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Gold Coast Markets

By Alexandra Bernard

If you’ve been to Palm Beach Markets too many times to count, or you don’t live around there, why not try out one of the many other markets on the Gold Coast? Here are our top picks for GC markets.  

Miami Marketta

Give me all the food! Miami Marketta is full of delicious street food waiting to be eaten by you. Take your tastebuds around the world as you eat Mexican tacos, fly to Japan for some noodles, pop over to Greece for souvlaki and finish your meal off in Belgium with scrumptious waffles. Marketta also hosts several fashion and art stalls and showcases top and emerging artists, including hit band ‘Electrik Lemonade’. The market operates every Wednesday 5-9pm, Friday 5-11pm and Saturday 4-11pm.  

Bundall Farmers’ Markets

Rise and shine, the vegetables are calling! Bundall Farmers’ Markets operates every Sunday morning 6-11:30am and features a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables from the Coast and surrounds. There’s also a range of gourmet goodies to release your inner chef, along with seafood just caught from the sea. As you wander through the stalls, sip on freshly squeezed orange juice, snack on the many free samples and listen to the smooth sounds of live music.  

Surfers Paradise Beachfront Markets  

Running since 1955, arts and crafts lovers: this is the one for you! With more than 120 stalls, the market is full of photography, jewellery, fashion, art, accessories, beauty products and homewares. Stroll through the stalls as you smell the salty air and listen to the waves rolling in to the beach beside you. The Beachfront Markets run from 4-9pm every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday night. 

Carrara Markets

For Australia’s biggest permanent market, head to Carrara Markets. With more than 400 stalls covering 10 acres there’s something for everyone. The markets themselves sell everything from fresh produce to pot plants and arts and crafts. Going to Carrara is more than just a morning trip to the markets, it’s a fun day out for your family. There’s pony rides, face painting, a jumping castle, bungy trampolines, a reptile show and for the big kid: mini golf. Carrara Markets operate 7am-3pm every Saturday and Sunday.  

Gold Coast Organic Famers’ Market  

For the health-conscious head, we recommend heading to Miami for the Organic Farmers’ Market 6-11:30am every Sunday. Selling a wide range of organic products including fruit and vegetables, jams and chutneys, breads, honeys, eggs and natural cosmetics, these markets will please all. They also promote healthy living and environmental awareness through community stalls providing brochures and selling books.

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Continue to follow the story of Palm Beach Farmers’ Markets this week! 

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Palm Beach Markets

By Alexandra Bernard  

It’s a Saturday morning and you’re at the Palm Beach Farmers' Markets. You see the bright colours that line the stalls, hear the strum of a guitar and the chatter of people, and smell the waft of mouth-watering food and roasted coffee beans. Follow your nose as you weave through the stalls to reach your favourite hot smoked salmon.  

Meet Greg, the owner of Fresh Hot Smoked. A welcoming man, offering you a taste of his delicious salmon. Originally from South Africa and having lived in New Zealand, now a Gold Coast local Greg started the business two years ago. You’ll find his smoked salmon, mushrooms, tofu and garlic at the Palm Beach Farmers' Markets, as well as at 30 cafes across the Gold Coast, including Burleigh Social, Blackboard and Little Mermaid. “I think it’s a pretty special product, so we don’t just put it anywhere,” he said.  

And special it is. Using only the best, Fresh Hot Smoked sources New Zealand King Salmon from Marlborough Sound, which reaches the Gold Coast within 48 hours harvest, avoiding any freezing. It has the highest omega-3 content making it ideal for smoking. The salmon is then marinated, topped with dill, chilli or mixed herbs and smoked for half an hour. Could it sound any better?  

If smoked fish isn’t your style, there’s plenty of other stalls that you’ll surely enjoy. Palm Beach Markets operate every Saturday from 6:30-11:30am at Palm Beach Currumbin High School and has a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, clothes and other wares. Why not head on down this weekend? Guaranteed you’ll go home with something delicious!

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Why look any further for your fruit and vegetables than a Farmers Market? Head on down to Palm Beach Markets every Saturday morning for all your needs! 

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Tune in this week as we explore the sights and sounds of Palm Beach Markets!

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Blackboard- a unique cafe with an innovative design, incredible service and delicious coffee! 

