Hello, I URGENTLY need to find the Mario Koala Statue, I have checked the Surfers Paradise and Coolangatta Timezones but it is no longer there, if anyone knows where it is, I NEED to see it before I leave the gold coast

Will it benefit the economy as a whole or more money for the fat cats in Parliament to tax us the working class?

So I had an idea. The current sign didn't really work because they faced the wrong way to be able to read the letters and Street Racers were using it as a photo op location.

They could take each individual letter and put it somewhere in the City of Gold Coast and make it like a trail you could pose in front of, eg put the

A in Ashmore

C in Carrara

D at ???? Dreamworld?

G in Gaven

L in Labrador

O in Ormeau and Oxenford

S in Surfers or Stapylton

T in Tugun or Tedder Ave or Tallebudgera

Could probably paint the pole bases a different colour for each one.

Some background - I grew up in Melbourne and used to holiday in Surfers Paradise in the late 80s, all through the 90s and early 2000s. It was vibrant, touristy - in a fun way, relatively safe.. Cavill used to have this cool feel about it like a mini Hollywood.. So many fun memories! We moved to the Sunshine Coast 9 years ago and only just recently went back for a getaway on the Gold Coast. I was so shocked! When did the change happen? Was it sudden or did the area gradually get worse? Cavill has this awful, run down, dystopian feel. But then a random busy restaurant or bar here and there. We got a tram which was an interesting choice. I just cannot believe how sad it was. I realise that I’m completely out of the loop, but curious from locals, why did this happen? What went wrong? Is there a council plan to improve things? How does everyone living on the GC view Surfers?

Last week, I had a dying relative in the hospital. On my way back to the Sharks club parking lot with my 11 y/o, some young punk with a mulllet walking in the opposite direction just told me to basically go fuck myself for no reason at all. I stopped, turned around, looked at him with a "what is wrong with you?" look and he turned around, took a step forward as though he wanted to fight me. I just stood there waiting. He turned around and left.

Today, after my relative's funeral, I was walking on the roadside of the awkward entrance of a parking lot because the walkway was too narrow. A guy in a ute aggressively rammed his car onto me and told me to get on the sidewalk. I thought it was a friend of mine, but when I went to say hi, I realised it was some idiot and he just started cursing at me as though I had offended his entire family line. He then drove off a little and stopped to curse me some more. I turned around and stood there and just said, "Mate, are you OK? What's your problem?" and he shut up and just drove off.

If you're either of these people reading this, please relax and stop threatening people out of nowhere. You may be having a shit day but some of us are having an even worse day.

Edit: someone else reported a similar issue at the same place with a similar ute. This guy is a menace to society. I've asked for security cam footage and I'm reporting him to the police

EDIT: Thank you for the conversation
Thank you to everyone who responded, particularly the property managers, landlords and people who shared similar experiences with elderly family members. I’ve learned a lot. My original question wasn’t whether landlords are responsible for housing my dad, or whether he should have bought a house decades ago. Thanks for those opinions tho (except that Potato Ass Guy who just deleted all his comments).
I simply wanted to understand whether, when significant rent increases affect elderly or vulnerable long-term tenants, their circumstances ever enter the conversation. or whether maximising market rent is the only consideration. And I got my answer. Some property managers said they do advocate for tenants and some landlords deliberately accept less than market rent to retain good long-term tenants. Others explained the very real costs and responsibilities landlords face. My biggest takeaway is: market rent tells us what can be charged; it doesn’t necessarily dictate what must be charged. There is sometimes room for discretion and humanity. The issue this thread exposed is a gap for older renters who are still capable of independent living but are being priced out of the private market. They don’t necessarily need aged care, yet social housing may not be available when they need it. 👋

It is deeply distressing to see vulnerable people, especially the elderly, face housing insecurity and displacement due to rising rents. How do property managers and real estate agents balance the financial interests of property owners with the impact that rising rents have on long-term tenants, especially seniors?

