Airline Rule Forced Us into the Gold Coast
We honestly had zero intention of visiting the Gold Coast on our return to Oz.
But as any long-term traveler knows, sometimes the bureaucracy forces your hand. New Zealand has this absurd rule where you technically need to show proof of a flight out of the country just to be allowed into the country. Now, airlines don’t usually ask for this proof of onward travel. But in our four years of round-the-world journeying, we’ve been burned once before where they strictly demanded it.
Just prior to departing French Polynesia for New Zealand, Barbie and I faced a classic flashpacker dilemma: do we roll the dice, buy no ticket, and hope the airport staff doesn’t ask?
The reason we hate purchasing advanced outbound tickets is simple—we always want flexibility. We don’t want to be nailed down to a definitive date or location for the next leg of our trip. A massive part of the joy of dropping out of society is not having to make rigid commitments.
Fortunately, we did definitively know that Australia was our next macro-destination. Still, having to set a hard departure date kinda pissed me off. We wanted the option to extend our stay in NZ if we fell in love with a spot and needed more time to explore.
I was fully prepared to wing it and take the chance. But then, just two days before departing French Polynesia, calm and cool Big Doug slightly panicked. I fired up the Skyscanner app on my iPhone and hunted for a loophole. I found that the absolute cheapest ticket out of Christchurch, NZ was a $100-per-person flight to the Gold Coast (via Brisbane). I figured if we had to completely bail on the flight and change plans later, we were only on the hook to eat a hundred bucks each. No big deal.
Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast
As it turns out, we had already covered the Gold Coast area of Queensland extensively during our previous trips to Oz. The region is warm all year round and lined with superb beaches stretching all the way north. So I figured, hey, what better way to kick off our return to Australia than by simply hanging out in a vintage Aussie beach town?
We flew into Brisbane, Barbie got a quick haircut, and then we made the easy one-hour drive south to the up-and-coming beach town of Burleigh Heads.
We spent about a week here in a perfectly located Airbnb, just soaking up the beach life and the incredibly relaxed, laid-back vibe this town has on tap. It was pure Aussie beach life bliss. We desperately needed it after being constantly on the move in New Zealand, where we had been driving across both the North and South Islands, rarely staying in any one spot for more than three or four nights.
I could easily see us living in Burleigh Heads long-term—if we could just figure out a way to get an extended Australian visa.
The Aussie Visa
Fortunately, there’s a brilliant workaround for the visa issue. We applied online for the Australian Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) visa. Not only is it dead simple to get, but it offers massive flexibility for slow travelers like us.
The visa is valid for one full year and allows multiple 3-month entries. That means we can stay in Australia for three months at a time, but we just have to leave the country for at least 24 hours to reset the clock. Upon flying back in, you get another three-month stay. Essentially, it gives us four separate three-month blocks over a year.
Now, it would be kinda foolish to leave Australia for just a couple of days and fly right back in when there are so many world-class tropical destinations nearby that are ridiculously cheap to fly to. It makes way more sense to turn those visa runs into a week-long vacation in places like Bali, Fiji, the Cook Islands, or Tonga, and then head right back to Oz for your next three months of beach living.
So, what happened at the airport? Of course, after I panicked and pulled the trigger on the ticket, the gate agent in French Polynesia never even asked for proof of onward travel. We were pinned down to a specific flight entirely unnecessarily.
If I could do it over again, I should have just gone to the airport without the ticket. If they had called my bluff, I could have easily bought a dummy ticket on my iPhone right there at the check-in desk.
But looking back, Barbie and I are actually glad we were forced into it. Our week in Burleigh Heads completely reinforced our feelings about what a spectacular lifestyle you can have on the coast of Queensland.
After our week wrapped up, we hopped a flight down to Adelaide in South Australia. Our primary goal? Heading out for an extended stay on Kangaroo Island.
Despite half a dozen visits to Australia, we had never really considered South Australia before. Most travelers totally overlook it due to time constraints, prioritizing the heavy hitters like New South Wales, Victoria, or Western Australia. But after reading glowing reviews of Kangaroo Island’s untouched, world-class beaches, we were totally sold.
Mind you, I have a girlfriend who absolutely adores animals and wildlife. She would probably trade her boyfriend (me) in for a furry animal that doesn’t talk back. And look, I have body hair, but I definitely can’t compete with a koala. Regardless of the very real possibility of getting dumped for a kangaroo, I pulled the trigger anyway. Kangaroo Island, here we come!
Big Doug & Barbie Drop Out of Society 