The Spit, The Gold Coast

Over the Easter long weekend we decided to check out The Spit on the Gold Coast which seems to be one of the most popular destinations on the Gold Coast for dog friendly beaches (according to a number sites online), so we decided to check it out for ourselves.

You soon know when you get to The Gold Coast area as you drive past the famous water and theme parks and start to enter a somewhat busier area that is alot more built up and commercialised. This area definitely had a "holiday vibe" in comparison to the neighbouring suburbs.

The Spit is north of the famous Surfers Paradise Beaches and is adjacent to Sea World. It's name dates back to the late 1800's after a period of high seas and erosion created a narrow stretch of land that divided Stradbroke Island and consequently changed the currents in the Moreton Bay area. Over time a "sand spit" formed to the north of the Main Beach and today we have an awesome area to take the dogs.

We first checked out the long stretch of beach just north of the Main Beach, the approximate co-ordinates (-27.961850, 153.426930) which is also the start of the Federation Walking tracks behind the dunes (which we have yet to complete). After a short walk passing the Federation Walking Tracks and over the dune, you come to the vast beach front which permits dogs off-leash north bound and on-leash southbound towards the Main Beach. The view down to the Main Beach was quite picturesque with The Gold Coast City in the back drop.

 This particular day was a pretty hot day and one thing this area is lacking were water taps to give the dogs some water. I was OK as I had beers in the back :)... As we walked down the beach we bumped into a South African family who kindly offered the dogs a load of ice cubes, which went down a treat.

The only negative point to this section of the beach was the fact someone stole 1 pair of flip-flops which we left at the beach entry (even though we left 2 pairs and one on top of the other). So if you see a pair of black Havana's, they belong to us :)

Opposite the Main Beach on the western side of The Spit was another off leash beach called Muriel Henchman Beach. We didn't stay here as it was somewhat smaller so we continued on northbound. Still it was quite a cool view over the harbour.

 As we headed to the most northerly part of The Spit, we quickly checked out the official off-leash area of the beach which was a short walk towards the pier from the main car park. The top part of the Federation Walk also comes out here and would be awesome to do a along the Federation Walkway and back along the beach front (one day). This section of the beach was definitely the most busiest area. There must have been easily 30-40 dogs running around, so we took a few pictures and moved on.

We then checked out the western side of The Spit which was alot quieter and had more picnic spots overlooking the waterfront. We checked our mobile and GSM signals on our phone and was delighted to see we had mobile phone reception. We have therefore bookmarked this section of The Spit to come back, set up a shelter on the beachfront, chillout and spend the day working remotely here. After all we did come travelling for a better lifestyle, so why not try working from the beach!