Amore Ocean Blog: Gold Coast Trip

Showing posts with label Gold Coast Trip. Show all posts

Monday 22 December 2014

Drink Bottle Blender

When we were in Gold Coast, we watched their home shopping TV channels while in our apartment at Swell Resort at night. We noticed that they have quite a number of such TV channels and that there were a few brands of blender on sale on these channels. After watching the infomercials, we got a desire to buy a blender for the sole purpose of producing fruit juice.

While we were shopping at the malls in the Gold Coast, we saw blenders of different brands and sizes. Then we found the drink bottle blender at K-mart at the Pacific Fair shopping mall. They were selling this blender at AUD 15. We thought it was a reasonable price and we decided to buy it. We just needed an adaptor when using this in Singapore.

A few days after we came back to Singapore, we tested it out by blending some honey dew. It was working fine and the honey dew slices were all blended into juice very fast. I think it took less than a minute.

The good thing about using this drink bottle blender was that after blending the juice, we just needed to replace the blade with the cap of the bottle and keep it in the refrigerator for later consumption. Since the blender is only used for a single purpose, we don't need to worry about not cleaning it well and running the risk of food poisoning.

The bad thing was, of course, more storage place was needed.

Qoo10 - Shake n Take Personal Smoothie Blenders One Bottle Two Bottles : Household Goods

Friday 12 December 2014

Thoughts After Gold Coast Trip

This was our first time taking Scoot aeroplane. It was also the first time that there was someone who needed medical assistance on board the same plane as us.

For the last few times when we went for our overseas trips, we always booked a hotel room or at least a motel room. We had never made use of any of the hotel facilities and tour services. We only interacted with the reception staff at the time of checking in and checking out.

This was the first time we booked an apartment. However, this was also the first time we depended so much on the reception staff to book tours, cabs and obtain other information. This was also the first time we used their outdoor pool.

When we came back to Singapore, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the lights at the corridors of our HDB block had been changed to white LED lights. Similarly for the other blocks in our neighbourhood. When we went to NEX shopping mall, we also noticed that all the chairs and tables of the food court on the 4th level had been changed. The chairs now were more comfortable to sit on. Some of the stalls had also changed their signboards. A few days ago, I also noticed that the store display of Metro Compass Point had been changed to include a new brand of apparel just as we entered the second floor of the Metro store.

We also found out that Seletar Mall had opened on 28 Nov 2014 while we were still in Gold Coast. We had been looking forward to visiting the Seletar Mall. We visited the mall two days ago but didn't really have much time to shop around. So we would probably be going there soon to browse around in the other stores.

Just one week away and there were so many changes already. Singapore really changed very fast, ha! ha! ha!

Tuesday 9 December 2014

Our Scoot Experience- The Return Journey

There was a slight delay of about 15 to 20 minutes before the plane took off. Once the plane was in the air and no turbulence, the air crew started to serve the snacks and drinks. This was not part of the package of the FlyBagEat so we did not get anything. Anyway, we were already full.

At about 11.30 am (Gold Coast time), lunch was served (this was part of the FlyBagEat package). My serving of the pasta was very little for me (compared to the soy chicken with rice). At about 2 pm, I was already hungry and I didn't want to take their snacks. So I ate the toblerone that came with my lunch.

Our plane reached Singapore at about 3.25 pm Singapore time. By the time we passed through customs and collected our luggage, all of us were very hungry.

We ate at Changi Airport before heading home.

Day Five and Day Six in Gold Coast

29 Nov 2014 was our second last day in Gold Coast. It was a Saturday so Swell Resort's reception closed at 2 pm. We had to settle any outstanding balances on this day as we would be departing in the early morning on the following day (Sunday) when the reception would not be open. We also got the reception staff to do an advanced booking of a cab for our departure the next day.

We spent the morning and early afternoon at Pacific Fair Shopping Centre. In the early evening, we went to the Swell Resort's outdoor swimming pool. The swimming pool also had a heated spa so we stayed in the spa pool for the whole time because the water was warmer and the depth was suitable for Sera. We brought our own towels as the reception was already closed by then, so it was not possible to rent a beach towel from them.

The next day, 30 Nov 2014, we woke up at 5 am so that we had enough time to clear the rubbish and do some last minute packing. The cab came at 6.15 am to fetch us to the airport. This cab driver helped us to load the luggage into the cab and helped us to unload when we arrived at the Gold Coast airport too :) .

I was surprised to see my friend at the Gold Coast airport in the same check-in queue as me. She too had come to the Gold Coast with her family and we were taking the same flight back to Singapore. Such a coincidence!

After checking-in and passing through the central security checks, we had breakfast at the food court inside the departure area and shopped at a souvenir store. At 8.25 am, we proceeded to the international security check-in and then through customs. After passing through these, we passed through a duty free store. I found the moisturizer and serum of the brand that I normally used. They were sold as one set at a much lower price than if I were to buy them separately, so I decided to buy them.

