One of the most highly developed tourist areas of Australia, the Gold Coast (1996 population: 242,768) extends for 40 km from the New South Wales border to Paradise Point on the extreme south coast of Queensland. The Gold Coast encompasses eighteen townships, including Surfers Paradise, Coolangatta, Burleigh Heads and others. Its attractions include international standard tourist accommodation, night clubs and restaurants as well as a wide range of natural and commercialised wildlife reserves, such as the bird sanctuary at Currumbin and Marineland and Sea World at Southport, and events such Indycar racing. Several theme parks exist up and down the coast, including Dreamworld (home of Australia's version of Big Brother, Warner Brothers Movie World (incorporating a much smalled Universal Studios-like setup), Wet n Wild and the aforementioned Sea World)
With thanks to ohe for note of the theme parks and attractions.