Home to iconic beaches, rainforests, theme parks and a bustling nightlife, Australia's Gold Coast is a sun-drenched vacation paradise. And while the rest of the US and the northern hemisphere are experiencing a dip in temperatures, visitors to the Gold Coast during the months of December to February will be enjoying the sun, surf and sand. View the slideshow above for incredible aerial images of the city, located in southeastern Queensland.

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The photos above show towering high-rise buildings and beachfront houses dotting the coastal landscape of the city. But the photos also show the effects of coastal erosion on the battered beaches. The Gold Coast is no stranger to this issue. In 1967, a series of severe cyclones contributed to the erosion of8 million cubic metres of sand from the beaches and threatened the backing Gold Coast roads, houses and hotels, according to Coastalwatch.

The solution has been to build a continuous terminal seawall the length of the coast and covered with sand and dunes, dredge and place sand offshore of the southern Gold Coast beaches, and build a permanent pumping system just south of the training wall, pumping sand from New South Wales across the border onto the Gold Coast beaches.

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Even with the threat of erosion, it will be hard for visitors, especially surfers. The Gold Coast boasts some of Australia’s best, most consistent waves, hosts many international surfing competitions and is home to a city called Surfers Paradise.

Surfers are almost guaranteed a wave on the Gold Coast, particularly at The Spit, Main Beach, Narrowneck, Palm Beach and Mermaid Beach, according to Tourism Australia. The winds and easterly swells produce one- to two-foot swells about once a week, and every couple of months, offshore cyclones create mythical four-foot waves that draw pods of surfers.

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