The Gold Coast is a city in the southeast corner of Queensland, Australia. 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. Gold Coast City is renowned for its sunny subtropical climate, popular surfing beaches, expansive waterway and canal systems, a skyline dominated by high-rise apartment buildings, a peaceful rainforest hinterland in the west of the city, active nightlife and its wide variety of tourist attractions.

Geography
The Gold Coast can be reached from Brisbane by Pacific Motorway M1 and Pacific Highway (Highway 1) from Sydney and Newcastle.Gold Coast City is situated in the southeast corner of Queensland, to the south of Brisbane, the state capital. It is separated from Logan City, a suburban area of Brisbane by the Albert River. There the Gold Coast City stretches from Yatala and Russell Island to the border with New South Wales approximately 56 km (35 miles) south, and extends west to the foothills of the Great Dividing Range in World Heritage listed Lamington National Park.

Aerial view of Gold Coast suburbs: Mermaid Waters (left) and Broadbeach Waters (right).The southernmost town of Gold Coast City is Coolangatta which includes Point Danger and its lighthouse. Coolangatta is a twin city with Tweed Heads located directly across the border. At 28°10′00″S 153°33′00″E / 28.1667°S 153.55°E / -28.1667; 153.55, this is the most easterly point on the Queensland mainland (Point Lookout on the offshore island of North Stradbroke is slightly further east).

From Coolangatta, approximately forty kilometres of holiday resorts and surfing beaches stretch north to the suburb of Main Beach, and then further on Stradbroke Island. The suburbs of Southport and Surfers Paradise form the Gold Coast's commercial centre.

The major river in the area is the Nerang River. Much of the land between the coastal strip and the hinterland was once wetlands drained by this river, but the swamps have been converted into man-made waterways (over 260 km , or over 9 times that of Venice, Italy) and artificial islands covered in upmarket homes. The heavily developed coastal strip sits on a narrow barrier sandbar between these waterways and the sea.

To the west, the city is bordered by a part of the Great Dividing Range commonly referred to as the Gold Coast hinterland. A 206 km² section of the mountain range is protected by Lamington National Park and has been listed as a World Heritage area in recognition of its "outstanding geological features displayed around shield volcanic craters and the high number of rare and threatened rainforest species." The area is popular among bushwalkers and day-trippers.

Waterways
Waterfront canal living is a feature of the Gold Coast, and most canal frontage homes have pontoons. The Gold Coast Seaway, between The Spit and South Stradbroke Island, allows vessels direct access to the Pacific Ocean from The Broadwater and many of the city's canal estates. Breakwaters on either side of the Seaway prevent longshore drift and the bar from silting up. A sand pumping operation on the Spit pipes sand under the Seaway to continue this natural process. Residential canals were first built on the Gold Coast in 1950s and construction continues to the present day. Most canals are extensions to the Nerang River, but there are more to the south along Tallebudgera Creek and Currumbin Creek and to the north along the Gold Coast Broadwater, South Stradbroke Island, Coomera River and southern Moreton Bay. Early canals included Florida Gardens, Isle of Capri which were under construction at the time of the 1954 flood. Recently constructed canals include Harbour Quays and Riverlinks completed in 2007. There is over 890 km of constructed residential waterfront land within the city that is home to over 80,000 residents.

Beaches
Surfers Paradise skylineThe city consists of 57 kilometres of coastline with some of the most popular surf breaks in Australia and the world including, South Stradbroke Island, The Spit, Main Beach, Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Mermaid Beach, Nobby Beach, Miami, Burleigh Beach, Burleigh Heads, Tallebudgera Beach, Palm Beach, Currumbin Beach, Tugun, Bilinga, Kirra, Coolangatta, Greenmount, Rainbow Bay, Snapper Rocks and Froggies Beach. Duranbah beach is one of the world's best known surfing beaches and is often thought of as being part of Gold Coast City, but is actually just across the New South Wales state border in Tweed Shire. The official name for the beach is actually Flagstaff Beach. Duranbah is a small town located about 12 kilometres southwest of the beach, but the name Duranbah Beach has become its accepted (if not official) identity.

There are also beaches along many of the Gold Coast's 860 km of navigable tidal waterways. Popular inland beaches include Southport, Budds Beach, Marine Stadium, Currumbin Alley, Tallebudgera Estuary, Jacobs Well, Jabiru Island, Paradise Point, Harley Park Labrador, Santa Barbara, Boykambil and Evandale Lake.

Tourism
Around 10 million tourists visit the Gold Coast every year; comprising of 849,114 international visitors, 3,468,000 domestic overnight visitors and 5,366,000 daytrip visitors. Tourism is the region’s biggest industry, directly contributing more than $4.4 billion into the city economy every year and directly accounting for one in four jobs in the city. There are approximately 65,000 bed spaces, 60 kilometres of beach, 600 kilometres of canal, 100,000 hectares of nature reserve, 500 restaurants, 40 golf courses and 6 major theme parks in the city. Gold Coast Airport provides connection across Australia with airlines including Jetstar, Virgin Blue and Tiger Airways. International services from Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia and Fiji also land at Gold Coast Airport with airlines including Jetstar, Air New Zealand, Pacific Blue, Airasia X and Air Pacific. Less than one hour from the centre of the Gold Coast is Brisbane Airport which provides wider domestic and international access to the Gold Coast.

Film production
Gold Coast City is the major film production centre in Queensland and has accounted for 75%[19] of all film production in Queensland since the 1990s, with an expenditure of around $150 million per year. Gold Coast is the third largest film production centre in Australia behind Sydney and Melbourne. Warner Brothers have large studios located just outside of the city, at Oxenford which have been the filming locations for films such as theScooby Doo films and House of Wax (2005). Many Bollywood films also use GC as a filming location, such as Singh Is Kinng.

Warner Roadshow Studios are situated adjacent to the Warner Bros Movie World Theme Park at Oxenford. The Studios consists of eight sound stages, production offices, editing rooms, wardrobe, construction workshops, water tanks and commissary. These sounds stages vary in size and have an overall floor area of 10,844 sq metres, making Warner Roadshow Studio one of the largest studio lots in the Southern Hemisphere. Currently shooting there is the latest film in the award-winning Narnia series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the largest production ever to be made on the Gold Coast.[citation needed] The Queensland Government actively supports the film and television production industry in Queensland and provides both non-financial and financial assistance through the Pacific Film and Television Commission.[20]

Film Gold Coast is committed to driving film investment to the city. Film Gold Coast is a one-stop shop for national and international film productions and provides local knowledge and information on locations, maps, facilities and services.

The Gold Coast is also the filming site for the popular TV series, H2O: Just Add Water. Australia crime series The Strip is set on the Gold Coast. Big Brother Australia was filmed at the Dreamworld studios.