I recently visited MacIntosh Tourist Park with my family. It is on MacIntosh Island off the Gold Coast Highway, right on the boarder of Surfers Paradise and Main Beach.
It's one of the prettiest places I have visited so far on the Gold Coast, and I have been here 7 months already and visited loads of pretty places. That's what I love about living here, you discover lovely places all the time and this was definitely one of those times, plus its completely free!
Waterfall at MacIntosh Park
From the Gold Coast Highway or Main Beach Parade, you wouldn't even know it was there but its such a find, and it offers a little bit of green woodland space and nature amongst all the high rises and hustle of Surfers.
The park is made up of a large lake, a waterfall, little streams and rock pools, cute bridges and tall trees and when the sun shines through and dances on the water it really is an idyllic tranquil setting with stunning views in every direction.
Cute Bridge
It is perfect for a family picnic or celebration with loads of BBQ facilities, benches, seating areas and large tables with views over the Nerang River. It has lots of green space and a beach area too where you can sit yourself down, read a book, have a drink, relax and catch some rays.
Picnic
Beach
For the kids it's a perfect place and has just about everything they could wish for. It has two large playgrounds, rocks to climb, a sandy beach, streams to jump across, lots of green space to run about and loads of pathways and slopes for the scooters, skateboarders and rollerbladers. My 3 year old niece just loves it there and was so happy in the playgrounds and on her scooter.
Playground
My Niece Having Lots of Fun
It is full of tame wildlife too, you can see the ducks and swans on the lake, we even had a cute little bird come and join us at our table for lunch. They also have a Peacock pen (yes, really) with more than 10 different peacocks and you can feed them through the gate, they are stunning to look at and the colours are just spectacular.
Bird
Peacock
It's also really clean and tidy, the toilets are good and the facilities are well kept and looked after and it's really safe. It's such a pretty place and just a few minutes walk from Main Beach, so you really are spoilt for choice on what amazing view to take in first.
At the weekend you do get lots of kids birthday parties, but there is loads of space so it doesn't get too busy, but if you do want it a little bit quieter then I would suggest going after 2pm when most of the parties have left.
Lake
Totally a must see for anyone on the Gold Coast - it is so pretty and it really feels like you are a million miles away from anywhere. It's somewhere a little bit different and a beautiful spot for a family or friends get together.
