The Gold Coast is the Theme Park Capital of Australia; Warner Bro Movie World, Dream World, Wet and Wild (water Park), Sea World, Australia Zoo, Aussie World and Sea Life Park, there are other attractions as well, then, of course, is Coolangatta Beach, Surfers Paradise Beach and more. I love the beach, but I am not into sunbaking or swimming that much, so a walk along the shore, especially at dusk or dawn is more my thing. Anyway, on a recent trip, we had a few hours to explore and we were not really interested in Theme Parks, so we decided to visit Hinze Dam, which we had not been to previously.
“South East Queensland’s AUD395 Million Hinze Dam was originally constructed in 1976, later raised 15 metres in 1989 and recently upgraded in 2011. The large embankment and un-gated spillway across the Nerang River provides water security and flood mitigation to the Gold Coast.
The catchment area of 207 square kilometres includes the Numinbah Valley and Springbrook Plateau, which pools into a 3700 acre reservoir called Advancetown Lake. This lake provides recreational users with walking and horse riding trails and is a popular stop off for lycra-clad cyclists passing through the Gold Coast Hinterland.
For anglers with a permit and electric outboard motor (sail or paddle craft) this is a playground for hooking golden and silver perch, saratoga, Mary River cod and Australian bass from either The Western (Nerang Murwillumbah Road) or Eastern Boat Ramp (Little Nerang and Range Roads).
There are four picnic and barbecue areas with nearby playgrounds for the kids and onlookers, plus a state-of-the-art educational interpretive centre perched above the parklands and lake.”
A pleasant little spot to visit and enjoy the sunshine. I am not sure that this would thrill and excite the kids as much as the theme parks, but it was more our speed 🙂
~ Julz
Julie Powell - Photographer & Graphic Artist 
Not sure what the purpose of that little drain pipe at the bottom but it looked odd. Otherwise, a neat place to visit.
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That is the release overflow I guess, as this is the main spillway, normally has more water but they are in a drought, but have to be honest I guess I didn’t really think too much about it. Engineering and architectural design is not my thing, I guess I just assumed it needs to be there.
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