Best of the Gold Coast: 10 of the best Christmas light displays in our city
BLINKING, twinkling, colourful and festive, the Gold Coast have an incredible array of Christmas light attractions this year. Here are the top 10 for 2016, selected by us and voted on by you.
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BLINKING, twinkling, colourful and festive, the Gold Coast have an incredible array of Christmas light attractions this year. Here are the top 10 for 2016, selected by us and voted on by you.
10. 28 Riverpark Drive, Nerang
Michael and Amanda Young spend about a month turning their Nerang home into a Christmas wonderland, with their front yard being completely transformed main attraction.
Everything has its place under the pagola, of which every post and beam is twirled in colourful rope lights.
CHECK OUT OUR MASSIVE LIST OF GOLD COAST CHRISTMAS LIGHTS HERE
A light entwined white picket fence holds an icy white floor, a fully decorated Christmas tree, reindeer, penguins and polar bears and even a fully functional toy train.
There’s so much to be taken in at this very merry spot, it has to be seen to be believed.
9. 4 Beaumont Crescent, Pacific Pines
Taking a traditional approach to Christmas lights, the Surch family have covered their home in bright lights and scenes from Bethlehem. Here you’ll find a life-size nativity scene and a proud, bright Star of Bethlehem to lead people toward their display.
“There’s no real theme — we’ve got a little village, a nativity scene, winter wonderland, a full size sleigh that people are welcome to come take photos in,” Jason Surch said.
“I’ve been putting lights up since I was 16, I just like looking at them and it adds to the Christmas spirit.”
Jason and his wife Lyndel have two little ones, Damien and Matthew, who will surely remember their Christmases at 4 Beaumont Crescent for a long time to come.
8. 7 Coolara Street, Tugun
Graham O’Hara and his 28-year-old son Jai are responsible for this iconic Tugun lightshow, which features thousands and thousands of twinkling lights covering almost every surface, from the sky to the bushes.
The father-son project, with mum Leanne behind the scenes, is hard work but it’s all worth it.
“We’ve done it together for about 15 years, I guess you could call it a bit of tradition, actually it’s become more than that,” Jai said.
“We do clash sometimes because I’m more creative, and dad does the set-up so I look visually but he’s more practical — it all works out in the end.
“It takes up a good chunk of the year, it’s a hard slog but you get the enjoyment out of it when it’s all up and finished.”
Jai said they spend a lot of time hanging out the front, soaking up the Christmas atmosphere and people’s reactions.
“A lot of people come up and talk to us and they’re generally really appreciative of what we’ve done,” he said.
“It’s very rewarding.”
7. 26 Forest Oak Drive, Upper Coomera
Michael Lister and Edmund Kea are responsible for the super funky, psychedelic display at 26 Forest Oak Drive. They’ve even invested in an American program that synchronises the lights with music.
“Ed comes up with the light ideas and I do all the technical side with the lights, it’s networked to the computer and linked to music,” Michael explained.
“We’ve got a few Christmas carols and a few current songs for the kids to dance to — Veronicas, Justin Timberlake, DNC Cake by the Ocean, Mariah Carey, Pentatonix — there’s 17 different songs.
“We really like doing it; it’s well worth it.
“We sit outside and watch every night.”
If you’re wondering why you haven’t spotted those 60s inspired flowers and mushrooms in stores, it’s because they’re original creations from the guys — pretty groovy!
6. 58 Salvado Drive, Pacific Pines
You can just imagine the first year Marlon and Vanessa Pritchard started decking the halls with festive magic. Maybe there was a few strings of lights, candy canes at the entrance way, but then the decorations started multiplying and you know what they say, the more the merrier!
That’s why now you’ll find a glittering, exciting showcase of lights on the house and fence, a giant Christmas tree circled by a biplane, reindeer taking flight off the roof, light riddled trees and pretty much every size, shape and colour of Christmas light you could possibly imagine. It’s definitely not dull at 58 Salvado!
5. 26 Jagera Drive, Upper Coomera
Despite their mammoth yearly Christmas lights set-up being a big job, the Keevers love Christmas too much to skip out on this ritual.
Last year’s winners, Brian and Narelle Keevers and kids Samiya, 10, Ravi, 8 and Rashan, 4 stop gawking Christmas light hunters in their tracks with their classy display.
They’ve got their lights down to a fine art, making sure the display’s not too much, not too little, but just right.
Go see a stylish display of string lights hanging from the roof, white and fuchsia branched trees, glistening white reindeer and a vibrantly illuminated giant Santa Claus greeting passers-by.
4. 5 Oceanic Drive, Mermaid Waters
This Mermaid Waters home gives a glimpse into what life might be like if the world was made out of Christmas lights — an the outlook is bright!