And now it's our turn - my dad has been living in Robina for 30 years - pension can't keep up, worked till 80 (just enough to top up rent/food). For those working in property management or real estate, what steps do you take to minimize displacement while still meeting your obligations to owners and clients? Are there practices or policies you’ve found that help strike a better balance? We

Looks so nice and we wanted to know if it's open to the public

Am I the only one who thinks asking for offers over 1.59 million for this house on a measly 286m2 block of land is absolutely ridiculous?

I’m surprised this agent thinks they will get this price and not advise a more realistic price for this house/land. It’s currently been on the market for 6 weeks now

Edit: now it’s been updated to offers over 1.499 which is still overpriced imo

As a late 30’s adult, I thought my days of being bullied and intimidated by high school girls was behind me, but apparently not.

I was ordering an early lunch at one of the screens when a huge girls group turned up and some of them hurled abuse at me for (apparently) taking too long. I thought a stern look would work, but it just fuelled the fire. Ended up panic ordering then feeling very uncomfortable waiting for it as they circled round me like hyenas whispering and giving me looks. A teacher then turned up, and I realised it was a school group, but I didn’t clock the name on her t shirt.

I am keen to understand which school this was as I may send an email about the behaviour of the girls in question. I have a picture of them but ideally don’t want to post it.

Thanks for any info.

Ok so apparently the tram system hit 14,000,000 passengers per annum last year.

What do you reckon it will surge to with the Burleigh Heads extension opening?

This is a /Remindme in 12 months type deal, but I wouldn't be surprised if it hit 20 million without blinking.

That would catapult it to being one of the busiest mass transit lines in Australia, with an efficiency rate of 715,000 annual boardings per km.

This leaves the heavy rail line in the dust, at only 135,000 boardings per km.

Why this matters is because it is the statistic that links the provision of public transport to the provision of housing.

The more people using a kilometre of infrastructure, the better it does at soaking up trips along it and preventing traffic normally associated with housing.

I was pretty astounded last week that I was using the tram late night (see clock on screen in pic) and it was still quite busy. I think that bodes well because you tend to only see that in fairly global cites.

However, I think it could breach the magic million boardings per kilometre once people start using it on weekends for lifestyle trips, And I'm not sure if the current modelling has accounted for this.

In the same way "people catch the ferry to Manly" or "Catch the tram down to St Kilda" I reckon heading down to Burleigh on the tram for the vibes will definitely become the Gold Coasts "thing", especially on days when markets are on.

I reckon they are going to be absolutely bursting at the seams by Nobbys. And tbh theere and Miami are bougie enough that tourists will want to tram hop the neighbourhoods or walk sections of it on the oceanway

Last time I checked the bus system through this section was carrying 2 million passengers per year so they're probably going to triple or quadruple that...

Let's see....

Some people block their own blessings. But in real life my ticket slip from last year I still have from the Star is $4.44

I can understand tradies starting around that time but half the cars were not trade vehicles. It's never been this busy at that time before and I've lived here my whole life.

I sometimes wonder seeing stores shutdown will this mean a recession is looming. Growing up in the USA as a kid I would see a plethora of a stores closing around 2007/'08 when the Great Recession happened. This particular store was Betta in Pimpama.

Make us all laugh, cry or give thanks that we don’t share the same suburb as you. Funnier and pithier the better.

Max Brenner has suddenly closed permanently - the shop has been cleared out with a strange note “we are closed today.”

Does anyone know what happened there? I suspect they are yet another victim to the mass exodus of businesses out of Australia Fair.

Robina Town Centre seems to be thriving and Pac Fair is a juggernaut, so where is Australia Fair going wrong? Spiralling rents? Unreasonable trading conditions set by the centre?

So I’m not normally the person to give a shit about a car on the side of the road, but after more then 2 years of this guy sitting in the same spot you’ve got to wonder what’s his obsession with it. Not to mention everyone slamming on their brakes thinking it’s a mobile speed camera. Maybe someone knows this bloke and could tell me what’s up 🤷‍♂️

Hello, I have been having issues with anxiety and sleep for the past few months and have recently had someone recommended I try medical marijuana. I spoke to my GP about it and they agreed but going through them seemed very expensive.

