high.
• The Cyclone – Is one of the tallest roller coasters in Australia.
• Tiger Island – There are daily shows featuring Bengal and Sumatran tigers and their handlers. This is the only exhibit of its kind in Australia and is just one of two in existence internationally.
• Tower of Terror - Is a reverse freefall ride and is currently the world’s fourth fastest ride.
• Australian Wildlife Experience – Is a zoo inhabited with over 800 animals.

Sea World is known more for its marine mammal exhibits and is the oldest out of the three main theme parks, opening in 1971. The park has a lot of marine wildlife attractions with aquariums and native marine animal exhibits such as polar bears and sharks. There are also daily performance shows with trained dolphins and sea lions.

Warner Bros. Movie World opened in 1991 and is a movie related theme park. The park is known for having performers dressed as popular fictional characters ranging from comic book heroes to Looney Tune characters can be seen wandering around the park. There are also film studios located within the compound. Popular rides include:

• Batwing Spaceshot – Opened in 2006 the ride reaches the speed of 64km per hour and the of height of 61 metres.
• Lethal Weapon – Opened in 1995 and is one of the park’s longest lasting roller coasters.
• Superman Escape - Opened on Boxing Day in 2005 and accelerates from 0 to 100km in two seconds.
• Wild West Falls – Opened in 2001 is a water raft rid that ends with a drop considered the biggest of its kind in Australia.

Wet ‘n’ Wild Water World opened in 1984 and is the biggest water park in Australia. It is opened all year long as the 15 slides and 4 pools are heated during the cooler seasons. It is located next to Movie World.