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Annie Rettie Gold Coast Australia Travel Tips - Owner

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Tips To Avoid Schoolies In Gold Coast

by Rachel
(Melbourne)

Do you have any tips to avoid Schoolies in Gold Coast?

We are a young couple, in our late 20s. We have by mistake booked our holiday in late November, which is the during the schoolies season on the Gold Coast. It's now not possible to cancel our trip.

We are staying in Broadbeach. We have planned on a whole day cruise on 25th and thus one day we'll be safe I guess.

What else can we do to avoid bumping into these kids? How crowded will the theme parks be? Is it better to avoid them?

We wanted to do stuff like parasailing, kayaking etc. Are these safe things to do?

I have to tell you, your website is a great source of much wanted information, great going.
Thanks
Rachel from Melbourne

Annie's Answer

Firstly, Rachel don't worry too much, especially as you are staying in Broadbeach. I couldn't find out exactly, but I would be very surprised if there are any schoolies staying at the resort you are staying at in Broadbeach. In general they stick to Surfers Paradise.

I have had a few questions like your in the week or so, you are not alone and there are others on the Gold Coast enjoying their holidays. Unless I go into Surfers Paradise I generally don't even know the schoolies are here!

To answer your questions about the theme parks, they will be more busy with schoolies (and since it is not really a family holiday time of the year) you will notice more of their age group (17 and 18 year olds) proportionately than normal.

They are in party mode, I don't think the theme parks would tolerate bad behaviour by them any more than normal. In my opinion, those who can drag themselves out of bed to get to a theme park are more than likely going to be just there to have fun and not cause trouble.

Trouble and rowdy behaviour is often only a few out of the thousands that visit and is mostly at night in and around the Surfers Paradise Schoolies Precinct. I would definitely avoid that area like the plague!

Broadbeach has great places to go to eat at night or you could try Jupiters Casino for food and entertainment which has a great show on at the moment:

To answer your question about the other activities you mentioned, like the theme parks you may find some schoolies doing those activities. You are less likely to find them kayaking and more likely to find them parasailing. The further you go away from Surfers Paradise the less likely you are to encounter any. Check out the links below for some suggestions:

A Selection of Water Sports and Activities on the Gold Coast

Here are some other pages on this website you may find useful, they have some other suggestions of things to do and places to go to avoid schoolies:

How to survive your family holiday during schoolies week on the Gold Coast!

Will Schoolies Week Affect Our Holiday and Tips to Make It Enjoyable!

I hope that helped answer your question. If you have any more questions leave a comment below.

Enjoy your holiday and please stop by afterwards to let us all know how your found the Gold Coast during schoolies week.

Annie Rettie Gold Coast Australia Travel Tips - Owner

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PS:: Don't forget you can save time and money on your theme park entry tickets, it is worth while buying them ahead of time as then you can join the Pre-Paid queue and present your vouchers. Here are the latest deals for Gold Coast theme parks.

Comments for Tips To Avoid Schoolies In Gold Coast

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Nov 23, 2012
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Theme Parks
by: Anonymous

Do you know if the Theme parks will be a lot busier due to schoolies week?

Annie Answers
Because Schoolies falls outside the general school holidays, the parks aren't that busy, certainly not as busy as Summer holidays. However, during Monday to Fridays at this time of year, the theme parks often have groups of school age children on day trips with their schools.

There will certainly be some schoolies in the theme parks, but again, no bad behaviour will be tolerated by the park operators.

