Best time to come Queensland for the weather.

by Kim Dewar
(Morley Perth WA)

I would like to know when the best time of the year to go to Queensland re weather, with a 6yr old and not during the school holidays.

Reading between the lines of "weather" I am assuming you want it to be warm and not wet so you can do stuff a 6 year old will enjoy!

I will answer firstly specifically about the Gold Coast, but the weather patterns are pretty similar for most of Queensland, although it gets hotter further north in Winter and more humid for longer parts of the year. The other factors for visiting other parts of Queensland are things like the Box Jellyfish which affects the beaches from I think October to May. And from a personal perspective we have gone to Port Douglas around July and August on several different years and although the weather was mostly good, the wind was howling every time we visited!

In the Gold Coast, if you want to go to the water parks (Wet n Wild and Whitewater World), I would highly recommend the warmer months (see comments below).

Having said that the other theme parks are actually more enjoyable when it is not so hot, especially Dreamworld which I find gets VERY hot and not much shade.

MovieWorld now has shade and rain protection, so that is great all year round. Most theme parks are pretty much all year round, though.

Sea World is good all year round and is probably my topic pick for a 6 year old, with DreamWorld and MovieWorld in the next spots.

For a 6 year old the two water parks are about line ball.

The beaches are usually better in the warmer months. But even in the winter you can pick your times on the beach a winters day can be delightful and the water can still be in the low 20s. Late afternoon in winter the beaches do get in shadow, so best to go earlier especially at Surfers Paradise and Main Beach.

If you find it is raining when you visit (which is pretty common at the moment in 2010!) there are still plenty of things to do for the kids. I have put together a guide to things to do in the Gold Coast when it is raining - so make sure you bookmark that one just in case!

Usually the driest time of the year is winter, although the weather patterns have been somewhat erratic!

The Gold Coast is pretty good most of the year, however, my personal favourites are March and April outside school holidays, which fall around Easter.

May, through to September and October to early November (so as to avoid schoolies). There are school holidays in September and October so best to avoid those.

And another gem is early to mid december before the summer school holidays as the locals are Christmas shopping and the theme parks are usually relatively quiet! However, sometimes there can be a few stragglers from Schoolies!

I know I have given you lots of options for good times, but that is one of the beauties of the Gold Coast. I guess my least favourite time of the year is the high humidity of January and February - but apart from that it's usually great.

Hope that helps, leave comments or ask more questions via the comments and I will try to answer them.

Cheers,

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