24 hour gym , good range of equipment. You have your own card for access out of staffed hours. Free weights available, bars all fixed, presumably to avoid injuries if there are no staff present. Never have to wait long for equipment, clean and airy environment.

Approximate cost: $110

Nice resort on top of hinterland mountain - you can hand feed the lorakeets and king parrots and walk the lovely wee tree top boardwalk. There is also a little botanical garden in the rain forest. There is a shop selling all the usual Australiana and a few nice birdy things. From friends i hear that it is uber pricey to stay at the resort.

Approximate cost: $free

We have bought several trailer loads of manure and compost. They were very friendly, efficient and well-priced. They have a wide range of mulches, soil and compost for sale in bulk or bags.

Approximate cost: $25

Coming from Scotland, I was already very familiar with Aldi and was happy when they started opening up in Australia and delighted to have several so near home. The food is cheaper than Cole's or Woolworth's and while the selection is substantially less, you can still do a complete shop for far less cost, and then get specific extras from elsewhere. Each week there are a fresh selection of deals on wonderfully random items, from ski clothes to compost, bbq's to fitness equipment - all at very good prices. It is hard to get hold of some of the most popular items unless you turn up early on a Thursday morning. I would warn against buying electronic items as we have had some problems, but they accept returns without fuss.

Love this library system - the selection in house is variable, but it is the computer system that makes this place so great. You order your books on line and ABRACKADABA, they bring them to the library for you. I ordered Portia de rossi's new book last week and had a brand new copy waiting for me before she was even doing the chat show rounds - pretty impressive. The staff are always helpful and nice and somehow manage to keep hoards of teenagers and kids from running amok - nice work. Such a shame someone stole the giant library letters from out from of the building (but still rather funny in a student prank kind off way) - yet the new smaller versions are still very bright and smiley.

Approximate cost: $FREEEEE

I think these guys have the cheapest cinema tickets on the Gold Coast which is handy as it is 5 minutes from our house. They are in a wee mall which smells of popcorn all the time - delicious. The seats are good, screens are huge, range of snacks as usual overpriced, but that is pretty standard. The selection of movies is very mainstream, but good for seeing whatever Hollywood is currently churning out. Nice staff, clean toilets, generally a good time to be had, but don't go on a school holiday or you will be chest deep in screaming children - eeeek

Approximate cost: $8.60 Adult

We saw that they were struggling for business so we decided to help out a local business and go in for dinner with a voucher. It seems that it is only family helping out, the young girl serving was clueless. The food was nice, but nobody checked on us once and we were the only customers. There was meant to be a complementary desert each with the voucher, but when we went to the counter to ask if we could have desert they said there was none left. They then brought us a tiny bowl of vanilla ice cream and placed it on the table leaving all the dirty dishes. We found it rather funny it was such bad service. The food is nice though, but i would recommend the pickup service as probably the better option.

Big range of plants, including a great selection of fruit trees and bushes. Always seems to be several tables of bargain priced large shrubs. There is a wee fruit stall in the same car park selling lots of locally produced fruit and veg..

A giant version of the standard store. The prices are competitive but not the best in the area. The plants section is pretty good though and the staff are nice and smiley. Wasn't very impressed with the paint section though, they treated me like i was stupid when i asked for help.

Huge range of spices - far better value than the supermarkets. Lots of yummy nuts and sweets and seed and other health food goodness. I think they do wholesale as well and the nice guy at the counter said they were opening a website store soon