'Goldy' - not everything that glitters is gold (but rather glass)

We are staying for two nights in and around the Gold Coast. As far as I understand, both the city, which has incorporated many small towns over time, and the coastal region with its 69km long beach are named the same. The Gold Coast got its name not from the shining golden sunshine, which we can still enjoy a bit between cloudy windows. In the 50s, the area, also known as the 'Glitter Strip', received its name due to the exorbitant prices for housing and goods.

I find the skyline a bit like something out of a science fiction movie - glass skyscrapers by the sea, like in Miami. Therefore, alongside Mermaid Beach, Main Beach, Palm Beach, and others, there’s also Miami Beach here. Despite the many beaches, two nights here feels too long for me. In the city, there's not much to do other than lie by the sea and shop.

On the second day, we actually want to take a bike tour in Gold Coast. However, upon arriving in the city, the bike shop is still closed, so we go for coffee and breakfast instead. By 10 a.m., the bike shop situation hasn’t changed, so we walk through the streets without bikes (it’s not beautiful here, although there are many canals) and after visiting a park with lots of birds and Pelican Beach without pelicans, we take the bus back to Surfer Paradise, which has no surfers. In the bus, we can't pay with a credit card, so we ride without a ticket with the permission of the bus driver. I go shopping for the first time because I really want to buy a rash shirt (with UV protection). After a lengthy 90 minutes of searching for a suitable top, I finally get one. At the checkout, I chat with the cashier, who eventually turns out to be from Stuttgart. These places are a bit like Australia without Australians; so many people from other countries are here.

Additionally, I buy a sweater, a men’s hoodie in size S. This is relevant because my travel coordinator bursts into loud laughter when I show it to her and tells me that a fellow traveler has been searching for exactly this sweater in size S for his beloved since Sydney and can’t find it anywhere, so he just took it in M a few minutes ago out of desperation. I must have bought it about 12.4 minutes before he walked into the store. If he didn’t already have one, I would even give it to him so he wouldn’t have to leave without a sweater... the poor guy.

In Gold Coast, I experience the biggest ocean waves yet; I really have to be careful not to turn into Katie without a bikini. Finally, I manage to read a few pages and defy sunburn with my 1L bottle of sunscreen. On the way home, the road is illuminated by extreme lightning; here, there are 300 days of the best weather a year, and we catch a day without continuous sunshine. Is that a good or bad sign?