Guide to Currumbin Queensland Australia

Currumbin is a small beach suburb on the southern Gold Coast, set between a creek mouth and a pair of rocky outcrops about 20 kilometres south of Surfers Paradise. It combines one of the best-loved wildlife parks in the country with a gentle point break, a clear tidal creek and a beachfront that has stayed low-rise and unhurried.

Known For

• Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and its lorikeets
• Currumbin Alley, a classic longboard and learner wave
• Elephant Rock and the surf club built on top of it

The suburb is easy to grasp. Currumbin Creek meets the sea at its northern end, beside the surf break known as the Alley. From there the beach curves south past Elephant Rock to Flat Rock and Tugun, with Pacific Parade running along the foreshore and the wildlife sanctuary filling the hillside behind.

Currumbin is a favourite with families and with travellers who find the central Gold Coast too busy. It is ten minutes from the airport, yet the pace is closer to a coastal village than a city.

Things To Do in Currumbin

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

The sanctuary began in 1947, when beekeeper and flower grower Alex Griffiths started feeding the wild rainbow lorikeets that were raiding his blooms. The feeding became an attraction, and Griffiths later gave the property to the National Trust. Today it covers 27 hectares of bushland with kangaroos to hand-feed, koalas, crocodiles, Tasmanian devils, free-flight bird shows, Aboriginal cultural performances and a treetop ropes course. The lorikeet feeding still takes place morning and afternoon. The wildlife hospital on site treats thousands of injured native animals each year, and visitors can watch the vets at work through a viewing window.

Currumbin Alley

The Alley is the sand-bottomed point break at the creek mouth, a long, slow, right-hand wave that is ideal for longboards and beginners on small days and draws experienced surfers when the swell rises. Several surf schools teach here. On the inside, the creek mouth forms a sheltered lagoon with shallow, clear water where children paddle and stand-up paddleboarders set off upstream. Lifeguards patrol the area, and the currents near the rock wall deserve respect on a running tide.

Elephant Rock and Currumbin Beach

Elephant Rock rises from the middle of the beach, with a stairway to a lookout on top and wide views from Surfers Paradise to Coolangatta. Currumbin Beach Vikings Surf Life Saving Club is built against the rock, almost surrounded by sand and water at high tide. Each Anzac Day a dawn service is held here, one of the most moving in Queensland. In September the beach becomes an outdoor gallery for the SWELL Sculpture Festival, with dozens of large works set along the foreshore.

Currumbin Creek

The tidal creek runs inland behind the suburb, lined with parks and mangroves. It is calm enough for kayaks, paddleboards and small boats, all of which can be hired near the mouth, and anglers catch whiting, bream and flathead from the banks. The parklands on the northern bank, across the bridge at Palm Beach, have picnic areas and a large playground.

Currumbin Valley

Follow the creek inland for about 20 kilometres and the road ends in the Mount Cougal section of Springbrook National Park. A short sealed track through rainforest leads to Cougal Cascades and the remains of an old bush sawmill. Nearer the coast, the Currumbin Rock Pools are a popular freshwater swimming hole with a cafe beside them.

Where To Stay

Currumbin has no big hotels, and that suits its character. Almost all accommodation is in holiday apartments.

Small apartment buildings along Pacific Parade face the beach across a quiet road, with one to three bedroom units, pools and balconies looking at the surf. The Rocks Resort and Sanctuary Beach Resort are typical of the mid-rise beachfront complexes, and there are boutique apartments near the Alley for those who want to walk to the break with a board.

Holiday houses in the streets behind the beach and along the creek suit larger groups. They are in heavy demand over Christmas and Easter, when minimum stays of a week are common.

If Currumbin is full, Palm Beach to the north and Tugun to the south have more apartments and motels within five minutes’ drive, and there are caravan parks at Tallebudgera Creek and at Kirra.

Eat & Drink

The beachfront cafes are the heart of local life. Elephant Rock Cafe, opposite the rock, serves breakfast through to dinner from an upstairs deck with ocean views, and the surf club next door has a bistro and bar on the sand that welcomes visitors. A few doors along are espresso bars and juice counters catering to the early surf crowd.

Currumbin RSL sits on the bank of the creek with a broad deck over the water, a good-value restaurant and a reputation as one of the most scenic clubs in the state.

Inland, the Currumbin industrial estate has turned into a food and drink district. Balter Brewing, founded by a group that included professional surfers, runs a busy taproom there, and it has been joined by other brewers, coffee roasters and cafes working out of warehouses. The sanctuary has its own cafes for visitors, and the dining strip at Palm Beach is five minutes north.

History

Currumbin is in the country of the Yugambeh-speaking peoples, and its name comes from their language, though its meaning is disputed. Timber-getters worked the valley from the mid-1800s, followed by banana and dairy farmers.

The railway from Brisbane to Tweed Heads passed through in 1903 and brought the first holidaymakers, who built cottages along the beach. The sanctuary opened in 1947 and made the name known across Australia. The railway closed in 1961, but Currumbin kept its village scale while much of the coast to the north was redeveloped.

Getting to Currumbin

Currumbin is about 95 kilometres from Brisbane, reached from the Pacific Motorway by the Stewart Road exit. Gold Coast Airport is only six kilometres south, about ten minutes by car. Frequent buses run along the Gold Coast Highway between the airport, Currumbin and the light rail terminus at Burleigh Heads, where trams continue north to Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise.

The nearest railway station is Varsity Lakes. Parking along Pacific Parade is free but limited, and the sanctuary has its own paid car park.

Nearest Airport: Gold Coast