Why holiday on the Gold Coast? Its a question I am asked quite often despite our perfect weather, beautiful beaches and laid back way of life. If you are thinking about visiting us here, I have outlined some of the major highlights of our year below, to help you plan your next trip and to make sure you get the most out of your time here.

The calendar of events listed below is by no means exhaustive. So for more information about holidaying at the Gold Coast, make sure you look through our website at Gold Coast Surfboards

January The Magic Millions Carnival - A must event for those who love everything horse racing. The Magic Millions carnival in January brings Australian horse racing to the Gold Coast, combining the annual yearling sales with race meets, parties and dinners, all culminating in the Magic Millions race day, where over 3 million dollars in prize money is up for grabs.

February Without any specific big event in February, it is often the best time to visit. With school holidays coming to an end, the peak tourist period starting to die, you will be left with more space, more time and a more relaxing experience. Perfect for the holiday maker just wanting to wind down on a beach somewhere.

March Every March, the surfing world turns their collective attention to the Gold Coast, as the first event on the annual World Championship Tour is fought out on our waves. Given how much Australian surfers love the Gold Coast as a surfing destination generally, March really becomes a special time for surfers local and visiting, who find themselves on the Gold Coast.

April The Malfunction Surf Festival cruises into Coolangatta during March. Are you a surfer who has a touch of nostalgia for the surfing days not too long past. If so, this festival is for you. Aimed at longboarders and retro surfers, the five day carnival has a look at many aspects of the surfie culture, including art and memorabilia, surf vehicles, surf movies and a surf celebrity dinner.

May Each year in May, over 70 blues artists from OZ and the US, and over 100,000 blues lovers and enthusiasts make their way to Broadbeach to appreciate 5 days of blues music in a massive street festival environment - The Broadbeach Blues Festival has come to town. The line up of artists and festival generally gets better and better every year.

June The Gold Coast Bazaar - Our Festival of Fashion, Food and Fun. Established in 2007, the Gold Coast Bazaar brings the best the Gold Coast retail sector has to offer into a carnival of fashion food and fun. June at the Gold Coast is a definate for those who love to shop.

July The Gold Coast Marathon in July has become more than a race. It has become a weekend of fun and fitness, and a celebration of our modern day athletes who can accomplish these amazing feats of endurance. I participated in this event for the first time in 2008, albeit in the shorter 10km event on this weekend.

August August in the Gold Coast is your time of year if you love to celebrate your taste buds. The annual Tastes of The Gold Coast Festival brings the best of the Gold Coast's food and wine together, to be tasted and feasted upon, in Australia's most idyllic settings. It is a true celebration of the Gold Coast lifestyle, wine and food producers, chefs and restaurants, who now count as some of the worlds best.

September The Swell Sculpture Festival hits Currumbin Beach in September. Swell is a globally unique outdoor sculpture festival. The idea of Swell is for artists, both local and international, to create pieces which are large and durable and specific for outdoor display. Not only does this bring some spectacular sculptures to the Gold Coast, but it also provides a free outdoor event for the locals and holiday makers to the area, with plenty of events organised in a spectacular outdoor art gallery on the beach.

October The Lexmark Indy 300 - Four big car races come to the streets of Surfers Paradise, and are raced over 4 days. The Indy is one of Australias biggest car events, with Champ Cars and the V8s descending on the Gold Coast to race around a 4.47km street circuit in Australia's favorite tourist destination This event is a must on the calendar of all motor enthusiasts both national and international

November - December Schoolies Week comes to the Gold Coast. Its become an institution for Australian high school leavers to descend on the Gold Coast to celebrate finishing their secondary schooling. Its a 3 week graduation festival, a rite of passage, where the nations school leavers get the chance to taste the freedom they have worked for for 12 years. Its the perfect holiday event for you if your are 18ish and just finishing high school.

If your ideal holiday isn't one shared with a city of maraudering teenages and you are coming to the Gold Coast during this time of the year, we suggest you book your hotel a little bit out of Surfers Paradise, which is central to the schoolies action. Anything between Mermaid Beach and Coolangatta should be fine.

And don't forget when planning your trip to the Gold Coast, you can do it all from the convenience of one website. From hotel reservations, to car rentals and airline bookings. You can even hire your surfboard for your entire holiday, all from the Gold Coast Surfboards website

Cheap Beach Holidays.

I had to get up early this morning and get down to Coolangatta Beach. One of my surfboard hire clients was checking out early and needed 1 mini mal and 1 short board picked up before they left. So up I got, arriving in Cooly before 7am.

On Australia's Gold Coast, Coolangatta is about 30 minutes drive south of Surfers Paradise, and like Surfers Paradise, has been made famous by some of the world class surf breaks in the area. Surfers Paradise at the north end of the Gold Coast hosts the Goldy's best beach breaks, the waves form on a shifting sand based ocean floor, picking up lots of swell. While Coolangatta at the south end of the Goldy is more famous for the world class point breaks of Snapper Rocks, Greenmount and the like. And these points, though not able to pick up as much swell as the northern beaches, definately host the best waves of the area. On their given day, the waves can bend endlessly around the points. A surfer can kick off a wave due to fatigue rather than the wave ending.

Not this morning though. This morning on arrival, the waves were less than a foot, clean as they get though with no wind to speak of. Having picked up the rented surfboards, I decided to have breakfast at a lovely little cafe on the beach front and see what happens at our beaches when there is no surf.

In looking around, it pretty quickly became clear why the Gold Coast in Australia's northern State of Queensland is one of the premier beach holiday destinations in the world. Its only 7am in the morning and there is already so much happening. Obviously the 24° water temperature helps, as does the balmy 26° outside temperature, who wouldn't want to go to the beach.

In the water, there are a couple of polynesian style surfers out, with those big stand up boards and paddle, enjoying the tame conditions with a couple of long boarders. As well as a handful of swimmers, swimming between the flags, trying to catch a little breaker on the shore edge.

At Coolangatta beach, the water is met by about 50 metres of clean golden sand. There are already a couple of groups of girls out in their bikinis, improving their tans. Ha, given how early it is, its probably their last day here and they want to get that last bit of sun before they go home. Small groups of runners and cyclists whizz past on the designated park tracks, some early morning exercise. And far out in the ocean, there is a school of whales making quite a spash on their migrations, much to the amazement of many passersby.

I observe this all from a chic little cafe, where a pretty waitress serves me my latte and eggs benedict. As a local, sometimes it is time well spent just to sit back, recognise and soak up the things that so many other people travel the world to come here and enjoy. I hope you manage to share the beauty of our home one day too. Life really doesn't get much better than this.

And if you do, don't forget you can find everything you need for your holiday at Gold Coast Surfboards. Book it all from one convenient website.

Cheap Beach Holidays.