Gold Coast, Queensland local updates
In Queensland, holding a mobile phone in your hand or resting it on any part of your body while you drive is illegal, and the penalty is $1,295 and 4 demerit points. A driver who does not wear a seatbelt properly faces the same $1,295 and 4 points, and cameras now check for both offences anywhere on Queensland roads, at any time.
On 18 October 2026, the Queensland Government’s QLDTraffic feed listed no roadworks on the M1 Pacific Motorway itself on the Gold Coast, so there are no long-running M1 works to plan around. The long-running works are on roads that connect to it: the eastbound access ramp to Smith Street from the Smith Street Motorway at Arundel is closed to all traffic until early 2027, and the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) lists the M1’s next interchange projects as planning or design.
There is no dedicated on-site parking at Miami Marketta, the street-food night market at 23 Hillcrest Parade in Miami. The venue’s advice is to come early, park along Pacific Avenue to avoid residential streets, and use public transport where you can. Entry is free from 5pm, Wednesday to Saturday, and you do not need to book.
Carrara Markets, on the corner of Gooding Drive and Manchester Road, is open every Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 3pm, and both entry and parking are free. The markets say there is room for over 4,000 cars. If you would rather leave the car, the G:link to Broadbeach South and a connecting bus gets you there in about 30 minutes from Surfers Paradise, according to the markets.
The easiest public transport trip to Warner Bros. Movie World and Wet’n’Wild is the TX7 bus from Helensvale station. On the Translink timetable for Monday 19 October 2026, a TX7 leaving Helensvale at 9:01am reached Wet’n’Wild at 9:08am and Movie World at 9:12am. Both parks tell visitors to catch a tram, bus or train to Helensvale station and transfer to the TX7, and Wet’n’Wild’s page also says public transport fares across the Translink network are 50 cents per trip.
If you hold a pre-purchased ticket to the Supercars Gold Coast 500, Translink says you can travel free to and from the race on all regular Queensland Rail City Network trains, Kinetic Gold Coast bus services and G: services, excluding Airtrain. The free travel runs from the first service until the last service on the date printed on your event ticket.
Parking at Harbour Town Premium Outlets on the Gold Coast is free. The centre says it has over 2,000 car spaces that are free to all shoppers, including disabled bays and bays for parents with prams. The one limit is in the South car park outside the Woolworths entrance, where parking is capped at 2 hours. The rest of the car parks are free and unrestricted for genuine shoppers all day, according to the centre’s facilities page, as of 18 October 2026.
Parking at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary costs $10 per car for all-day parking. It is free for Queensland National Trust members. The sanctuary’s car park is open from 7:30am to 5:30pm every day, and the sanctuary says those times are subject to change on event days. Everything on this page is taken from the sanctuary’s own pages, checked on 18 October 2026.
A City of Gold Coast parking fine must be paid within 28 days of the date it was issued. You can ask the City to review a fine only before you pay it and before the payment due date, so the order matters: if you think the fine was a mistake, ask for the review first and pay afterwards, if the City upholds it.
The usual Queensland school zone speed limit is 40km/h, and most school zones apply from 7am to 9am and from 2pm to 4pm on school days. The times for each school are on the school zone sign, so on the Gold Coast, as elsewhere in Queensland, the sign beside the road is what counts.