Too true - avoid the Gold Coast. Either go into Northern NSW (Tweed Coast down to Coffs) or up north of Brisbane.

You people must be crazy! You MUST go to the Gold Coast, there is so much there! Coolest must do's in Gold Coast i would have to say is the nightlife which is far better than Brisbane and Sunshine Coast and also the different theme parks which are pretty awesome! not to mention the great beaches there too. Other than Gold Coast the other cities are quite boring and nothing is even open after 5pm in most of those places.. haha

I agree, stay away from the Gold Coast. Go further south like Nick A says into north NSW or head up to the Sunshine Coast.

I stayed in a hostel in Gold Coast and hated it. Hated the whole area, couldn't wait to leave there. Totally unlike the rest of Australia. Ugly. But if you are rich and can stay in condo and have a car, might be a little better experience. I think it is a waste of time. People were not nearly as friendly as everywhere else in Australia. Just not my kind of place. I travelled the whole east coast in 3 months, Gold Coast was least appealing place we went.

Hi Sanna, Thanks for your tip about Rajasthan. I'm going there at the end of September. Don't know much about units on the Gold Coast, but you have to come up here Airlie Beach The Whitsundays. A must do in Australia. If you need any advise contact me on Airliebeach.com

not sure about an apartment but a must do is byrin bay its beautiful.

You should try the Sunshine Coast - only 1hr north of Brisbane and it has it all, including surf beaches and golden sands. Accommodation is not difficult to find present. Even better price wise and availability is the Hervey Bay region for accommodation - Under $300 for a house walking distance to the beach (although not surf beaches)

if you are looking for your own apartment you will be paying around $300 pw upwards. If you are looking for anything shorter than 6 months it is difficult to find your own place. I also found that real estate agencies in brisbane are very unhelpful (compared to what i am used to in Auckland) most didnt return calls, would schedule one 'open apartment' time and if you couldnt make that too bad, and would reply to emails asking about a place, 3 or 4 weeks later (if at all) usually with an 'auto responder'. It seems there are more people looking than there are properties, either that or the real estate agencies dont make any money in rentals and therefore cant be bothered making any effort...

In Brisbane its pretty easy to find a place to stay and on average you can find a place paying 130-200 a week. Dont waste time in the Gold Coast, go up to 1770/Agnes Water and stay at Cool Bananas. Its awesome!