Gold Coast

The 200-sq-km Lamington National Park is a Unesco World Heritage Site with more than 160km of walking trails. This is a wonderful place for bushwalking, including the three-day Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk, which runs 54km from Green Mountains (O'Reilly's) and across to the Springbrook Plateau.

A 27-sq-km national park, Springbrook is an ancient volcanic landscape with a 900m-high plateau cut through with gorges and a few even loftier outcrops. It's a world away from the coast, with cool-temperate rainforest and eucalypt forest. A walking wonderland, it's full of some of Australia's oldest trees and rare bird life, dotted with excellent lookout points and rock pools, where you can cool off.

The super-chilled surfie enclave of Burleigh (drop the 'Heads' if you don't want to out yourself as a tourist) has long been a family favourite, but is definitely enjoying its moment in the sun on a broader scale. The town's gently retro vibe and palpable youthful energy epitomise both the Gold Coast's timeless appeal and its new, increasingly interesting spirit. You'll find some of the region's best cafes and restaurants dotted around its little grid and, yes, that famous right-hand point break still pumps, while the beautiful pine-backed beach continues to charm everyone who lays eyes on it.

The headland of Point Danger marks the border between Queensland and New South Wales. There are amazing views from here both ways along the coast, and you can use it as a starting point or picnic end to several coastal walks. As well as being a memorial to James Cook, the 1970-built brutalist concrete tower that marks the spot (and the cardinal directions) is a working lighthouse. Once a laser, it's now a tried-and-true electric beacon.

While it has its seedy and downright ugly side, there’s no denying that Surfers' frenetic few blocks and its glorious strip of sand attracts a phenomenal number of visitors – 20,000 per day at its peak. Party-hard teens and early-20-somethings come here for a heady dose of clubs, bars and malls, perhaps fitting in a bit of beach time as a hangover remedy before it all starts again. Families are attracted by the ready availability of spacious and affordable apartments, loads of kid-friendly eating options and, yes, that beautiful beach.

This nicely restrained, old-style operation includes Australia’s biggest rainforest aviary, where you can hand-feed a technicolour blur of rainbow lorikeets. There’s also kangaroo and crocodile feeding, photo ops with koalas, reptile shows, a treetop ropes course and Aboriginal dance displays (some activities have fees). There's often an adults-at-kids-prices special online. Note, the parking is $10 extra – or you can park for two hours around the corner for free.

The gravity-defying roller coasters and water slides at the Gold Coast's American-style parks offer some seriously dizzying action and, although recently beset with a number of accidents, including a tragic fatal one at Dreamworld in 2016, they still attract huge crowds. Discounted tickets are sold in most of the tourist offices on the Gold Coast or can be bought online. The Mega Pass ($179 per person for 14-day entry) grants unlimited entry to Sea World, Warner Bros Movie World, Wet’n’Wild and the little-kid-friendly farm-park Paradise Country (http://paradisecountry.com.au), all owned by Village Roadshow.

A couple of tips: the parks can get insanely crowded, so arrive early or face a long walk from the far side of the car park. Also note that the parks don't let you bring your own food or drinks.

Dreamworld Touts itself as the Gold Coast's biggest theme park. There are the 'Big 9 Thrill Rides', plus Wiggles World and the DreamWorks experience, both for younger kids. Other attractions include Tiger Island and a range of interactive animal encounters. A one-day pass gives you entry to both Dreamworld and neighbouring WhiteWater World.

Sea World Continues to attract controversy for its marine shows, where dolphins and sea lions perform tricks for the crowd. While Sea World claims the animals lead a good life, welfare groups argue that keeping such sensitive sea mammals in captivity is harmful, and is exacerbated when mixed with human interaction. The park also displays penguins and polar bears, and has water slides and roller coasters.

Warner Bros Movie World Offers movie-themed shows, rides and attractions, including the DC Rivals Hypercoaster, Batwing Spaceshot, Justice League 3D Ride and Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster. Actors dressed as Batman, Austin Powers, Porky Pig et al roam through the crowds.

Wet'n'Wild The ultimate water slide here is the Kamikaze, where you plunge down an 11m drop in a two-person tube at 50km/h. This vast water park also has pitch-black slides, white-water rapids and wave pools.

WhiteWater World This water park, next door to Dreamworld, features the Cave of Waves, Pipeline Plunge and more than 140 water activities and slides. All passes include Dreamworld too.

Skybus runs to/from Gold Coast theme parks from nine pick-up points in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach (adult/child from $11/9). Con-X-ion Airport Transfers and Surfside Buslines also serve the theme parks.