Hope that helps
Cheers
Annie

Oct 17, 2012
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Schoolies in Gold Coast before the official start date
by: Anonymous

Hi There,

Can anyone advise whether there will be schoolies in gold coast before the official schoolies week(as per the website starting on 17th November 2012), we are planning to be in Gold Coast from 13th to 17th November and planning to visit Theme parks during this period.

regards

Annie Replies
Usually the "schoolies" we refer to do not descend upon the Gold Coast until the Friday/Saturday when the official schoolies starts. There may be a few school trips in the theme parks during the week days, but not likely to affect you any more than normal. It would only be the local Gold Coasters as the schoolies that come from across Queensland have to attend school on the last day to graduate - so I don't think it will be anything to worry about.
Hope that helps
Cheers
Annie

Oct 28, 2011
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Avoid Schoolies is the best tip if you can do it.
by: Annie

Dear Anonymous,
I wish you had left your name so I could say thank you properly for your comments.

You make extremely valid points, particularly about the age of Qld school leavers being younger than the interstate ones and therefore their behaviour might be a little more out there.

I always try to make people aware of the dates of schoolies so they can avoid it. However, the tips here are mainly for those who find themselves in the middle of schoolies because (as you rightly point out) their tour agent, didn't let them know. Often it is those poor visitors from overseas who check in to their Surfers accommodation only to find they are sharing it with a bunch of recently untethered schoolies.

So, yes, totally against what the general tourist industry would promote, I would advise all NON-schoolie visitors to the Gold Coast to find alternative dates, or stay well away from Surfers Paradise if they cannot.

Thank you for taking your time to write your comments, and as I said, I would love to have called you by your name, rather than the rather impersonal Anon.

Cheers
Gold Coast Annie

Oct 28, 2011
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schoolies in Surfers Paradise
by: Anonymous

Live in Surfers Paradise & schoolies is the time of the year when many residents take their holidays away from Surfers. I would advise any people considering coming here during schoolies to go somewhere else as these young people have no consideration for other people. This happens because they are mostly drunk or drugged out of their minds for the whole time they are here. Is this an exaggeration? No although tourist promothers will tell you otherwise. I have lived here for nearly 10 years & schoolies are getting worse each year. The Queensland group ( the first week) are the worst behaved in spite of organisers providing an alcohol free zone. Many Schoolies drink themselves stupid before going to the alcohol free zone where as others stay in their apartment, call in numerous friends & drink themselves stupid there to the detriment of permanent residents living in the same building. Our building manager dreads each year's schoolies & cannot understand why apartment owners would allow their places to be let to this self centred, inconsiderate bunch of irresponsible boguns. I have seen many better behaved animals.I dread to think they could be in positions of power one day & could be running the country. The interstate schoolies are slightly better behaved as they are old enough to get into night clubs & so do their drinking there. That extra year in age makes a difference. the other reason a lot of the interstate ones are better is because they might be evicted from their unit for bad behaviour & it's a long way to go home & entails changing flights etc. Queensland younger schoolies can call mummy or daddy to come & get them in the event of them getting evicted. Our building has CCTV cameras throughout & 24 security guards on duty ( more expense for owners but better than having units getting trashed.)
By now you have gathered that we do not like schoolies & neither do business owners in the precinct. Nobody on the Gold Coast goes to the Surfers shops during this time. The only businesses that do well are bottle shops & fast food outlets. So what's the answer? Do as we are doing & take a holiday in a schoolies free place.

Dec 07, 2010
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Thanks
by: Annie

Thanks Ashtons for the comment, that is a valid point about moving house at times of the year when there are big events on in the area.

You moved our family once in a rather tricky move involving a very heavy and large couch and 14 flights of stairs in the sweltering heat one November! I thought you guys were professional. Thanks.

Dec 06, 2010
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Avoid moving around schoolies
by: Ashtons Removals

Avoid moving your house during schoolies or the GP as you will find numerous delays if you live in the Surfers Paradise or Main Beach areas.

Moving is stressful enough when you think about settlement dates, all the organisation just to be prepared for the day, possible rain etc and then to add to it events such as schoolies.

Nov 22, 2010
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Thank you
by: Rachel

Hi Annie,

Thank you for the really quick response. We are staying in Island Beach Resort in Broadbeach. Hoping that there will be much less trouble on this part of the place..

Will get back to you after the trip.

Thanks again

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