I’ve seen a few local dispensaries at places like Robina and Southport but none of them seem to have the best reputations. I was wondering if anyone here had experiences with any local places or some of the online ones? Seems like there’s a lot of options but it’s hard to know what’s gonna be the best fit.

Thank you :)

Last night I was in Pac Fair and watched a teenage eshay spit his coconut water all over the glass of the escalator outside Myer. Then I watched a grown man spit on the undercover pedestrian crossing in the car park while I was leaving. Then I watched a video this morning of a kid spit on a busker in Surfers. Every morning I drive to work and am witness to so many people spitting.

What’s up with that?

Just moved from Sydney to Goldy, and my line of work basically only exists in Brisbane. Looking for the honest truth about the commute. Is it worth driving (comfort of own car) or is the train the way to go? Probably need to go in 3-4 days a week. Cheers

Good evening! Asking around for good Thai spots around the coast (not the pricey mall restaurants please!). Preferably places with lunch deals/specials. Cheers!

Hey, anyone wanna come to a free piss up (campaign launch) at his golf course up the sunny? I'm a member, so can get tickets for as many people as I like ;)

Before I start, my post is not to slander the Police in general. I am big supporter and advocate of the Police and I think they do an amazing job and are grossly underpaid. My best friend has been a Policeman/Detective for 30+ years.

Last week, as I am sure many GC locals saw the story of the man in Burleigh who climbed the crane on the Esplanade which shut down the street for the entire morning as emergency services did a fantastic job dealing with getting the man down safely.

What most don’t know is my 30yr old daughter and her best friend live in an apartment next to where it happened and minutes prior to him climbing the crane the man had unsuccessfully attempted to break into their verandah door, proceeded to take a dooner cover and a QLD Corrections work shirt off their clothesline, hide in their bushes until my daughter yelled at him to “fk off” their property before calling 000. At that time he jumped the fence and climbed the crane. Very quickly, the street was crawling with Police. At NO stage did anyone talk to my daughter and her best friend, ask for a statement or to come in to a station and make one, or even see if they were ok; as expected when you catch someone trying to break in at 5.30am they were shaken up.

Moving forward to Sunday just gone, both the girls were advised by their building management that they had just witnessed the same man who climbed the crane come to their building, follow someone in (as you need a fob to enter) and go to the girls front door (which is easy to work out which is theirs based on the location of their verandah that he had been on previously) and try to open it. Not knock, but open it by the door handle. He then walked up and down the hallway, tried again to open the door and push it a few times before leaving. The girls were shown the CCTV and identified it was the same man. They were very disturbed and went straight to the police station to make a statement/report, with a copy of the footage. Burleigh Police were closed so they went to Broadbeach Police.

They were greeted by a receptionist with an attitude, who attempted to discredit their experience all while trying to convince them it wasn’t connected to the day he climbed the crane, begrudgingly granted their request of seeing a Police officer who then acted like he had absolutely no interest, wouldn’t let them make a statement or report about either incident and then told them if he comes back to let them know. Both the girls were shocked at the lack of care, support and/or interest they received when all they wanted to do was create a paper trail for future sakes if he comes back again.

Is that where we are now? No help? No reporting? No care factor? How many times does this man have to turn up at the apartment of 2 young women before it matters? Do they have to be broken into or stalked or hurt before something basic like a report be done??

I know I’m coming from a protective mother’s viewpoint but since when did making a statement become too exhausting for a Policeman to bother doing for 2 young females feeling frightened in their own home??

Sorry, for the long post but I’m pissed off. Rant over.

The GC is truly a great place to reside in but it is becoming alot more expensive to live in. Things change each year but I think things are not going well for a majority of folks living here especially with the cost of living crisis. We need effective leaders that will help the locals instead of profits over people.

Seems kinda Sus to me tbh. I didn't scan the QR code. I looked up the insta and it seems legit, however.