When you live on the Gold Coast — with its perfect beaches, year-round amazing weather, and bucket loads of activities to keep you entertained — it can be a hard task picking a vacay spot that will match up to your own backyard.

Enter South Straddie. The lesser known little sister of North Straddie, which is just a quick 45 minute trip across the Broadwater. With a shorter travel time and cheaper ferries compared to her northern sister island, South Straddie is perfect for a quick weekend escape. The Couran Cove resort on South Straddie offers two swimming pools, free kayaking and paddle boarding, family-friendly poolside dining and date-night-friendly fine dining. The accommodation at Couran Cove is made up of overwater apartments with breezy balconies and great views.

If you have your own boat getting to the island is easy and there are marina berths in the centre of the resort, if not just grab a water taxi or jump on the ferry, which runs multiple times a day. There are a lot of activities on South Straddie including surfing on the ocean side of the island, spa treatments in the Day Spa, bike hire (bikes not permitted on the ferry), as well as 4WD and jet ski tours. After your adventures, make sure to hit up the Sunset Beach Bar open from 4pm on Fridays and Saturdays (weather dependent). Or if you fancy exploring further afield you can walk twenty to thirty minutes down the beach to Tipplers who have great live music, cold beers and yummy pub grub right there on the sand.

Visit courancove.com.au to book. To see more from Sarah go to itsonlyaplanerideaway.com.