TRAVEL GUIDE 2017

AUSTRALIA

BY SISCA MARYULIS GOLD RUNNING THE COAST

When you’re a running fanatic, every holiday becomes a “run-cation”. You’ll research your destination for parks and routes where you can clock a few miles in. Sightseeing becomes better on the run, because walking is too slow, and by car is too fast! You end up scheduling your holidays around your running events too, of course (or even see if there is a race you can run while you’re there, and make a holiday of it!). That’s why I chose Australia’s Gold Coast for our most recent summer holiday. I looked for a place entertaining enough for my 13-year-old, and pretty enough for me to enjoy some nice sights on my run. Coincidentally, the Gold Coast Airport Marathon is held in July every year, so everything fell into place. It was my third half-marathon (I still haven’t found a way to motivate myself to run further than that). Two out of the three half-marathons I’ve run have been overseas, and that’s partly how I motivate myself, with the promise of new scenery. The run at the Gold Coast is pretty flat; the route takes you along the coast from Anzac Park to Paradise Point where you then U-turn back to Anzac Park. Of course, the full marathon has an even better route; they get to run along Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, all the way to Burleigh Heads. We stayed in the Gold Coast only for the weekend. It’s a great place to chill, explore, eat and drink. The rest of the time we spent in Brisbane, doing not much different!

FACT FILE

Getting there: Scoot flies direct to the Gold Coast four times a week, or you can fly any number of airlines to Brisbane and drive south for an hour. Trivia time: This area of Australia was Coast (as in, south of the state capital Brisbane). But the cost of property and services led people in the 1950s to give it the nickname “Gold Coast”. In 1958, the name became official. previously known as the South

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