Life’s a beach here in the Sunshine State, a surfer’s paradise where it never rains but it pours.
Boasting a sub-tropical climate, 283 days sunshine a year, endless miles of azure sea, foaming surf and white sands, it’s no wonder Queenslanders love the great outdoors.
From the Great Barrier Reef to the rainforest, down the Sunshine Coast and beyond, fair dinkum mate, this place provides some welcome.
They even arranged a storm for athletes from the United Kingdom missing home at the start of their technicolour opening ceremony. And it didn’t just rain either. It was biblical.
There’s bound to be some very G’days for UK athletes in the days ahead - as the greatest of all sporting rivalries is renewed with the host nation at the Friendly Games.
Four years ago in Glasgow, the combined efforts of the host nations secured 84 gold medals, compared to Australia’s 49, with England topping the medal table the first time since 1986.
Nothing but restoring their place at the top of the medal table will do for the host nation this time around.
Nearly a century after 400 athletes from 11 countries competed in six sports at the inaugural Games, the historic ties that bind the 71 nations and territories here in Australia run so much deeper than the old bonds of Empire.
For many athletes this remains a graduation to the world stage. Max Whitlock won two silvers and a bronze on his major competition debut eight years ago in Delhi.
He walked into the stadium behind England flag bearer Alistair Brownlee as a double Olympic champion, seeking to defend his three golds from 2014.
After missing out on the London Olympics, Welsh flag bearer Jazmin Carlin contemplated retirement. Winning 800m freestyle gold in Glasgow restored her self-belief, two years later she returned from the Rio as a double Olympic medallist.
While Eilidh Doyle followed double silver in Glasgow with a maiden Olympic medal in Rio.
For others it’s the only opportunity to compete on the world stage, tiny dots on the map getting their chance to bloody the nose of the big boys.