Instead of cut-outs or inflatables, this home has used lights to create Christmas scenes, including reindeer taking a break on the front lawn, Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the three wise men playing out a nativity scene and plenty of brightly lit outlines of stars, trees, Santas and snowmen from the windows to the walls.
Endless strings of free-hanging lights top off the whole effect and make this home a must-see this Christmas.
3. 104 Dipper Drive, Burleigh Waters
You might have noticed the lights weren’t on at 104 Dipper Drive last year, a surprise after the Burleigh Heads home had been lit for over a decade and even won this competition in 2014.
But you’ll be pleased to know mum Joanne and kids Brittney, Casey and Courtney Wales are back and better than ever.
“We just love seeing the families and children hopping out of their cars and looking at it. We really love it,” 22-year-old Brittney said.
“That’s the reason why we do it — my mum has seen us grow up and love Christmas and she wants to keep doing it to see the smiles on other kids faces.
“It’s literally our favourite time of the year — we love getting to this stage putting our Christmas lights up and coming closer with our neighbours as well.”
Brittney said of the thousands of flashing lights, 11 foot inflatable Santa and chimney Santa, the family’s favourite part is the front bay window where people can peek in and see Joanne’s Christmas display.
2. 5 Mintwood Place, Molendinar
After 11 years in the Christmas decorations game, the Gills know a thing or two about lights. This year’s display is no different, but during the storm that hit Tuesday 6 December, the whole display was obliterated. Ali Gill said not to worry though, everything’s back to normal.
“We’re much better, everything is up and running as normal and our big (7m tall) tree is back up,” she said.
“The tree is my favourite, just the fact that you can see it from quite a distance away and it’s computer controlled so it’s pretty special.
“We had a big tidy up and the main mast that held the tree up had to be repaired — everyone was asking what was going on!”
The destruction of their display comes after thieves stole a significant amount of Christmas equipment last year, but they’re persisting against the odds simply to make people happy.
“We just love the joy that we spread and watching everyone’s faces light up when they come have a look at what we’ve created.”
1. 52 Forest Oak Drive, Upper Coomera
This is the third year the Moores have lived on Forest Oak Drive and each year they’ve found themselves a little more inspired, which led to this year’s magical display.
Matt Moore, husband to Kellie and father to Ollie, Sam and Harry, said he purposely didn’t enter the house in any competitions because he and everybody on Forest Oak Drive are not competitive about their lights.
However, having caught the eye of The Gold Coast Bulletin and thousands of members of the public, 52 Forest Oak has been thrust into the biggest light of them all, the spotlight.
“We really just did it for the atmosphere in the street, it’s incredible, I don’t know how many streets on the Gold Coast you’d find where there’s such a strong sense of community,” he said.
“There are thousands of kids in the street, people turn up expecting they’ll be there for 15 minutes but end up hanging around for two hours going from house to house.
“People who don’t know what to expect turn up and kind of go ‘holy crap’, because they come to the street and it’s just full of candy canes, lights, people — there are thousands of people a night.
“Last year the family came up here, 16 people in the house, and as soon as they arrived and said ‘Wow, this feels like Christmas’.”
The community minds of Forest Oak Drive have chosen Austism Queensland to raise funds for this year and Matt said, with no prompting, that the first prize of a $1000 Visa giftcard would also go to the charity, topping up an already significant donation.
“Each year we choose a charity for kids — this year it’s Autism Queensland,” he explained.
“The goal was $5000 but it think we’ll exceed that quite reasonably.
“It just comes from sausage sizzles, charity boxes, all the food vendors donate — none of the houses make money, it all goes to charity.”
So what can you expect if you head to number 52 Forest Oak Drive? A captivating display that could be described as larger than life ...
“I guess the main attraction would have to be the six metre tall Christmas present tree,” Matt said.
“Just that has about 15-20,000 lights on it itself and all up we’d be in the vicinity of 80,000 lights
“The theme is fairy garden — pink and white willow trees, butterflies, I got a pig — which is a bit weird but when I saw him I had to have him.
“We’ve got a virtual Santa in the window, plenty of reindeer, fireworks lights and just lights everywhere you look.”
As Matt mentioned, the street attracts thousands of people a night, more on weekends, so overall they urge people to be careful and always consider safety first.
“We’re constantly trying to get assistance from council to make it safer, we’ve attempted to make the street one way but the red tape was ridiculous,” Matt said.
“There are always going to be close calls when there’s thousands of people and kids around but it is frustrating that thousands of people come to enjoy this but we’ve got no council support.
“We’ve been told that if we try to manage it and something happens we’re liable — we would hate for anything to happen that would mean this can’t continue.”
If you’re planning on checking out Coomera’s most Christmassy street, Matt said it’s best to park the car in a nearby street and walk over to reduce cars and congestion on the street.
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