The Gold Coast, often referred to by its initials G.C., is the second-largest city of Queensland, Australia, after Brisbane. It is Australia's sixth-largest city, the most populous non-capital city, and the state's after Brisbane, with a population over 600,000. The Gold Coast is a coastal city and region located approximately 66 kilometres (41 mi) south-southeast of the centre of the state capital, Brisbane. The city's central business district is located roughly in the centre of the Gold Coast in the suburb of Southport. The urban area of the Gold Coast is concentrated along the coast, sprawling almost 60 kilometres, joining up with the Greater Brisbane metropolitan region to the north and to the state border with New South Wales to the south. Nicknames of the city include the ‘Glitter Strip’ and the ‘Goldy’. The demonym of a Gold Coast resident is Gold Coaster.

Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer, uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitable for surfing are primarily found on ocean shores, but can also be found in standing waves in the open ocean, in lakes, in rivers in the form of a tidal bore, or in wave pools.