Gold Coast! Hmmmmm. I just came back from Gold Coast like err 4days ago, and it has got to be the highlight of the year - unless of course i decide to take a trip out of SG later in the year. Go grab some munchies! It'll be a longggg post, i think.
So, a 9 day trip, of which 2days were spent on the plane, so I was only given a week to enjoy Gold Coast. This is the first time I'm travelling for only a week to a far country. But oh well, Alhamdulillah still for this trip. :)
Went Oz with FlyScoot and it was still a bearable flight, even though there wasn't any in-flight entertainment given for free, plus the little leg room given and the food I want to eat must be paid every single time. But being the hungry girl I was, I didn't mind forking out S$12 for a Beef Casserole for the plane ride SIN - GC; because it was a night flight, and we didn't plan on getting food because we thought of sleeping throughout the 8 hour flight. But i got hungry like 2 hours after take off. Hahaha!
S$12 on a small serving, yeap, i know, too expensive. But i was hungry ): But it was still delicious! Hahaha. (psst. i even order this as an extra meal for the GC - SIN flight, even after eating Soy Sauce Rice.)
Okay, so the 8 hour flight came to an end at 7am gct. And hellooooooo, Gold Coast. I was greeted with the cold weather. I still loved it though!
After another 40mins of bus ride, I FINALLY REACHED SURFERS PARADISE. Okay, this sign here actually made me want to slap myself for real, "Am i really in Gold Coast?" was the only question that came running in my mind.
Since we reached quite early in the morning, when check in time was actually 3pm gct, we went on a tour around the neighbourhood. We stayed in Hilton Surfers Paradise, and I think I made the right decision of putting the hotel as the first choice of all the choices I saw. The hotel itself was mind-blowing, so amazeballs, and soooooooooo home-like. It felt like a home I was going to live in, instead of a place I rented for stay. I felt like I was at home. Okay, i repeated so many "home".
Okay, so first day was about going grocery shopping because there wasn't many halal food options near surfers paradise, so we had to stock up rice and instant noodles.
After grocery shopping, we were apartment/hotel-less so we chilled at the swimming pool, where everybody went for a nap and I had to stay awake because one, I had to continuously check on my email for room availability and two, i had to take care of the bags. Okay, so whatevs. We checked in anyways. After resting, washing up, it was like around noon i think, so we roamed around again in Surfers Paradise.
We had to settle all the amusement parks tickets, and I was told by a friend of this shop that sells cheap tickets, so we went to hunt for it. My instincts was so good that we ended up turning into a street and got into the right shop. So we got a 3 parks tickets, consisting of Movie World, Sea World and Wet n Wild, for 90aud, it was soooo worth it, because individual park costs up to 90aud. So, 3 parks for 90, why not!
Okay, so the next day was Movie World. I really wanted to take the Green Lantern ride, it was the only ride I wanted to try in Movie World. But, Allah protected me, the ride was closed that day. I could've probably faint if i were to take the ride. It was....crazy after seeing it real life. So, I ended up not taking any other rides, other than the kids' rollercoaster and the Scooby Doo ride, which i was cheated with; i thought it was just a normal ride, because it was near the kids' place. But, it was crazy enough for me, and I had to sit alone, so all i had was this black bar near my head, and I was holding on to it very tightly. I didnt think it would be this crazy, but it did. okay, i had nobody to cling on, so i was praying to get out of this ride alive, the next thing i knew i was falling backwards, and being "shoved" side to side because of the bloody ride. But, ok, I made it out alive. Since then I was traumatised to take any ride.
But i was still happy because i got to see lola and bugs bunny! #relationshipgoals, everybody.
That was day 1, there was the parade in Movie World, but i dont want to go on about movie world. hahaha.
Day 2 was Sea World! AND I WAS EXCITED BECAUSE I GET TO SEE DOLPHINS. Hahahaha. Sea world was still fun. It wasn't the normal aquarium we get, but we could see fishes, sharks, starfish, dolphins quite near to us, there were both enclosed and open viewing area. So i was still happy. Then we went on to take the 3 rides that was there. And I AM GLAD I BRAVED UP TO TAKE STORM COASTER, though Jet Rescue was.........insanely fast. HAHAH. We were crazy enough to take both the rides a lot of times, just to smile at the rides' camera. But yay! We did it.