Film created by Ryan Duncan 

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A little slice of home

By Emily Bradfield   The high table in the corner faces the door of the Blackboard Café. Here sits the manager, with an infectious smile and gleaming eyes that sit behind big black frames. He watches the customers as they arrive from his place behind a computer screen. “Just grab a seat guys, someone will be with you in a minute,” he calls out across the room when an unfamiliar face enters.   A few years earlier, Wayne Keating was the one being greeted as he stopped for a morning coffee with his sister. The shop was small in those days, just half the size, a café and a take away shop, separated by a dividing wall. Two separate coffee machines, two separate baristas, but always the same service.     His first visit to the shop included a simple breakfast, poached eggs on toast and a coffee – unrecognisable from the extravagant delicacies offered now. His coffee was delivered with a five-minute explanation and a display of service he had never seen before. Today a sign welcomes from the door - ‘Dining in? Take a seat, it’s table service’. The barista greets each new customer like an old friend, looking out from his empire behind the coffee machine. A yellow Labrador snoozes in the shade of the trees on the footpath while a well-groomed Maltese sits politely at the feet of her owner, nose in the air, exploring the surroundings.   For Wayne, the journey wasn’t an easy one. Just a few years earlier this enthusiasm was veiled by hopelessness. After years of studying a psychology degree he had no interest in pursuing, Wayne was between jobs with no work, no money and no passion. He set himself a challenge - to find a job he truly loved, at a place he felt as though he belonged - immediately he thought of Blackboard. Wayne printed a resume and strode in to the cafe that very same day, squeezing the Manager into giving him a few short shifts with the promise of proving himself.   Now, two years later, Wayne himself is the Manager. His passion seeps into even the smallest of jobs, going out of his way to greet regulars by name or laughing with the staff as he refills the water jugs. His presence can be felt as soon as you step through the door, as he treats each customer like a good friend. His motto can be felt just by sitting in the space - you are a guest, not simply a customer. Blackboard is a house, a family, and they welcome you with open arms.   A slice of small town in a big city world, where people identify you by your name, not by your money. A place where you can relax, a place where a bad day gets better, a place where regulars become family and a place to call home. And that’s just another day at Blackboard Café.

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Described in one phrase: “Customer Service Royalty” 

You’ll never leave Blackboard without getting a smile and good quality service!

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Blackboard Cafe only has one wish; to start the day with a good coffee. This week, Imagine Gold Coast is meeting up with Wayne and the rest of the team at Blackboard Café. Stay tuned to find out the story behind the bustling business

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The story of Victoria comes to a close, stay tuned for what’s to come next week! 

Created by Nicholas Bradshaw and Della Evans

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“My Love Affair with the Gold Coast”

By Alexandra Bernard 

From the wilderness of Madagascar to the sun-kissed beaches of Australia, Victoria Serre has found her home on the Gold Coast. In her early twenties, the Bond University marketing student’s love affair with the Gold Coast began when she came across the Instagram account of ‘White Bohemian’, a boutique in Palm Beach. “I didn’t know where [in Australia] it was… I thought it was in Sydney,” she said. While the state capital didn’t appeal to her, she loved the lifestyle the page portrayed. After discovering the shop was on the Gold Coast, a city she had never heard of before, Victoria began to imagine life here. “This page made me dream,” she said. Realising she wanted to study again, Victoria applied to Bond and a year after it all began, she moved to the Gold Coast.

The rest is history.

While wandering through her neighbourhood only months after moving, she came across the shop that started it all. Walking straight into ‘White Bohemian’ she chatted to and thanked the manager for allowing her to realise her dream. Victoria left with a ring featuring her favourite shell, a reminder symbol of how if you are patient you can achieve anything you want.

While on the Gold Coast Victoria has let her urge to explore take over. “I love discovering new places,” she said. From the Northern suburbs to those in the South and out to Springbrook, Victoria has chosen Tallebudgera Creek as her favourite place. The creek provided her with that connection between the Gold Coast and her home of Madagascar, especially in the early morning while it’s quiet.

“[It] reminds me [of] when I was small, in my childhood going there, I was alone... I loved it,” Victoria said. She has found the creek to be special to her, saying that she doesn’t just bring anyone there. “I realised every time I go there, I don’t often go there with people and when I bring them they are special people for me.”

She also has a hidden gem to share with us, but shhh keep the secret! “There is a waterfall [Purlingbrook Falls] I’ve been to twice in Springbrook. I really love going there because there’s nobody, it’s so calm,” she said.

