Day 4 – Gold Coast (Movie World)

Opened on 3rd June 1991, Warner Bros. Movie World celebrates 20 years of theme park this month! This is one of the oldest Hollywood theme parks in Asia. Back in the 90s, the Movie World was the one of those “must-visit” tourist hot spots in Asia. Today, there are 4 other big theme parks in Gold Coast – Wet & Wild, Dream World, Sea World and WhiteWaterWorld. Gold Coast is the only place in Australia where you find all the big major theme parks.

Unlike the other theme parks we have been, we had a relaxing day at the Movie World. It was weekday, there wasn’t many people in the queue. The park is small so there is no rush to explore every inch of it. A day-trip is good enough. The weather was fantastic and we managed to complete 80% of the rides. (Yeah…we took photos with our favorite DC Comics superheroes!) No crowd, no stress, no long waiting time and no rude tourists here.

First stop, Tracy challenged me to join her in the “Superman Escape” roller-coaster ride. It didn’t look scary from below but the 90-sec ride shook me up a little. The G-force was amazing – it propels the riders from 0km to 100km within 2 seconds. Nope, I didn’t scream at all – cos’ I left my soul 90 seconds behind. For the entire ride, I was struggling to hold on to the bars. It was too fast for me. I couldn’t even keep my eyes on for more than 70% of the ride.

Felicia, Elkan and Meijie did the easier ride – “Wild West Falls”. Plunging 20m down a water channel, this ride offers the largest drop in Australia. Check out their photos below. They were sitting at the last 2 sections of the cart (in yellow raincoat).

The best attraction of our visit is unanimously the “Hollywood Stunt Driver” show.  The show features many spectacular stunts – car chases, gun shots and big explosions. Check out my homemade trailer here:

Overall, we had a great time out here. However, I feel the Movie World is losing its shine and attractiveness. For the past 2 decades, it has served the people well and it is time to change (or be replaced). Compared with some of the newer theme parks (Disneyland & Universal Studio) in Hong Kong & Singapore, the Movie World definitely needs a major makeover – bigger park, more movie characters, more rides for both adults and kids, bigger special effects and better road shows.

Gold Coast Breakfast

This is the first breakfast by Felicia since she and Elkan moved back to Singapore 6 months ago. Miss her cooking. Simple and yummy. Good to have an open kitchen here in the apartment. I can buy my favorite Australian strawberries and white mushrooms.

Day 3 – Gold Coast (Surfers Paradise)

Life is perfect here in Gold Coast. The golden coast, the sun, the white powdery beach, the blue sky and the luxury living space. It was worth the torturous 15-hour bus ride. This is a near-perfect “lazy man’s / bummer’s vacation” – laid back, hot babes and lots of food. No wonder we saw so many over-weight Australians chilling out here.

Thanks to Felicia and Meijie (who did the booking for all our accommodations for this trip) – They got us a cool place at the tallest building in Australia, Q1 Tower. (Yes, Q1 Tower is the tallest building in the photo above. Q1 is the world’s tallest residential building and also the world’s 20th tallest building. Q1 stands for “Queensland 1”.) Located along Surfers Paradise and facing the golden coast, Q1 offers pretty big service apartments. For someone like me who has been all squeezed up in small tight pigeon hole in Hong Kong, you can imagine the excitement in me when I first stepped into the 200sqm 2-room apartment. We will spend 4 good days here in Gold Coast! Plenty of space to relax and roam around!

Elkan loves the beach! He was so excited about the beach and he dragged me out last evening. For 40 minutes, he was like a monkey out of his cage. He was jumping, kicking and rolling around. I was worried about the big choppy waves. There were a few times when I have to run into the water to drag him out. A little over-protective but it is always better to be safe than sorry. There was no “BayWatch” and some of the waves were as tall as him.

For the rest of the day, we were out shopping and dining at Surfers Paradise – Gold Coast’s Shopping Precinct. There are a lot of shops and restaurants here. (We saw many tourists from Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong). Gold Coast is great for its surfing, theme-parks, beach-life and wildlife. Certainly not shopping and dining. They aren’t cheap. A plate of asian fried noodle cost us AUD$20. A soft-pack of Ribena cost AUD$4! Most souvenir shops are operated by the Chinese and they carry the same old boring stuffs. I wish they offer something new so I don’t bring back the same Aussie gifts that I bought 10 years ago.

