For many Australians, it’s where one goes for theme parks, schoolies debauchery, and a tan.

While one generation has witnessed the salty city’s transformation from sleepy coastal paradise to an internationally known tourist mecca, the next generation is seeing the city undergo a change of a different kind.

It’s a city that tries. In some ways, it’s similar to Canberra - we both know what it’s like to constantly be the geographical butt of jokes made by Sydneysiders or Melburnians.

Just as we dismiss fierce assumptions that come with us being a bureaucratic hub, the Gold Coast works to undo the notions of it just being a tasteless stretch of crowded beaches and meter maids.

As Hobart has Dark Mofo, as Adelaide has Fringe, the Gold Coast has a weird and wonderful arts festival of its own. Embracing contemporary art, Bleach* - a nod to the sun-bleached locals, not the pungent chemical - has drawn almost half-a-million people since its inception in 2012.

Festival organisers have paired the idyllic environment of sand, surf, and waterways with an underbelly of local artists in need of a creative platform, and they're running with it. Bouncing through the sand with it. Truly.

One of this year's performances, Tectonic, is set to have 180 fitness balls half-submerged in the sand at Burleigh Heads, providing a trampoline stage on which dancers will jump and weave across the sand. Even the public is welcome to hop on outside of performance times.

Another line-up highlight is horror drive-in Throttle by Helpmann Award-winning Gold Coast dance company The Farm. Ticketholders are given a location to drive to on the night of the performance.

The cars arrange themselves in a deserted field and then tune into a radio station to hear the spine-tingling narrative unfold. It's interactive, and audience members are encouraged to get involved with the performance which will involve dancers performing thrilling stunts. Bleach* runs from April 17-28.

In 2018, Gold Coast cultural precinct The Home of the Arts was rebranded and expanded to create a more modern space.

The development included a new name and the opening of the precinct's $37.5 million open-air venue. This architecturally striking space includes a "cellular" steel canopy, a "green roof" - a garden meant to be explored - and technical design that when you walk just around the corner, it feels as if the sound is contained to the amphitheatre.

The colossal structure looks like it belongs in a global city like Melbourne or Sydney, but at the same time, the scale is justified. It's setting the scene for more cultural opportunities on the Gold Coast, large-scale ones for the wider public to engage with.

For several decades the Gold Coast has been known for its all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets piled with mountains of honey chicken. However, the city has upped its culinary game with the redevelopment of several sites.

One such location is Burleigh Pavilion, which opened in late 2018. The Pavillion - or "The Pav" - houses The Tropic, a bar and restaurant with head chef Guillaume Zikal, who was previously head chef at the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Hibiscus, in London. Its soft pastel balcony puts you right on the beach, while still allowing for sweeping views of the misty beach and rosy sunsets.

In the heart of the oft-dreaded Surfer’s Paradise is Sandbar. The site is the living ghost of buffets past - it was formerly an all-you-can-eat breakfast spot with lines wrapping around the building - and has now been transformed into a relaxed, modern dining venue.

Yearly, it hosts Motosocial, an event where 200 classic bikes and scooters assemble to show off their wares. Daily, they serve up crowd-pleasers such as filling smoothies and a colourful and fresh Nasi Goreng for breakfast and gourmet milk-bun burgers for lunch.

As it’s still the Gold Coast, we need to talk casinos. A leap up from the Sydney site, and planets away from its former life as Jupiters, The Star on the Gold Coast contains eight bars, seven restaurants, and hotel accommodation. Highlights include Kiyomi, a sleek Japanese-fusion restaurant, the lawn bar and cinema plus the Garden Kitchen & Bar with its floor-to-ceiling windows.

The journalist travelled courtesy of Tourism and Events Queensland.