Most Australians love a good party. From birthday parties to housewarming parties, weddings, and baby showers—if there’s a reason to gather with family and friends, they will. They of course have parties at restaurants sometimes, but they also like to have picnic-style events at parks or the beach. In fact, there are more than 2,000 parks along the Gold Coast, many of them equipped with covered tables and benches, barbeque grills, garbage cans—basically everything you need for a party. You can even go on the local government website to see the park locations and the kind of facilities available at each.
If you walk along the beach on a weekend with good weather, you’ll see everything from huge birthday parties festively decorated with balloons and streamers, to couples and groups of families and friends on blankets in the grass enjoying a picnic. The Australians just love getting together in public spaces like this.
Of course, you can’t just do whatever you feel like when you’re sharing a public space. The local government has very clear rules that are designed to keep everyone safe.
One of the big differences from Japan that I noticed is the restrictions on public drinking here. Since you can’t drink alcohol on the beach or at parks, you have to be careful not to just casually sip an adult beverage like you would in Japan. You may even be fined if you’re caught. And if you bring your dog, there are certain areas where it has to be leashed and where off-leash dogs are allowed. Someone I know let their dog off-leash during a walk, and the local authorities noticed it and slapped them with a fine of over 30,000 yen in just about three minutes. And the fines for things like that have been going even higher lately.
Another thing to watch out for is fire, which is illegal on the beaches—including smoking and bonfires. Weddings and other large events with 50 or more people require advance reservations at the park, as do those where people bring in large equipment like inflatable bounce houses. Making a reservation, however, doesn’t mean you get the park to yourself—it’s just to make sure you’re the only large group there. People are of course still free to come and go to the park as they please.
One of the great things about the Gold Coast is the way people keep everything clean despite all the congregating in public areas. You almost never see people littering, and garbage cans are always available at the parks and beaches—so people almost never dispose of their trash improperly. Most even clean off the grills for the next person after they’re done and otherwise leave things nice for everyone.
If you get the chance, I definitely recommend enjoying a picnic under the blue Gold Coast skies!


Heading out for a beach picnic with a picnic basket and beach umbrella