Monday, February 11, 2008
Dreamworld
Visitors to Gold Coast are usually spoilt for choice as to the places to visit. There are so many theme parks and attractions, it's hard to choose which ones are the best since we can't be visiting all of them. I think the Dreamworld is a must see. It has variety- you get exciting rides, interesting attractions, wild life , farm tour etc. If you only want to visit one theme park, this is probably the one to see. The tickets to the theme parks are usually AUD 66 (nearly RM200 per person) but can be bought at discounted prices at Centro Surfer's Paradise Shopping centre. We got ours for only 62, saving RM50 for 4 of us. The park officially opens at 10am. We got there before 10 and found out that people were already enjjoying the rides in there. Transport to the theme parks is easy. Public buses ply the routes from surfers paradise right to the doorstep. Hotel receptions usually provide directions to get to the bus-stops, the bus schedules and the fare information. |
It's definitely cheaper to cook your own dinner in Australia. We bought 6 drumsticks (they call them chicken lovely legs here! ) for 3 something, some potatoes, carrots and onion. We made chicken soup and added noodles (brought in all the way from Malaysia!) and we had an enjoyable meal which costs only a quater of the price we paid for our lunch. Actually we need not have brought the noodles- they can be bought here : 1 something for 5 packets. Talking about bringing in food to Australia, better be careful- they are quite paranoid and strict about what we bring in. The queue through immigartion wasn't that bad but the customs clearance was terrible. They took away the Milo 3-in1 we brought because the label indicated some milk in it. The long queue wasted much of our time so we decided not to go to Carrara markets after all. Contrary to what we heard about shops closing at 5pm in Australia, there are actually shops and attractions open at night at Surfers Paradise. We visited an indoor attraction called Infinity. Quite expensive to enter- AUD23.50 per person but quite a nice experience, something different from what we've visited. |
I'm back
The trip to Australia was an experience for all of us, this being our first trip to a non-Asian country. At first, it was rather strange being served by white men. The taxi driver who ferried us to our hotel was a white woman. The waiters, garbage collectors, cleaners, railway station attendants, salesgirls were all whites. Except for the movies, this is the first time we see whites toiling away in construction sites and other work places- unlike back home where they behave like bosses, except for the tourists and backpackers. We went to Australia well-equipped with our sun-blocks with maximum SPF, anticipating lots of sun and blue skies as it is still summer there. A check with the weather forecast prompted me to bring umbrellas for each and everyone of us. True to the prediction, we were greeted with an overcast sky and later drizzles. The overcast sky however turned out to be a blessing as we found out later. Our second and third day at the theme parks were rainy days but the rain wasn't heavy and we could still enjoy our time there. Looking back it was actually better than having the sun scorching at you while you go for the rides. Moreover the drizzles were intermittent so we didn't miss any of the rides that we were brave enough to try. |
Thursday, January 31, 2008
| Here's the itinerary. We're leaving Penang for Singapore by the 6.15pm flight. We'll meet Denise at the airport and fly to Brisbane at 11.45pm. We'll reach Brisbane airport at 9.25am. We'll take the Airtrain to Nerang Station at the Gold Coast. There we'll take a cab to the hotel at Surfers Paradise. We'll be there for four nights then we'll take a train to Brisbane. We'll leave the luggage in Daphne's apartment then visit University of Queensland and Brisbane city. We'll spend two days there and fly back via Singapore |
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