Why The Gold Coast Is The 20-Mile Miracle

It was way back in 1933 that the local landowner Jim Cavill persuaded the local council to change the area known as Elston to the more glamorous Surfers Paradise. Now in 1930s, surfing wasn't really a thing. It wasn't until the 1950s that the first surfers arrived, along with the sun loving tourists.

Yet Cavill was bang on the money. The 20-miles of coast that stretches from Snapper to South Stradbroke, later labeled the Gold Coast, offers everything for every surfer. From pointbreak perfection, dizzying lengths of straight beaches and secluded coves, this is a coastline that delivers exactly what it says on the tin.

Superbank - WSL / Joli

Starting at its most southernmost, and obvious, point lies Snapper Rocks and the Superbank. The Superbank only came into creation around 2000 when the Tweed River sand bypass project was introduced. That filled in the sand between Snapper Rocks, Rainbow Bay and Greenmount and created one of the world's longest and most perfect waves.

Rather fortuitously that also combined with the annual hosting of a CT event at the break. For the last 20 years the world's best surfers have kicked off the season at one of the world's best point breaks.

However if you sweep north, which is inevitable if you ever surf the Gold Coast's points, a legion of other breaks and beaches off incredible quality away from the Superbank's magnetic pull.

Tugan, just south of Currumbin Alley, is an exposed and reliable beachbreak that offers the chance to surf a bank on your own. The Alley though, often caught in the Superbank's shadow, is a world class pointbreak. However it is just mellow enough to allow access, and unbridled enjoyment, for surfers on all craft and levels.

Currumbin Alley - WSL

Palm Beach is the next golden crescent that curves up to the famous Burleigh Headland. This is a stretch of sand where waves can be found upon its whole length, if you are willing to walk. However most locals head to 21st Avenue and decide which side of the rocky jetty has the best waves.

Next comes one of the Gold Coast's prime jewels; Burleigh Heads. It was this boulder-lined, palm-fringed point that hosted the first man-on-man professional surfing event, The Stubbies Pro. Many experts cite this competition as the touchstone for the professional surfing era.

Since then the wave has become a byword for perfection. Its cylindrical greeny-blue tubes that wrap down the packed sand at warp speed has it listed as one of Seven Wonders Of The Surfing World, if such a thing existed.

Burleigh Point By Sean Scott - WSL / Sean Scott

North of Burleigh we get to the skyscraper framed Surfers Paradise proper. Now ole Jim Cavill maybe didn't get it entirely right; the stretch of beachfront that takes in Miami, Mermaid, Surfer's and Broadbeach can't match the point breaks further south for sheer wave quality.

Yet dotted on these shifting sandbanks are quality waves. The water, as everywhere, is warm and crystal clear, and if you've ever trotted down a footprint-free beach at sunrise to share a wave with just you, your mates and a few dozen dolphins, you'll reckon Jim was bang on the money. Or alternatively to crash gingerly and bodysurf the breaking waves, after a late night at one of Surfer's Paradise legendary nightclubs, is to sink into a soothing balm.

Surfers Paradise - WSL / Visit Queensland

However this whistle-stop tour of the 20-mile Miracle has to end with some surfing perfection. And that arrives with a short paddle, or even shorter water taxi ride, over the Seaport Seaway to South Stradbroke Island. Here an untouched sand island provides some of the Gold Coast, and the planet's, best beachbreak barrels.

No wonder then that the WSL had decided to hold "South Straddie's" first ever professional surfing event this year. The Boost Mobile Pro Gold Coast, a speciality event with a two-month waiting period that starts in September, will see Australia's best surfers aiming to score some of the legendary A-Frame barrels.

South Stradbroke Island - WSL / Andrew Shield

Now we've also just skimboarded the surface of what this magical stretch of the Queensland coast has to offer. By concentrating on the epic waves we've ignored the waterfalls and the markets, the secret waterways, the rainforests and the fabulous restaurants, pubs, spas, parks and nightclubs. When almost 100 years ago this part of the world was called Surfers Paradise it was maybe wishful thinking. Today, if anything, it undersells one of surfing's great destinations.