Formerly a small coastal resort town, the Surfer's Paradise holiday resort has blossomed into the pulsating heart of the Queensland Gold Coast. Set on a Peninsula, about 50 miles (78km) from Brisbane, with the warm Pacific Ocean on one side and the deep blue Nerang River on the other, Surfer's Paradise is considered to be the holiday capital of Australia. Visitors throng here to holiday among the bright lights, shops, high rise resort hotels and attractions squeezed onto the finger of land that is surrounded by a 492-foot (150m) wide beach that stretches for almost 6 miles (10km) in each direction.