With a city name like this, it's hard to resist a visit, even though it might not be our usual 'cuppa tea'. Driving into Surfers Paradise from the south, we were instantly hit with a déjà vu feeling of being in Miami Beach. In the ever so apt words of Stephen Fry visiting southern Florida - "A strip of glamorous beach ... the thing is, all seaside places are the same, because there's beach on one side and then there's a strip of places with seafood restaurants and bars ... it has that feeling of being designed as a holiday paradise, and indeed all the dreary things that go with the word 'paradise' like palm trees and huge cutout parrots, that promise so much and deliver so staggeringly little". Well said sir, you've hit the nail on the head.

Of course, we're nature freaks and we're a bit old and sick of annoying people. But for some, this will be paradise. If you're young, or you have aspirations of being 20 years younger, then Surfers is going to be a heavenly experience of surf and beach action by day, and then drinks and pick-up lines by night.

Worth seeing to experience life on the Gold Coast, but chances are, you'll have a different interpretation of the word 'paradise'.