The city of Surfers Paradise, as you may or may not know, takes its name from a 16 bedroom beach front hotel run by a man named Jim Cavill. In the mid 1920’s, Surfers Paradise was a sleepy little seaside town called Elston. The name Elston was bestowed upon the area by Mr Palmer, the Postmaster, in nearby Southport. He decided to call the receiving office near the surf beach after his wife’s home village in Nottingham, England. A quick check on the electric internet reveals that Elson is situated in Newark, not a million miles from my own home town.

Elston began to gain in popularity following the opening of the Jubilee Bridge in 1925 and the extension of the South Coast Road. Suddenly, Elson was no longer cut off by the Nerang River and speculators began buying up land around the villages of Elston, and Burleigh Heads. Estates with names like Ocean Wave, Northcliffe, Mermaid Beach and Miami Shores were sold as sure fire investments and of course, investors needed a place to stay.

Located on the white surf beach, just off the South Coast Road, the Surfers Paradise hotel became a popular spot. Jim Cavill, with his keen eye for promotion and supported by the locals, lobbied hard to have the name Elson changed to the much more glamorous Surfers Paradise. In 1933 his lobbying paid off and the rest, as they say, is history.

With the previous couple of days marred by rain and strong winds, the chances of the Gold Coast North skate going ahead had been looking marginal. Come the day and the sun decided to make a rather feeble appearance early on. Still, there was no rain and the ground was dry so at half past eight I set off for the Anzac Square car park to chance my luck on the day’s activities taking place.

By the time I arrived, the sky was looking much clearer and the wind had dropped marginally, all good signs for a seaside skate. With time ticking on towards the 10 o’clock start, our little corner of the car park quickly filled up with fellow skaters.

The old Gold Coast tour has now been redesignated Gold Coast South with the new North tour following a route first tried out on a Planet promotional skate. Proceedings were to be lead by Michelle, with assistance from Vaughan, Justine and Paul. After the introductions and a run down of the new route, we set off towards the spit at the end of Sea World drive. Right on cue, the sun popped out from behind a cloud and we were under way.

The first half of Sea World drive takes you up to Sea World itself. Following the footpath, we cruised at an easy pace; regrouping at the numerous road crossings that intersected our route. As we reached the entrance to Sea World, we were greeted by the rather surreal site of the Mudgeeraba & Hinterland Horse Trail Club out on manoeuvres. This consisted of a hundred or so people plodding along on rather board looking horses. The lead rider held up a large banner proclaiming the name of the group and the whole procession was toped and tailed with a police escort. Quite why a horse trail club would want to ride up a busy dead end Gold Coast road that goes nowhere near a horse trail was not immediately obvious. When I tried to find more information about the club, the first link my internet search turned up was a Mr Ted Shepherd or Councillor Shepherd as he is more commonly known. Councillor Shepherd’s district covers the south west region of the Gold Coast (including Mudgeeraba) and he also happens to be National Secretary of the 14th Light Horse Gold Coast Troop (as well as the Gold Coast Show ringmaster for three years and the Show Society Secretary for four years). I can’t be 100% sure, but looking at the picture on Councillor Shepherd’s web site, there was a striking resemblance to the man leading the Mudgeeraba & Hinterland procession and proudly holding the banner aloft. That could go some way to explain why all these horses were being ridden around Surfers Paradise and not out in the bush away from traffic and the glare of publicity. Having said that, the horse riders were probably wondering what a bunch of skaters were doing tearing along a road that leads to a light house and a sandy beach, and come to think of it, where was our banner?

Past the entrance to Sea World and the foot path came to an end. It was time to switch to the super smooth road which is rather handily flanked by a nice wide bike path (thank you Councillor Shepherd). The easy pace picked up noticeably as Vaughan, sporting his five wheelers, moved up to the head of the pack. Carefully picking our way through the remnants of the horse’s breakfasts, we arrived at the path to the lighthouse in short order.

Although the wind had died down considerably, it was still blowing hard enough to whip the sea up into a frenzy around the rocks each side of the narrow run out to the lighthouse. As we picked our way between the fishermen and day trippers, we were treated to a refreshing spray of cool seawater. Arriving at the end of the path we formed an orderly gaggle and posed for the obligatory group photo.

After a few minutes rest and a quick spot of dolphin watching, we reversed our course and headed back towards Surfers. With Vaughan once again leading the run back, the pace at the front was fast and furious. So fast in fact that the group started to stretch out almost the full length of Sea World Drive. People at the back were beginning to wonder if the front was ever going to loom into view. A message was quickly relayed up the road and Vaughan eventually stopped by some shady palm trees near the end of the road. We regrouped, got our breath back and set off towards lunch in the centre of town.

As the sun was now blazing down and the wind had subsided to a pleasant breeze the bike path along the sea front was packed. Our speed slowed to a crawl as we picked our way through pedestrians, bikers, the odd surfer and the remnants of the Indy course from the week before. With a liberal smattering of concrete blocks and scaffolding poles carefully positioned in the middle of the path it was wise not to skate too close to the person in front least they should suddenly dodge out of the way and leave you face-to-face with a small mound of grandstand paraphernalia.

We eventually reached the middle of town and our lunch spot of choice, the fish and chip emporium, Seafood on the Beach (not literally mind you, sand on your chips is never a pleasant experience). We crossed the road, took over the majority of the alfresco tables and settled in. The ordering procedure relied on a numbered ticket system and after a few minutes our orders were starting to be shouted out. Andy eagerly clutching a low numbered ticket sat patiently as the orders either side of his came and went. By the time everyone else was tucking into a sea food platter of their choice, he was still sat clinging forlornly to his numbered stub. A few minutes investigation revealed that the ticket he was holding no longer seemed to exist in any appreciable form and his order had, it would seem, never existed. A new ticket was issued and a few minutes later Andy too was tucking into a plate of deep fried sea food.

With our food consumed we somehow managed to stir ourselves from impending slumber ready to retrace our steps and head back to the car park. We again picked our way along the still busy bike path and made our way back to the car park. Goodbyes exchanged, we all headed home after a fun days sk8ing on the all new Northern Gold Coast tour.