Thursday, July 13, 2006
Gold Coast*warning: long post ahead*
For the first time since i've been to Australia i've finally been somewhere else other than Melbourne. Not that i expect to travel eveywhere just because i study here, but its kinda wasted if u study here but dont travel anywhere nearby. So anyways the destination was Gold Coast and i was accompanied by Deanna, Lipzhun and gf (Margaretta), my two housemates: Jack and Joseph.
Well basically our plan was this : visit 3 theme parks and a wildlife sanctuary during our 6 days 5 nights outing.
Day 1
Arrival. Found where we were staying at. Check in. The place is not too bad. Its a service apartment so it doesnt look too luxurious or anything but who cares? We're not gonna be in the room most of the time anyways. The good thing is that its fully furnished and equipped with everything we need from kitchen utensils to washing machines. And of course the most important thing of all : TELEVISION. We can't afford to miss World Cup now, can we? Anyways we visited this place called Surfer's Paradise and spent the rest of the evening/night there. Its basically a tourist area where there's shopping complexes and cafes and stalls and everything. Much like Bukit Bintang, but next to a georgeous beach.
Day 2
Dreamworld. "Many worlds in one" is their tagline. Just a theme park if u ask me. A damn good one though. Definitely filled with the most thrilling rides i've ever rode in my life. Initially i thought we would need wait freaking long for each ride but thank god it only took max 30 min per ride. Not bad compared to the 1 hour ++ per ride at Disneyland. My personal favourite is the Wipeout, where they just strap you on and toss you in every direction. Others were good as well, the Giant Drop from 120m high (that's really really high, trust me), the Tower of Terror and The Claw(think giant spinning 270 degrees swing).
Day 3
Seaworld. Half theme park, half aqarium and half sea animal shows (which equals 1 1/2). The rides were few, only about 5 or so but they're pretty decent and the best thing is that we didnt need to queue for them cause we were a tad too early. Houses the best flume ride ever (the one where u slide down in a log and splash). Sea animals are just too cute (Dugongs, dolphins, seals) but my personal favourite is still the shark (despite being scared of it thanks to good ol JAWS). Had a 4d cinema that was much better than the stupid Ali Baba i saw last year at Genting.
Day 4
Wildlife Sanctuary. This was kinda a rest day from all the theme parks. Just a normal zoo-like place.
Day 5
Movieworld. Argubly the best among the parks. Although it also meant that it had the most people. Which also meant that we spent more time queuing for the rides. But it was well worth it especially this Superman ride they recently created. 0.1 km in a second! (i think that's supposed to be pretty fast). Seeing people in Bugs Bunny costumes isnt as fun as it used to be, but nevertheless it was fun taking pictures of them. The day was topped with the Police Academy Stunt Show which was really really good, and hillariously funny (is there even such thing?).
Conclusion
This is starting to look like an essay. Anyways it was a great trip. Its unfortunate that we couldnt get more ppl to come along but we had heaps of fun. We played bridge during our spare time at the motel, which is still a cool old maid's game. We watched Italy kicked Germany's ass, which was cool cause i like Carbonara. Heck, we even played at the playground nearby in the middle of the night to avoid embarassment (They had cooler toys than we had back in our days!). It struck my mind that this could very well be the last time im gonna visit a themepark before i brings my kids instead. It somehow feels a bit sad. But oh well im still pretty young(i think) and so i hope we'll have more trips ahead of us and never grow up my friends! (stolen from Joga Bonito ad)
