Gold Coast
NED KELLY’S NAME LIVES ON
Legendary Australian bush ranger Ned Kelly may be dead more than 100 years but his name lives on. Not just in the memorials of rural Victoria where he staged numerous robberies, disappeared into forest hide outs and battled police for years.
The name has become a landmark 2000 kilometres north on the bustling Gold Coast where Ned Kellys Car Rentals has been attracting thousands of customers for 20 years.
Directly opposite the entrance to the Gold Coast Airport, the Ned Kelly’s sign has been drawn many a smile from arriving tourists and won countless loyal customers who never forget the name.
The bush ranger was hanged in Old Melbourne jail in 1880 and it was 100 years on when his name was chosen for what became a Gold Coast success story. The business was started by Peter Kelly in partnership with Lorraine and David Adams. Peter was a colourful character known around Coolangatta as Ned, and they decided to call the business Ned Kellys.
It occupied a prime spot, opposite what was then Coolangatta airport. Like the original they battled, this time for customers, with two rival car rental companies on the same block.
Peter Kelly left the business but David and Lorraine continued on. They kept the popular name and the business flourished today taking up the whole site where once there were three car rental companies and several other businesses.
Seven days a week the Ned Kellys cars with the bright blue name on the side are back and forward to the Gold Coast airport 20-30 times a day picking up and dropping off customers. A new owner Alf Niehaus has taken over the business and is planning to see it continue to grow.
Ned Kelly the bush ranger came to a sad end but his name will be heard on the Gold Coast for a long time yet.
Best Weather in Australia
“You have got the best weather in Australia, I should have moved here 20 years ago”
That was Philip from Eden on the NSW South Coast. He flew into the Gold Coast Airport, hired a car for a couple of weeks and set off to look at every bay and beachside suburb from Kingscliff to Noosa.
“It’s been so cold this winter I have had enough” he said
“I have been holidaying here for years, but this winter made me realise I was not going to freeze any longer.”
“Who wants snow and sleet half the year and only be able to swim for a couple of months.”
He bought a unit at Nobbys Beach and went home to pack.
Phillip is one of thousands of people in their 50s and 60s who have been making the same decision for the past 30 years – a move that has played a big role in the Gold Coast’s population explosion. Retire and head north to the sun has been their plan.
The weather statistics prove they are making the smart move.
The Gold Coast has 245 days of fine weather each year. There is very little of the stifling humidity of north Queensland and none of the freezing conditions down south. The summer temperatures average 20-28 degrees while in the winter it dips to a pleasant 11-21. Spring and autumn boast the perfect range of 15 to 25.
Phillip went home with a big smile, not like a lot on his plane who were going back to the dreaded southern weather.
Dogs and Beaches
The common picture of Gold Coast beaches is children playing and sunbathers reclining. But it is a very different picture between 5 am and 7 am most mornings.
There is no lying down and very few children. Instead the beaches become a training ground for thousands of people from the very fit to the very slow. The sand and the pathways behind the dunes are almost congested at times as runners, walkers, strollers, people pushing prams, cyclists and hundreds of dogs all embark on the beachfront version of the morning constitional.
The super fit are going flat out kicking up sand behind them as they weave between the rest in a lather of sweat.
Then comes the joggers usually older and nodding Hello as they pass. The next set is the brisk walkers often in groups holding numerous conversations as they step it out just above the tide line.
The slowest are the dog walkers who travel a weaving path pulled left and right by their pooches who never miss the chance to rub noses with the on coming canines. And of course it is obligatory to bend down with the plastic bag when Bruno or Cassie leave a memento. Some dog owners take the risk, slip the leash and let them loose, all the while keeping a wary eye out for the dreaded council dog catcher in his four wheel drive.
There is a vast array of beach training attire from singlets and shorts to togs and skimpy tops. On cooler days the old daggie track suit is the order of the day. And head wear runs the full range from simple caps, and wide brims to complicated wrap around arrangements keeping the sun off every bit of skin with eye slits covered by sunglasses.
Come 7.30 or 8 am, they have all head to the showers, breakfast and on to their day, content to have had their completed their morning beachfront ritual.
The Gold Coast is known as a major tourist destination with its sunny subtropical climate, surfing beaches, canal and waterway systems, its high-rise dominated skyline, and nightlife pubs.
The Gold Coast is a city in Queensland state of Australia known for good surfing sites and wonderful beaches. It is the second most populous city in the state and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is also the most populous non-capital city in the country. The Gold Coast is known as a major tourist destination with its sunny subtropical climate, surfing beaches, canal and waterway systems, its high-rise dominated skyline, and nightlife pubs.
Beaches
Gold Coast city consists of almost 60 kilometers (35 miles) of coastline with some of the most international popular surf breaks in Australia and the world such as the South Stradbroke Island, Main Beach, The Spit, Surfers Paradise, Mermaid Beach, Broadbeach, Nobby Beach, Burleigh Beach, the Burleigh Heads, Beach of Tallebudgera , the Palm Beach, Tugun, Currumbin Beach, Bilinga, the Kirra, Coolangatta, the less traveled Greenmount, lovely Snapper Rocks , Rainbow Bay, and also the Froggies Beach. Duranbah beach is one of the world's best known surfing sites and is usually thought of as being part of the Gold Coast City, but is technically just across the New South Wales state borderline in Tweed Shire.
The formal name for the beach is actually Flagstaff Beach. Moreover, Duranbah is a very small town situated about 12 km (7miles) west south of the beach, but its name Duranbah Beach became its accepted name of identity. There are also heaps of beaches along many of the Gold Coast's 860 kilometer of navigable tidal ways. One of the most popular inland beaches include Marine Stadium, Southport, Budds Beach, the alley of Currumbin,Jacobs Well, Tallebudgera Estuary, Jabiru Island, Paradise Point, the Harley Park Labrador, and Santa Barbara as well as the Lake of Evandale in Gold Coast.
You can easily reach these beaches by car. Car rental services are commonly taken by travellers to reach these beaches.