Coming from the north, the drive in to Gold Coast feels like driving into Miami, with high rise condo buildings shooting out from the otherwise flat city, all trying to get a view of the beach. There's even a town there called Miami! We drove through the Gold Coast, stopping to check out Surfer’s Paradise and the Burleigh Heads before rolling into Coolangatta. 

The town was on our radar because of - you guessed it - good surf! Best known as Snapper Rocks (the name of the surf spot), Coolangatta also boasts a spectacular beach, wide with fluffy sand and views of Gold Coast in the distance. I relaxed in the sun (sans boot!) while Mike played around on Mick Fanning’s home wave. It was honestly one of my favorite beaches of all those we’ve seen in the last eight months. 

The ocean water was so clear that we could see the power behind the forming waves through the rolling water before the waves broke, splashing up warm, white, bubbling water that spread itself out onto the flat shore.

Compared to most of the Gold Coast, Coolangatta is quite small. We discovered that there was one hostel in town, which luckily had a bit of space left. Hotel Komune is an old apartment building turned into a hostel. There’s still the pool, hot tub, bar and lounge area out front, all looking out on the beach. It felt more like a boutique hotel, aside from the cockroaches in our room. But, it had an ocean view, so who cares about a few bugs! (A british guy we met killed them for us…)