As a nature lover, she has found the Gold Coast to be the perfect mix of city and scenery. “You have this mix of a bit of modernity, especially for someone who comes from Madagascar, but at the same time it’s not too much of the city, you have the nature around as well,” she said.

As she continues her marketing degree, Victoria is excited by the future prospects on the Gold Coast. Hoping to stick around and live here permanently, she sees the Gold Coast as having amazing opportunities. “You’ve got so many business opportunities here… the positive vibe pushed me to develop [a] start-up, probably next year. I would like to stay here and work here, it’s the exact balance that need here between city and this wilderness.”

Despite the challenges of moving here, including having to adapt to driving on the other side of the road, Victoria says she wouldn’t change anything. “I will never regret, I’m so happy to be here.” She also faced some of the culture shock that comes with moving to the other side of the world, but Victoria has made her own mark on the Gold Coast, bringing ‘beach tennis’ to our sporting culture. The game, a combination of squash, volleyball, badminton and tennis, is played in many nations around the world and along with a friend, Yori, they established the game here. It’s already proving popular. Every Sunday a mix of young and old, Australians and foreigners, meet outside Kurrawa Surf Club to join in. “I love the variety of players that come to play,” she said.

It’s been a year and a half since Victoria swapped the jungles of Madagascar for the beaches of Australia. Now she’s dreaming of even bigger things and embracing the opportunities in the city with a future of starting her own business here. For her, there is no place like the Gold Coast.

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Be sure to check out Tallebudgera Creek, Victoria’s top pick of Gold Coast locations!

Captured by AJ Carter and Monica Fisher of TourDeCarter

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Let our first story begin!  Keep an eye out during the week as we share with you the story of Victoria and how she came from Madagascar to the Gold Coast 

Sketch by Adam Svard 

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French Festival

By Alexandra Bernard 

Bonjour! It’s time to channel your inner French self and head on down to Broadbeach for the annual Bonjour French Festival this weekend. Here’s the top four reasons you should make it this year:

French Market

No French Festival would be complete without food and this weekend will certainly deliver! From oozing cheeses and scrumptious crepes, to hearty Beef Bourguignon and crispy galettes, there will be no shortage of delicious food. The smells alone will have you craving more. While you please your stomach, be sure to check out the other stalls selling a variety of wares.

Festival Wine Bar

Need something to wash all that food down? The French Wine Bar is the place for you! Red, white and champagne, it’s all there for you to purchase by the glass or join a tasting. If wine doesn’t take your fancy, there’s always beer and cider to quench your thirst.

Be a part of a world record attempt

Open your costume box and throw a beret on your head to break the record for the most amount of people wearing a beret in a French atmosphere. How great would it be to find a world record you helped break in the Guinness Book of World Records?! Don’t have a spare beret floating around? No need to worry, you can buy one at the gate for $5. If you need an extra incentive, participants gain free entry to the festival.

French Movie Screening

Who needs that trip to France when you can just live it all through a movie screen? Laze on the grass, eat some French food and popcorn and watch the award winning film AMELIE. Grab a few friends and have a great night relaxing at Pratten Park.

Along with all this, there’ll be plenty of dancing, singing and even a few musketeers battling it out to keep you entertained throughout the two days. So put on your beret and we hope to see you there!

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Welcome to Imagine Gold Coast

By Alexandra Bernard

How do you see the Gold Coast? Is it the sun kissed sand, the first refreshing splash of water on your face as you dive into the oceans depths, or the salty air? Is it the thriving music scene or a pulsing Saturday night on the ever-changing, always-exciting glitter strip? Is it the adrenaline rush as the rollercoaster sends you through a loop, the dread right before you get dropped and speed towards the earth, or the exhilaration as you splash right after shooting off the end of a waterslide?

For us, the Gold Coast is all of this and so much more. It is the way visitors find their second home, the way the rainforest foliage reminds them of where they come from, the way they create their life here. It is the businesses that start from scratch to create something extraordinary, the people that bring the Gold Coast to life, the interactions of people and place. It is the lifesaver that's at the beach every weekend, the old lady down the street that's never missed her weekly CWA meeting, the young budding entrepreneur destined for greatness.

Each week we will bring you a different story from the Gold Coast. From first on the Gold Coast to the undiscovered gems, these will be how we see the Gold Coast and how we want to you showcase it to you.

These are the untold stories of the Gold Coast. This is Imagine Gold Coast.

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Launch day has finally come and Imagine Gold Coast are so excited to be able to finally share all the untold stories of the Gold Coast!