Guide to the Gold Coast: New thrills, attractions for your next holiday

GOLD COAST (AUSTRALIA) - Fresh off the first quarantine-free international flight to Gold Coast - in the north-eastern Australian state of Queensland - since the pandemic started, my fellow travellers and I head to Dreamworld.

It is perhaps apt that our first stop is one of the iconic theme parks the area is known for. Like many attractions around the world, it has been refreshed during the pandemic, with a new roller coaster called the Steel Taipan that was launched last December.

If you are a thrill seeker - you know, the sort who takes the same roller coaster multiple times - make a beeline for the two spinning seats at the back of the train. Branded the Tailwhip, these seats rotate 360 degrees and are the first of their kind in the world.

Even on a regular seat, the twisty, looping track will knock the air out of your lungs. But add spinning seats with dizzying inversions and the result is a new high.

I stagger off the Tailwhip - with my knees shaking, and delirious with laughter. The exhilaration I feel is similar to what I experience in bungee jumping and skydiving.

It is well-worth the A$25 (S$24.50) - on top of the park's entry fee of $96. Get tickets on Klook as they cost about $10 more at the gate.

If you prefer your feet on solid ground, head to the wildlife section where you can pet free-roaming kangaroos and peer at a snoozing wombat. Or grab the chance to cuddle a koala, as Queensland is one of three Australian states where this is allowed.

And take a spin on the family-friendly Sky Voyager, a flying theatre simulator that whisks you across some of Australia's most iconic landscapes - into Queensland's Wallaman Falls, the country's tallest; across the Great Barrier Reef; and straight into a fireworks display above the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The ride opened in August 2019, about six months before international travel took a long hiatus. Perhaps that adds to its magic. A journalist from our group ends the ride teary-eyed.

It is man-made, cheesy fun but I, too, am moved by the soaring soundtrack and the return of travel.

Everywhere we go, this is the sentiment that greets us: You guys are our first international guests after almost two years, say taxi drivers, retail assistants, staff at attractions - all hopeful that more will come.

On the flight, Scoot chief executive Campbell Wilson tells me he is "confident of a strong resurgence in demand" since Australia introduced quarantine-free international travel for vaccinated travellers last month.

If demand for Scoot's Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flights from Singapore to Sydney and Melbourne is anything to go by, there is reason for optimism.

Mr Wilson says these flights currently average at about 35 per cent passenger load and hit a high of about 65 per cent over the Christmas and New Year period - a vast improvement from a passenger load of about 10 per cent when the pandemic was at its worst.

Besides Scoot, Singapore Airlines and Qantas also run VTL flights to the two cities.

Food and beverage tour operator Kiff & Culture, launched in June last year, is also awaiting the return of tourists.

Co-founder Drew Campbell, 30, was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and has been running Kiff Kombi Tours there since 2016.

After shuttling between both countries, he moved back to Australia last year and launched Kiff & Culture with Australian Alex Baker, whom he went to school with near Brisbane, about an hour's drive from Gold Coast. The duo wanted to introduce a similar concept to Australia.

Mr Baker, 29, who has lived in India and the Solomon Islands, says: "When we are abroad, we always want to do what the locals do. We want to showcase this in the scenic regions around where we live."

Our Eat & Drink the Gold Coast Experience (from $203.59) lives up to that promise, whisking us away from the main tourist drag along Surfers Paradise - which Mr Baker admits he visits only "two or three times a year" - into the suburb of Burleigh Heads.

There, we tuck into a seven-course meal at modern Asian restaurant Rick Shores, which boasts floor-to-ceiling windows framing the turquoise surf like a painting.

The food, too, is no slouch. Moreton bay bug rolls - made with a crustacean similar to crayfish - are crisp and fresh. And everyone at the table marvels at the tenderness of the duck in red curry. We mop up every spicy, hearty drop with rice and smoky-charred roti.

Even on a weekday afternoon, the restaurant is bustling, and so is the beach outside. Surfers trot out into the waves, dogs gambol, sunbathers lounge.

This is exactly the sort of idyll that has lured Sydneysiders and Melbournites out of the city and to Gold Coast since remote work took hold during the pandemic. New bars and restaurants in the surrounding suburbs sprang up to accommodate.

