COVID-19 Pandemic & This Website
The COVID-19 Pandemic has had a huge impact on local Gold Coast businesses, which rely heavily on visitors from Queensland, interstate and overseas.
During this time, it is hard to keep the website fully up to date with all the changes. In the meantime here are some resources for visitors. Our main booking partners for hotels and for tours, tickets, theme parks and activities are keeping everything up to date, so please use those resources in the meantime.
Travel Information for Queensland Visitors - Queensland Tourist Safety Information - regularly updated, official website.
COVID-19 FAQ's For Activities, Tours, Cruises & Theme Park Tickets - General Ticket & Pass FAQs and COVID-19 Travel Update.
Thank you for your understanding and patience at this really difficult time.
Annie Rettie
Gold Coast Australia Travel Tips - Owner
Swimming in Ocean at Gold Coast
by Glenis Robinson
(Auckland)
Swimming in ocean at Gold Coast
When can you not swim in the sea at the Gold Coast because of stingers etc?
Annie's Answer
The Gold Coast occassionally gets stingers during the summer months (December to March approximately).
This usually only happens when there are certain wind and tide conditions and they are blown in and onto the beaches.
The Gold Coast has many beaches and not all may be affected at the same time. So, it is unlikely that there are stingers at every beach on the Gold Coast. You might find that Broadbeach has them, but Coolangatta is fine. There are usually options if you are prepared or able to travel a little.
On the rare occassions (from memory maybe a couple of times in a year) that I have known there to be stingers in the water, the surf life savers on the beaches at the patrol areas will let swimmers know and often will close the beach.
That is why it is really important to only swim in the patrolled areas between the flags.
Although, technically*, not impossible for us to have some of the nastier stingers, box jellyfish or irukandji, on the Gold Coast, it would be a very rare and most likely due to some odd weather pattern or currents. They like the warmer waters up further north in Queensland.
Sometimes on the Gold Coast you can get sea lice. They are more of an irritation than anything else and seem to be picky about who they target. I can be standing in the water right next to my daughter and she can be jumping around like a kangaroo, whilst I look on wondering what it going on :D ! But then, mozzie's don't tend to bite me either!
I hope that answers your question, if you have any more, please put them in the comments below and I will try to answer them for you.
Cheers
Annie Rettie
Gold Coast Australia Travel Tips - Owner
Footnote
* I have given up saying things can NEVER happen! With the wild weather around the world and odd events happening to challenge our previous rules about nature, the new rule is: NEVER SAY NEVER!
So, although this sounds like I am saying it happens, I am really only putting it in here to make you aware that it could be possible, though highly unlikely.
I think in my time in the Gold Coast area I can only remember one supposed sighting of a box jellyfish. I don't even believe it was ever confirmed and from memory it was by a fishing boat much further out to sea and away from the beaches.
I strongly urge you to swim between the flags in the ocean, because surf life savers are there patrolling beaches for a reason.... to keep you safe. They monitor the conditions and are in contact with others at other beaches so should there be issues, they are the experts and are more likely to know in advance.
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