The important thing to remember when surfing is that you’ve got to enjoy the elements; harness them and let them work for you. Don’t challenge the sea; it is way too powerful to conquer…” Helen, our surfing instructor, briefed us as we sat on one of the 42 beaches along the Gold Coast of Australia. We looked out at the endless surge of silver-crested waves rushing towards the shore and, suddenly, the once-inviting waters of the Pacific Ocean looked very menacing. Surely, we were crazy to think that we could learn how to surf.

We were about to chicken out when Helen led us across a sand bank to a quiet beach washed by a gently rippling river. Now this was our kind of playground. We grabbed our surfboards and strutted towards the water with new-found confidence. Helen showed us how to lie flat on the boards and use our hands as paddles. Then waving us back to shore, she made us practise standing up on the board, one foot in front of the other, with the stronger leg behind and arms spread out like Bharatnatayam dancers. Easy!

We paddled out across the water and tried to replicate what we had done on dry land. Splash! Splash! Splash! After three sorry attempts, we conceded defeat and settled for the gentle joy of splashing around in the water and floating on the surfboards. In the distance, the skyline of Surfers Paradise — the Waikiki of the southern hemisphere — spooked the heavens with ocean-front high rise buildings that housed luxurious hotels and serviced apartments. 

Yes, night and day, the Gold Coast pulses and swaggers with a sense of self, aware that it’s the country’s ultimate good time girl; loved to death by the Aussies themselves. It’s not just a coast, but an Australian icon. And our surfing adventure was the first movement of a wild odyssey.

Indeed, we seemed to suffer from a need to flirt with danger and so when our host suggested we swam with sharks, we jumped at the idea. It was an excellent excuse to explore Sea World which along with Movie World, Dreamworld and other amusement complexes makes the Gold Coast the theme park capital of Australia. Within these parks you will find some of the world’s tallest, fastest, newest and most gut-spilling thrill rides... and if you drop in at Sea World, like we did, you will get to eyeball the meanest creatures that inhabit the seven seas — sharks. Thankfully the ones we encountered on our snorkelling expedition in one of its oversized tanks were adolescent ones with smaller bites and less voracious appetites.

Staying on the adventure trail, we opted for a crazy jet boat cruise during which the ‘captain’ of the craft gunned it across the water at breakneck speed. Before we had time to recover from the wave of panic, he spun it around in a 360-degree circle generating a huge wave that splashed into the boat and drenched us to the skin.

Oh no, we are not complaining: we loved every moment of our wet and wild Gold Coast adventure.

(Gustasp and Jeroo Irani are well-known travel writers)