Driving to Surfers Paradise

Straight up the Hume, around the M7 (toll) onto the F3 and up the Pacific Highway. It is much better now wioth the only really slow bit around Coffs harbour.

Took my son and I only about 9 and a bit hours door to door from Sydney to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago, as it is all doubled except a little bit in NSW.

If you really like trucks you could go the Newell up through Jerilderie/Moree etc, but now the Newell is 100Kmhs and there are thousands of B doubles on it, and you better believe they do not like being behind someone at 100Kmh. It would be a bit longer also.
The New England is quite hilly a lot of the way with Moonbie Range , and the Granite Belt.

Unless you have a Mini towing a heavy camper trailer, up to Dubbo, across to Tamworth via Coolah (I've done Tamworth-Melb with just fuel and quick meal stops in about 12.5 hours at legal speeds), from there up the New England Highway.

Then you gave the three choices. The first one is one of the prettiest drives in NSW from Armidale east to Ebor (stopping at the waterfalls) then meet Pacific Highway at Grafton, the second is to continue up the NE to Tenterfield and across to Byron Bay, or thirdly continue north again on NE past Warwick and down the back to Gold Coast via Beaudesert region. We do Tamworth Gold Coast in 6 hours non stop.

The Newell all the way is better if you want to go to Brisbane and would be the better way to the Gold Coast if you were towing something heavy like a caravan.
I make it up the "dreaded" Moonbi ranges in our diesel Pajero towing our heavy Camper trailer mostly in 4th gear, I have to drop to 3rd gear for about 1km when the vehicle is loaded up.
Some people like driving mind numbing freeways though counting B doubles. If via Sydney was quicker, why would the Melb-Brisbane trucks be on the Newell then?

I like variety so sometimes it would be the Pacific Hwy and sometimes the New England route.

However, if you simply want to get from Geelong to Surfers by the most expeditious route then I would use the Hume and Pacific Highways. Despite much of it being motorway, which is good travelling anyway, it is an attractive route with no hills and leads you straight into Surfers without negotiating metropolitan Brisbane which I find a pain.

A word of caution though. The old perils of the Pacific Hwy have been tamed by the NSW police and you would be most unwise to exceed the speed limits on this road, both in the towns and on the highway. It is another reason I prefer this route.

Lots of nice places to stay along the way, my favourite being Yamba, 10 minutes off the highway. It is what Byron Bay was 20 years ago.