There’s nothing like a steamy, hot summer morning in Brisbane to make you want to hit the surf and after a lot of sitting around in our own pools of sweat, we decided late in the morning to head to the Gold Coast and check out one of my favourite beaches, the Southport Spit.
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The Southport Spit (or “The Spit” as it is also known) is situated at the most northerly spot of the Gold Coast beaches just before Surfers Paradise. It separates the Southport Broadwater from the Pacific Ocean and is home to some of Queensland’s most famous attractions such as Seaworld, Palazzo Versace and the Sheraton Mirage Resort and Spa. Having lived in and around this area for quite a few years, it’s one of my favourite places to go.
The Spit is also home to a sand dredging jetty or sand bypassing system. The sand bypassing system’s main purpose is to dredge sand from the Spit to South Stradbroke Island to ensure safe transit for commercial and recreational vessels from the Broadwater to the Pacific Ocean.
The day didn’t start out too well with everyone else in Brisbane having the same idea as us so the traffic down was horrendous. It was hot and we weren’t moving very far or fast. We eventually got to the beach and once we had set up, I hit the water only to find it flooded with jelly fish.
The sets were coming in thick and fast and the swell was about 4 to 5 feet. I gave up getting out there as I got pretty badly stung by the jelly fish. The surf is normally pretty good here and has a nice little beach break which has a left off the break wall and various peaks between the break wall and the jetty. The beach is also an off leash dog beach so a great place to bring both the four legged and two legged kids. A small section on the other side of the jetty is patrolled by surf lifesavers and I would suggest if you aren’t a confident swimmer to always swim between the flags.

You might be able to see in the above short video the number of jelly fish in the wave as it’s breaking. I can’t remember ever being in the surf with so many.
A small storm passed over us just as we were about to leave and by the time we got the car packed, the traffic had got bad again and it took forever to get out of there. All in all, a good day, except for the traffic and jelly fish and a great way to cool off on a hot summer’s day.