Later in the afternoon, we visited the bizarre world at “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” Museum. It is a small museum of mutants, freaks and many uncanny characters. Many of these “unbelievable stories” are “old/stale news”. I feel the Ripley’s Museum has lost its charm and novelty. It need to inject more new cases, new adventures / marvels and more exotic displays to entice new visitors.

Morning Rainbow

(Photo Taken: Raindow in the Morning – After a stormy bumpy night, we were greeted by a very big rainbow in the morning. So beautiful that it lifted our spirits and took all the fatigue, body-aches away. Haven’t seen a rainbow this vibrant and big for almost 10 years. The last one I saw was in Perth back in 2002. Gold (Coast) is certainly on the other end of the Rainbow.)

15-hour ride to Gold Coast

15 hours. This is my longest bus ride ever. I am certainly not looking forward to the return bus ride back to Sydney. It is the most uncomfortable traveling experience for me – both mentally and physically.  The rain was pouring heavily last night and the bumpy ride made it difficult for me to sleep. I wasn’t even sure if I did sleep the entire journey. I kept waking up every 30-40 minutes to adjust my body and neck. (Elkan was the only person who slept peacefully throughout.) Despite the torture, I was impressed by the the two old bus drivers (in their late 50s or early 60s). Each driver drove 7-hour straight with only 2 short breaks in between. Incredible stamina and mental strength!

(Photo Below: 2am at “Bacon & Eggs” bus depot – Meijie was not happy with his supper after he saw what I got – big breakfast. Elkan slept with his eye-mask. Tracy all wrapped up in the cold. Greyhound – the name of the bus company.)

Day 2 – Sydney (Opera House)

Rain, rain and more rain. (And now the threat of the volcanic ash clouds!) What happened to my sunny blue Australian sky? It was gloomy and wet the entire day (and night). Earlier in the day, we were stranded in the rain and took shelter at the famous Sydney Harbor. Thankfully, the sun was out for a short 30-minute window. We ran out to the pier to shoot our “souvenir-landmark-photos”. The rain came back just when we finished our short tour at the Sydney Opera House. It was a short Day 2 for us. We were leaving for Gold Coast in the evening. Nevertheless, we managed to spend some quality time shopping and visiting the Rocks Discovery Museum before the dreadful 15-hour bus ride.

Day 1 – Sydney (Family Reunion)

Exactly 30 days after our last sad goodbye in Singapore, we finally meet again – on our way to Sydney! I wanted to give my boy a surprise. (And to fulfill my promise made to him last Dec when we left him out in the Kenting Tour!) Felicia and I didn’t tell him about my transit in Singapore. Elkan was shocked to see me at the gate last night. He had so many questions about my presence! “You mean, you flew in from Hong Kong to bring us to Australia!”, he exclaimed.

Despite the long, tiring, torturing 12-hour flight, I was energised by the presence of my loved ones and friends. This is a good vacation for all of us (trying to get away from the heat wave and typhoon up north). We love the cool midyear “winter” in Australia. As usual, I travel with an entourage of very close family friends (Meijie & Tracy). Sadly this time, Harshad couldn’t join us. Elkan was really expecting to see Harshad this trip!.

Meijie and Tracy played tour-leader this time. For the first time, I feel so relaxed and carefree. (Usually, I was the one leading the tour, planning and directing – cos I am the most difficult person in the group to please.) For once, it feels good for a change. Upon arrival, Meijie quickly checked in our luggage at the hotel and we went out to explore the city. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty bad – gloomy, windy, chilly and wet. We couldn’t do all the outdoor activities/shopping. Tracy brought us to the Sydney’s WildLife World and Aquarium.

We spent 3 solid good hours there! The WildLife World surpasses my expectation with their wide range of wildlife exhibits and neat glass displays. It allows both adults and children close proximity with the insects, reptiles and animals. However, the Aquarium is a little disappointing. It can’t be compared with the Underwater Worlds in Singapore or Hong Kong. It is very small and looks old. (Being the nation who owns the world’s largest barrier reefs, I expect a lot more.)

The jet-lag effects finally kicked in. By 7pm, all of us were feeling very very tired. We did a quick tour at the Sydney Sky Tower and headed straight to the hotel to rest (seems like a tradition for us now – we have been to all the city towers in Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Taipei, Macau). I hope we have sunny weather tomorrow so we can visit the shopping streets, the beach and the famous Opera House. Tomorrow night will be another long back-breaking transit (when we will leave Sydney for Gold Coast – on a 15-hour overnight coach!) Ouch…backache again – really need a good massage soon.