People wanted the Gold Coast lifestyle, says Mr Baker.

It is good news for the company, whose main clientele has been corporate bookings from Queenslanders so far. "If we can sell this product to locals, we can definitely appeal to domestic and international travellers," he adds.

Another Burleigh Heads icon is Granddad Jack's Craft Distillery, run by the third- and fourth-generation families of the eponymous Granddad Jack, whose real name was David Goulding.

His grandson and founder David Ridden, 49, welcomes us with a gin and tonic before launching into the distillery's origin story - how he created it in 2018 to pay homage to his whiskey-swigging grandfather's hard-knock life.

Mr Ridden's humour is self-deprecating ("We have to give you a drink because nobody can listen to me talk for 45 minutes while sober"), but his tales are captivating.

Two Pencils Gin, a London dry gin, is named for how Granddad Jack, as a boy, would snap pencils in half and resell them at the horse races to earn some extra cash for the family. And 65 MilesGin, a navy-strength gin at 57 per cent alcohol by volume, is inspired by the distance he used to cycle every weekend as a teenager to work on a sheep farm.

The gins are delicious, and is there any higher honour than to be remembered in spirits and stories?

More stories abound at Home of the Arts (Hota), a cultural precinct housing art exhibitions, a cinema and an outdoor performance stage. Its latest addition, the Hota Gallery, opened last May.

The multi-coloured building is eclectic both inside and out. A summer exhibition called Art Mixtape showcases paintings, sculptures, photos and videos by iconic Australian artists.

No highfalutin artwork here - the vibe is playful and unfussy. A piece by Michael Lindeman, whose work often contains wry institutional critique, depicts the word cheese in large cartoon letters and surrounds it with mouse traps.

"Is the whole thing a little cheesy? Or is it a well-placed dig at the ridiculous, often too serious side of contemporary art?" reads the description.

Admission is free and The Exhibitionist Bar on the rooftop offers a lovely view of the city. Make a reservation and come at sunset.

It would be remiss not to go surfing in a place named Surfers Paradise. Our instructor from Get Wet Surf School shows us the ropes on dry land, then takes us out to The Spit, a popular stretch of beach.

This crashing surf is worlds apart from the gentle lapping of waves at East Coast Park. Needless to say, I wipe out repeatedly. But countless bruises, abrasions and mouthfuls of water later, and after I finally wobble to my feet and coast to shore, I am hooked.

Never mind my battered limbs or the fact I will wake up sore the next day. I spend the rest of the two-hour session ($59.35) heading back into the surf, struggling to find the sweet spot of balance, chasing the high that comes when I succeed.

Jet boating (from $57.19) is thrilling too and far less strenuous.

We zip along the coastline, with our skipper alternating between pointing out million-dollar houses and performing sharp turns and high-speed drifting. Despite our ponchos, we emerge soaked to the bone.

And it is a treat to sail in a hot-air balloon ($241.40) over the Gold Coast hinterland, watching the sunrise light up Mount Tamborine and illuminate herds of sheep and cattle below.

As this is the height of touristy experiences, I am surprised to find no shortage of locals along for the ride. We share a basket with a group of women celebrating their friend's 60th birthday and a couple who drove an hour from Brisbane to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.

They are rediscovering their country, just like Singaporeans have been doing for the past two years.

And after being home-bound all this while, there is a delicious thrill that comes with bagging deals and brands available abroad.

Budget half a day at outlet mall Harbour Town Gold Coast for some serious shopping. Look for deals on Australian brands such as Lorna Jane (athleisure), Aesop (skincare) and Bonds (intimates).

If you have deeper pockets, the more upscale Pacific Fair carries both casual and luxury labels. It is also home to a vast selection of food and beverage joints such as Australian chain Betty's Burgers. And bored companions can take a snooze on plush deck chairs sitting by a man-made river.

It has become trendy to buy experiences, not things. But since travel trends point to longer and less frequent trips these days, my shopping and souvenir haul will take me back under blue Australian skies until I am there once more.

* This trip was sponsored by Klook, Tourism and Events Queensland and Destination Gold Coast.

* Prices are correct as at Feb 28.