Year in review: The Gold Coast’s biggest stories of 2014

A TINDER date balcony plunge, three-day battle to save a whale, Surfers Paradise nightclub drug raids, the cruise terminal and mega stars. 2014 had it all.

A TINDER date balcony plunge, three-day battle to save a beached whale, Surfers Paradise nightclub drug racket smashed, new plans for a mega-resort and cruise ship terminal and A-list mega stars shacking up on the Gold Coast. 2014 had it all.

We were shocked when footage went viral of two drunk women punching, kicking and spitting on an elderly indigenous man in a horrific assault on a bus in Kirra. Locals sprung into action to find the blonde and brunette ‘ferals’ with the social media outcry leaving Larna Watmough and Layni Cameron the most hated women in the city. They handed themselves in and have been dealt with by the courts.

The internet exploded when footage of two young women attacking an elderly man on a Gold Coast bus went viral. Pic: Channel 9

The Coast was gripped as mystery surrounded the fatal high-rise fall of NZ tourist Warriena Wright who plunged from the balcony of Tinder date Gable Tostee’s apartment. A week later he was charged with her murder. A transcript from audio recordings reveal their final hours together.

Gable Tostee is driven to the watch house after his murder arrest following the death of Tinder date Warriena Wright. Photo by Richard Gosling

Police executed dramatic raids during the Glitter Strip’s biggest ever drug blitz, seizing more than $26m in drugs and arresting nightclub boss Jamie Pickering, former Bandido bikie Josh Downey along with alleged ‘king pin’ Ivan Tesic — who had been on a secret nationwide organised crime ‘target list’ for years.

Alleged drug king pin Ivan Tesic arrived handcuffed at Gold Coast Airport after being extradited from Sydney. Picture Glenn Hampson

Meanwhile, US Marshals swooped on Mongol bikie Wade Yates-Taui who was charged with the stabbing murder of Bandido associate Max Waller in Broadbeach. Yates-Taui was allegedly living the high-life in the US after he allegedly fled Australia following Waller’s public murder.

Wade Yates-Taui was arrested in the US charged with killing Bandido associate Max Waller (inset below). He was living a glamorous life with then-girlfriend Raquel Petit (inset top)

In more criminal gang news, former bikie Jacques Teamo was exiled from the Bandidos with a ‘shoot on sight’ order following his volatile behaviour that sparked the Robina Town Centre shooting and mass bikie brawl in Broadbeach.

Soon after, he was dramatically evicted from his home with police escorting him out wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.

Former bikie Jacques Teamo was banished from the Bandidos.

We wept when courageous Gold Coast mother Elisha Neave, whose tragic cancer plight made worldwide headlines, passed away just weeks after she was set to go to China for urgent treatment.

Elisha Neave (centre) with sisters Chrissy and Veronica, made worldwide news when it was revealed she had the same BRCA ‘cancer gene’ as Angelina Jolie but had waited too late to have her reproductive organs removed. She died this year from Ovarian cancer.

Our hearts went out to new dad Wayde Kelly who tragically faces life without his fiancé Kymberlie Shepherd, 26, when she died giving birth to son Kyden after suffering a rare complication that strikes just 6.1 times every 100,000 deliveries.

Kymberlie Shepherd, with fiance Wayde Kelly, died during childbirth prompting an outpouring of grief.

We were outraged when cat Moo was decapitated and had its paws cut off by vandals who then scrawled a threat ‘whers my money tik tok’ with the cat’s blood on an Arundel garage.

The threat scrawled across the garage door in cat blood at Arundel. Pic: ABC

Professional surfers Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson successfully rallied the community to fight off a proposed cruise ship terminal at Bilinga which could have ruined the famous Kirra surf break.

Mick Fanning speaks out about the cruise ship terminal that could have ruined the Kirra break. Pic: Save Kirra Instagram

While that proposal was scuttled, the ASF Consortium’s plans to treble the size of Wavebreak Island and build a $7.5 billion cruise ship terminal, integrated resort and casino continues to cause division across the city.

Updated artist’s impressions of the ASF consortium’s plans for Wavebreak Island.

Meanwhile, the talk of the Quiksilver Pro was overcrowding at the popular Snapper Rocks with world champion surfer Kelly Slater among those fighting for time on the waves. He was then hit with backlash for speaking out about the overcrowding when someone scrawled abuse on his car.

