Runaway Bay is a suburb on the Gold Coast

Gold Coast, Queensland

Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...

 in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. At the 2006 Census, Runaway Bay had a population of 8,449.

The locality of Anglers Paradise is situated within Runaway Bay. In 1967, the Lae Enterprises company bought 182 hectares of land along the western shore of the Gold Coast Broadwater

Gold Coast Broadwater

The Gold Coast Broadwater, also known as Southport Broadwater and Gold Coast Harbour, is a large shallow estuary of water reaching from the locality of Southport to the southern section of the World Heritage Listed Moreton Bay along the eastern coast of Australia...

. Development started in 1972 to transform the subdivision into a residential and boating area. The name "Runaway Bay" was coined to promote the area as a tranquil retreat.

Facilities

Runaway Bay Shopping Village is the main shopping centre in the suburb. Harbour Town Shopping Centre is located nearby in Biggera Waters

Biggera Waters, Queensland

Biggera Waters is a suburb located on the western side of The Broadwater and is north of the suburb of Labrador, on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 Census, Biggera Waters had a population of 5,391....

. Runaway Bay also contains a public library branch, next to the community centre. Natural amenities include Pine Ridge Conservation Park and various parklands along the western shore of the Broadwater. The Runaway Bay Marina, along with the resident Yacht Squadron, is located just north of the suburb, in Hollywell. Like in many other Gold Coast suburbs, many homes in Runaway Bay are situated along artificial canals.

The Sports Super Centre is a premier sports training and events facility in the Gold Coast. Facilities accommodate athletics, cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

, AFL

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

, netball

Netball

Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...

, soccer and indoor sports. The sports centre includes a stadium, sports medicine

Sports medicine

Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness, treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise...

 facility, gymnasium and Olympic aquatic centre.

The suburb is also home to the Runaway Bay Junior Rugby League club, which was formed in 1974 after local residents met at the old Runaway Bay shopping centre with the intention of forming a club for kids to play sport.

St Francis Xavier School is the only school in the suburb. Biggera Waters Primary school is located in the adjacent suburb of Biggera Waters, and Coombabah High School is located in the adjacent suburb of Coombabah

Coombabah, Queensland

Coombabah is a suburb on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Coombabah had a population of 9,303.The word 'Coombabah' is an English corruption of the Aboriginal word, and can have three alternate translations. The first, 'Koomboobah', means 'place of the cobra worms'...

; A. B. Paterson College (P–12) is also located in nearby Arundel

Arundel, Queensland

Arundel is a suburb on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 Census, Arundel had a population of 9,311.Located in the suburb is the Coombabah Lake Conservation Park, bordered by Coombabah Creek and adjacent to the Ivan Gibbs Wetlands Reserve in Coombabah...

.