Okay! Here's the cute dolphins!
So after Sea World, we went to watch Pitch Perfect 2 because it was still early to head back to the hotel, and PP2 was released earlier than in Singapore, so we went! Took the Gold Class ticket, and I swear, I fell asleep, because the seats were toooooooo comfortable.
So after Sea World, we went to watch Pitch Perfect 2 because it was still early to head back to the hotel, and PP2 was released earlier than in Singapore, so we went! Took the Gold Class ticket, and I swear, I fell asleep, because the seats were toooooooo comfortable.
Okay, so after some crazy Sea World day, we decided to get even crazier by going for a swim in a cold weather at Wet n Wild. We went in at 10am, took the slides (which ofcourse I took only 2), and went out of the pool by 12pm. It was crazy cold okay! Nothing much at wet n wild, just the cold. The cold plus the water made us so lethargic, we decided to only roam around in Surfers Paradise after that. We got hungry, so we became Hungry Chickens. No, kidding, we went to this halal chicken shop and ate. It was delicioso. haha
Then I spent half the amount of money i had when seriously, actually it was shopping day the next day. But i was still glad that i went on to spend my money for my mom. So, whatevs, i didnt plan on shopping anyways.
That makes us come to the 4th day, which was Harbourtown Day. We literally went berserk because of the massive discounts. Like seriously, every single shop had like the 70% off, the Buy 2 get 1 free, buy 1 & 2nd item at 50% signs. So we went crazy.
So after the energy drained days and pockets got hole day, we went to Currumbin on the fifth day! I WAS SO EXCITED BECAUSE OF KOALAS AND KANGAROOS. I didnt know what happened, but i wasnt even reluctant to hold those furry animals, when seriously cat's furs makes me scared. But guess I'm not scared anymore! Hahaaha.
Then it was still early - it was always early, because shops closes at 5, but we still want to go somewhere, so we went to Target! And I went crazy at the kids' section till i found things I'd wear to buy. Hahaa. Then nothing much happened, i didn't go as crazy as i thought i would be because the Target was considered small for a Target outlet. ahhaha.
The only regret we had this day was not packing enough food, we finished the egg toast we brought the moment we reached. So, thankfully, Allah brought one of our legs to this food fest beside Currumbin and we found this Kebab stall. And i had something like Murtabak, but just wayyy nicer.
And so, that wraps up the 5th day.
The 6th was spent by admiring the amazing, spectacular creations of Allah. I went on a Skypoint climb, and I managed to see Pacific Ocean like literally up close, and i got carried away. Totally mind blowing.
This was definitely the highlight of the trip. Best experience ever. The wind blew like crazy here! I put on a cap, but uh-huh, it flew away. Hahaha. So I couldn't be bothered to put it back on.
After this, i took a stroll along the beach and roamed around Surfers Paradise because I got sentimental, where I don't want to leave Surfers Paradise, and I want to enjoy the beach. The plan was to cycle, but......nah. Whatever.
Went back to the hotel earlier, to pack up, and enjoy the sunset from the balcony. BUT! It was hazy and raining. So, nope, no sunset. Just grey clouds. The Oz clouds were prolly sad I was leaving ay? Hahaha.
Went back to the hotel earlier, to pack up, and enjoy the sunset from the balcony. BUT! It was hazy and raining. So, nope, no sunset. Just grey clouds. The Oz clouds were prolly sad I was leaving ay? Hahaha.
Then it was a morning flight to get back to Singapore. The bus picked us up at 5am gct which was 3am sgt. Crazy, the flight was at 9am gct, mind you. But yea. We went down earlier anyway, only to be scared for my life because people were coming out of the clubs, drunk. It was my first ever experience. But, sokay, Allah protected me, despite having people disturbing us like "Hey, how are you? You so pretty". hahahaha.
And that's the end of the trip.
Alhamdulillah!
Sorry for the very long post though. I am lazy to upload the photos on Facebook, so I had to do this, plus i'm not a facebook photo uploader kinda girl. I'm a print my photos kinda girl. So yeap, just a little bit of sharing of my gold coast trip!
Gold Coast was all in all a beautiful place to be in. The Australians were really nice, and welcoming. Gosh, if i were given a choice, I'd want to stay there. :)
That's all folks!