Surf so crowded even Kelly Slater, centre, struggled to get a wave during a free surf at the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks. Pic by Luke Marsden.

The shocking worldwide disasters of the missing MH370 Malaysia Airlines flight and shot down MH17 hit home when Burleigh woman Helena Sidelik was among the victims.

Gold Coast woman Helena Sidelik died when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down.

We celebrated when Sea World rescuers successfully freed a stranded young humpback whale which spent nearly three days beached at Palm Beach, sparking a marathon rescue effort and multiple attempts to tow it back out to sea.

Rescuers worked for nearly three days to keep a beached whale alive at Palm Beach until it was successfully freed.

The Gold Coast burst onto the world stage during the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony when Jessica Mauboy led the handover ceremony to Gold Coast 2018.

Singer Jessica Mauboy performs during the Closing Ceremony for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

We marvelled at how a ‘hero hedge’ cushioned the fall and saved the life of a four-year-old girl who plunged nine floors from a Broadbeach balcony and we crossed our fingers when police started digging up a Mt Nathan backyard in an apparent breakthrough in the search for missing Upper Coomera mother Novy Chardon.

Police searched for a white ute and the suspected body of missing Gold Coast woman Novy Chardon at a house in Eden Park Crt at Mount Nathan. Picture: JERAD WILLIAMS

We shook our heads as multiple motorists ended up stranded on the tram bridge at Southport after mistakenly travelling along the tram tracks and we celebrated the success of the light rail when it launched.

Shoppers kept an eager eye on Pacific Fair’s $670 million transformation while the world watched an incredible media scrum when former Gold Coaster Schapelle Corby was finally released from a Bali jail following a drug smuggling conviction.

IN PICTURES: PACIFIC FAIR REDEVELOPMENT

Gold Coaster Schapelle Corby shortly after she was released from prison. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A-Listers including Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and The Rock called the city home.

The Jolie-Pitt clan were spotted around the Coast while living at Mick Doohan’s luxury Coomera compound as Jolie directed film Unbroken in the region.

Angelina Jolie and her clan lived on the Gold Coast for several months during filming of Unbroken.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson lived in a two-level luxury mansion on Isle of Capri while shooting $100 million adventure epic San Andreas and local girl-turned-Hollywood mega star Margot Robbie’s star continued to rise.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson films scenes from his new movie San Andreas at The Pines Shopping Centre Elanora. Pic by David Clark

Local surf and fishing crew the Mad Hueys grabbed worldwide attention with a Jackass-style stunt when they went free diving with a 2.4m tiger shark using only a $50 birdcage as protection.

We willed two-time Olympic 1500m champion Grant Hackett to beat his addiction to Stilnox when a series of public incidents led to him checking into a US rehab facility.

Former Australian Olympic swimmer Grant Hackett is seen arriving in LA on the way to rehab. Pic: Matthew Symons/Coleman-Rayner

The city went into Ebola-panic when paramedics suspected a fly-in fly-out worker who had just returned from Africa had contracted the deadly disease. Gold Coast University Hospital activated emergency precautions and put him in isolation but he was cleared hours later.

A man who was feared to have Ebola was put in isolation at Gold Coast University Hospital. Picture Glenn Hampson

We applauded three men who tackled an armed man to the ground as he allegedly tried to attack his ex wife in front of their children in the carpark at Westfield Helensvale and we were shocked when AFL bad boy Campbell Brown broke team mate Steven May’s jaw during a brawl in LA, leading to his sacking from the Gold Coast Suns.

A man accused of trying to kill his ex wife is taken into custody. Picture Mike Batterham

We were inspired by Geoff Wilson who hauled his huge ‘boob sled’ for 53 days and 3428km across Antarctica and shocked when Instagram star Kurt Coleman was left with a head injury after a drunken fight with a family friend at his parent’s Miami home during an NRL grand final party.

Gold Coast vet Geoff Wilson crossed Antarctica with his 'boob sled'.

Gold Coast Instagram star Kurt Coleman posted a photo from hospital. The story of his head injury was among the most clicked-on this year.

What was your most memorable story of the year? Tell us in the comments below.