Gold Coast Light Rail

The Gold Coast Light Rail is Queensland’s first light rail system (opened in 2014) and the most significant transport infrastructure project ever undertaken here. Fast, frequent trams connect 16 stations along a 13-kilometre route from Broadbeach to Gold Coast University Hospital. The Cavill Mall stop is next to the famous Birdwatcher’s Bar which stands on the site of Jim Cavill’s original Surfers Paradise Hotel on the intersection of Cavill Avenue and the Gold Coast Highway and is a noted tourist hotspot. The bar, with its glass windows overlooking Cavill Avenue, was popular with male guests who would watch girls in their bikinis walk by on their way to the beach. When Surfers Paradise Hotel was demolished for the construction of the Paradise Centre in 1983, part of the bar was retained. In 1984 the bar was sold to the Hard Rock Café. It was sold again in 2002 to MGW Hotels and remains one of the iconic venues of Surfers Paradise.