SET YOUR COMPASS TO NORTH
It’s a tale of two tribes in the Gold Coast’s northern suburbs.
Visitors to the region can hang out at Helensvale’s reader-voted best bakery Flour of Life and munch vegan treats, or tuck into a tender T-bone at Coomera’s silver-medal-scoring steak restaurant Shannon’s Steak and Seafood.
As well as getting maximum use from their theme park season passes, locals here enjoy a thriving cafe culture.
If you’ve got the nippers along for the ride, make a beeline for Café Tahbella.
Named after owner Rod Marsh’s daughters, Tahlia and Annabella, it offers healthy food in yummy disguises, snack packs and regular Kids Eat Free promos.
Homegrown Hollywood starlet Margot Robbie has been spied at Oxenford’s The Fresh Pantry, obviously lured by the family-run eatery’s inclusion on our Best Breakfast list.
“We’re a small family business; my partner Glen (Latchford) and I are chefs,” says co-owner Meg Mizukoshi.
“I was at Royal Pines and Glen was at the InterContinental — we’d make food for thousands of people but we’d never get to see them or talk to them.
“Here we can talk to everyone and say ‘Hey, how are you?’ and get to know people. We can make people happy.”
Over on Maudsland Road, Terrarium owner Petrina Walker is also an advocate for the close-knit community.
“I guess what really stood out to me here is the outdoors lifestyle of our customers; conversations are about their animals or horses or veggie gardens or fruit trees,” she says.
“They don’t talk about other people unless it’s positive and supportive.”
Terrarium’s foliage-filled space is devoted to simple, wholesome food … and one deservedly famous cake cabinet. Picture petal-strewn coconut and blueberry cheesecake layered with salted caramel, and Tahitian lime meringue pie.
Once you’ve enjoyed a slice of the action, I know just the place to pick up the pace.
Glide across the lake at Gold Coast Wake Park, the brainchild of threetime world champ Daniel Watkins.
If you have never tried wakeboarding before, book an introduction lesson and they’ll hook you up with a headpiece so your coach can coax you through the moves.
Kneeboarding is the easiest form of water activity available at the park, with no training required … of course, you need no skill whatsoever to avail yourself of the fully licensed bar and
restaurant on-site.
If you prefer a slower pace, the northern suburbs are laced with walking trails.
Named as one of the Gold Coast’s best secret spots, Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area encompasses more than 1200 hectares of wetland, eucalypt forest, saltmarsh and mangrove swamp habitat, a magnet for migratory water birds.
Take the Myola Court 1.2km trail adjoining Coombabah Creek. It includes an environmentally sensitive 300m-long boardwalk through the mangroves so you can view the park’s diverse flora and fauna.