You’re in Surfers? Awesome. Some people call it the Miami of Australia. And we know why.

We have 3 things we recommend you should do at the Gold Coast, Australia.

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What’s better? Using your own phone with your wireless plan from at home and paying for roaming or to buy a local sim card at arrival?

It depends what you want to do.

If you just want to call home, buying a local sim card can sometimes be cheaper. It depends on the carrier and plan you choose. Maybe your carrier at home offers international calling addons, which is also sometimes cheaper.

If you want mobile broadband for your netbook or smartphone on the go, then local prepaid sim cards are often cheaper.

An example:

Our carrier at home charges $10 / MB when roaming in Australia. Let’s say we need 50 MB of data to check emails, turn-by-turn navigation and a little bit Facebook. That would be $500.

Mobile broadband in Australia – What did we do?

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If you’re at the Gold Coast, you have to go to Draculas.*

It is advertised as “Australia’s favorite Dinner Theater”. We truly understand that quote, we enjoyed a show here in January 2011.

Dracula’s is a cabaret show and dinner theater. It is designed for a mature audience and they don’t recommend it for people under 16, as it includes swearing and adult references.

At the entrance we were welcomed by a creepy-looking character and had to enter the venue through a coffin-like door. Dracula’s is fully licensed and does not allow BYO.

After a decent cocktail at the bar, we took a ride with a ghost train into the “Theater of the Vampire”:D During the show we enjoyed a very delicious 3 course meal.

Unfortunately, photography and filming is not allowed inside the “Theater of the Vampire”.

Therefore, here’s an official TV spot for Dracula’s Gold Coast:

The show includes comedy and rock music parts. We love this show!

As we discovered, there’s also a Dracula’s dinner theater in Melbourne, Australia.

More info at draculas.com.au

* our opinion

We stayed here in January 2011.

At the front desk I was greeted by a young lady. I gave her my voucher, then she noted happily that everything is already paid. However, the deposit for a “superior room” is about  $ 75 AUD for optional expenses. (Note to the uninformed: the amount is not debited, but only blocked, which is also common for car rentals)

My “superior room” was on the 8th floor towards the entrance of the “entertainment district”. This means that even on the 8th floor it ‘s not completely quiet when the room is oriented toward “Kings Cross”. The room was equipped with queensize bed and decent selection of pillows. There’s also a flat screen TV and a small desk. The bathroom was well lit. It is equipped with a bath tub/shower combination with a curtain.

Internet is available through WiFi. However, it costs up to $ 29 AUD per day (one time setup fee and plus by used bandwidth).

As I told you before, the hotel is located directly at the entrance of Kings Cross. Which means, there are plenty opportunities to socialize at night clubs and bars. A subway and a small grocery store is also near by.