An hour flight north from Sydney landed us in a little airport at Gold Coast, the fun capital of Australia! And it matches its description thoroughly. This applies for people of all ages and tastes.

View from the 77th floor restaurant at SkyPoint tower building attests to the grandeur that is Gold Coast at night.

With eternally pristine beaches stretches as far as eyes can see, there is no competition from any other beaches in Australia. They are just stunning here.

While the Surfer’s paradise beach and surroundings are the most buzzing well into the mid night timing with tourists and visitors from inside and outside of Australia, little further west has the vast land full of canals and waterways home to multi million dollar properties. Many business tycoons from around the world own their own little mansions here. Just wonder what would crawl out of water at night and walk into the house.

If you are not fan of hustle and bustle of a touristy town or crowded beaches, further down south along the beach around Broadbeach and further down south starts a modern living close to the water and a vibrant life style full of world class restaurants, cafes, children parks, nearby shopping centres and other amenities. These parts gives vibes of a big world class city.

Transport systems are excellent with choices of buses, trains, and trams. Trains to Brisbane up North run every few minutes and could be a good choice to work there and live here.

SouthPort is a trendy eatery that also houses the local China town. Its a modern openly designed living town full of many Asian eateries and shops.

Despite being known for high rises mostly, Gold Coast is way more than that. HOTA (Home of the Arts) theatre is a testament to what this city can do to Art, and excellent service.

When we visited HOTA an exhibition of Australian Indigenous arts and crafts was underway with some mesmerising works from the artists.

The HOTA building itself is an spectacular site and also houses a stunning open theatre nearby.

One piece of work comprising of some wood logs and items retrieved after those were washed ashore was a master piece.

There is a hop on hop off tourist ferry service called HOPO that stops at major attractions along the canals of Gold Coast.

Gold Coast sits next to a vast tropical forest with endless adventures to explore nature too. All in all we were in awe of Gold Coast and have been wanting to go back ever since!

About hour and a half hour drive from Sydney near Wollongong Nan Tien Buddhist temple is nestled amid the hills and forests. Established by late Buddhist Monk Hsing Yun to promote Buddhism (Mahayana) in all parts of the world, this massive premise is full of Chinese pagodas, stairs, statues housing several Buddha sculptures, prayer rooms, libraries and shops selling Buddhist memorabilia. Although all the structures are built in modern times recently, none of which are actually heritage, the place transcends into the historic time of ancient Chinese Shangri La.

The main Pagoda reminds me of a similar temples in Su Zhou, China.

At the base of the temple premises near car park visitors are greeted by a smiling standing Buddha statue holding lotus in his hands and blessing the world.

The monastery houses monks, scholars and devotees. You can find monks chatting with visitors in the corridors. There are Buddhism and meditation classes run for anyone interested in learning about the philosophy and that elusive inner peace.

The Temple is connected to a beautifully designed modern institute building dedicated to Buddhist studies by an equally outstanding bridge. The building is standout architecture design and a sharp transition from the Buddhist pagodas to a hip modern design. The inside is spectacular with ultra high open hall greeting you in entrance from all four corners of the building while housing several rooms hosting museums, libraries, conference halls, office spaces and a beautiful cafe.

The Temple is a must visit and one of a kind, claiming to be the biggest Buddha temple in entire Southern hemisphere of the planet. It has an aura of peace and tranquility resembling any Buddhist monastery even with large number of visitors strolling by. This probably has to do with the open wide and fluid design of the place.

Although meant to be a temple, the whole place is fully commercialised with sale of Buddhism related merchandise – wearables, books, jewellery, art products, statues and so forth. However, the temple does seem to able to achieve its goal of promoting Buddhism overall, that is what eventually matters, I guess.