Day Four in Gold Coast
Our Scoot Experience- The Return Journey

Qoo10 - Moisturizers / Creams Items on sale : (Q·Ranking)：Singapore No 1 shopping site

Monday 8 December 2014

Day Four in Gold Coast

On 28 Nov 2014, we approached the reception staff at Swell Resort to book the Aquaduck tour for us on the same day. It happened that they had some problem with their printing system so the Aquaduck tour allowed us to book through our resort first and pay them at the Aquaduck tour desk in Surfers' Paradise. We booked the 3 pm tour so we had to be there by 2.30 pm to make payment.

Aquaduck tour desk

Onboard the Aquaduck vehicle

All the children riding on the Aquaduck were given the opportunity to take the helm of the Aquaduck for a while, under the supervision of the captain, of course. Both Lynn and Sera received the Official Aquaduck License Certificate from the captain and posed for a picture with him.

Souvenirs were also available for purchase. They were so cute, so naturally both Lynn and Sera wanted one for themselves.

After the tour, we spent some time shopping and eating in Surfers' Paradise.

On our way back to our resort, the cab driver asked us about our departure time and date. He was quite concerned and nearly wanted to pick us up. However, he told us Saturday nights were usually busy nights and he would knock off at 5 am on Sunday. So he advised us to make an advanced booking for a cab on the night before our departure, i.e. Saturday night.

Day Two in Gold Coast
Day Three in Gold Coast
Day Five and Day Six in Gold Coast
Our Scoot Experience- The Return Journey

Qoo10 - Singapore Captain Explorer DUKW Duck Tour. Best Price Guaranteed! : Travel / Leisure

Day Three in Gold Coast

On 27 Nov 2014, we visited Movie World.

We went to the Junior Driving School and the kids were given free Junior Driving School licenses.

That evening, we dropped by the Australia Fair Shopping Centre for dinner and shopping. They opened until 9 pm that day, which was a Thursday.

We found a shop called Mr Toy's Toyworld on the first floor selling many toys such as Lego, "Frozen" dolls, Shopkins, Peppa Pig etc. Sera was happy to find Shopkins blind bags there and bought one (A$2.99) for herself. Lynn was not able to find a Lego set that she wanted. She managed to find one at the K-mart on the same floor.

We left the shopping centre at about 8.40 pm and went to the spot where the previous taxi driver dropped us, which was at the Marine Parade. Then we realised that it was a bit out of the way and cabs would not come here at this hour. Ardon tried to call for the cab but it seemed that non-Australian sim card numbers could not be used to book a cab even with auto roaming. We thought our Australia sim card had data credit but no call credit and got a bit worried (blur lah). So we approached a man who happened to come out of the building. As it was starting to rain, he brought us upstairs (sheltered) back to the ground floor of the Australia Fair Shopping Centre and told us how to get to another taxi stand from there. Taxis were readily available at a taxi stand along Nerang Street. We were very grateful for his help.

Qoo10 - Travel Essential - Travalo Justice League 4ml Refillable Perfume Bottl... : Cosmetics

Day Two in Gold Coast

Day Four in Gold Coast

Day Five and Day Six in Gold Coast

Our Scoot Experience- The Return Journey

Qoo10 - *MTS*[UPDATED 24TH NOV] Shopkins Collectibles Sweet Treats Dairy Party... : Kid’s Clothing /...

Sunday 7 December 2014

Day Two in Gold Coast

On the morning of 26 Nov 2014, we visited a convenience store at a Caltex petrol station near to the Swell Resort to get some pastries for breakfast. The Caltex station was about 203 metres away from the Swell Resort, about a 4 minutes walk.

After breakfast at our apartment, we headed down to the tour desk (which also doubled as the resort's reception) to get the theme park tickets. The resort's staff was able to book the tickets online which gave us a combo pass that enabled us to visit the three parks (Sea World, Movie World and Wet 'N Wild) at a lower price than if we were to purchase them at each theme park. We could have purchased them online before going to the Gold Coast but we chose not to. We didn't want to bring so many documents over. The combo pass deals varies from time to time and some offers were only meant for locals.

The reception staff also helped us to book a cab to Sea World. We did not rent a car although it might have been cheaper as we were not familiar with the roads there. Taking a bus would take up too much waiting and travelling time. The bus fares were not cheap either so it was more efficient for us to take a cab since there were four of us. I think the cab fare was about double that of Singapore.

On reaching Sea World, naturally Lynn and Sera wanted to visit the Penguin encounter. They are crazy about penguins :p.

Polar bear behind

The Sky High Skyway was under maintenance so we did not have a chance to take a ride in it.

We managed to catch a 3D movie on Spongebob Squarepants.

Lynn and Sera were glad it was a 3D and not a 4D movie. They didn't quite like the water spraying on them and the tickling they felt when they watched a 4D movie at Universal Studios Singapore :p .

After walking for a while, we boarded the Sea World monorail so that we could enjoy a bird's eye view of Sea World and take a rest for a while.

After some souvenir shopping at Sea World, we went back to our resort by cab.

That night, we walked along Cornor Street to the many eating places there. We turned left from Cornor Street and found a chinese restaurant called Go Yum Cha along the Gold Coast Highway. They served various flavours of fried rice.

After dinner we walked down the street and after a left turn, we found another supermarket called the Golden Casket along West Street. There were pre-paid sim cards sold there and we felt comfortable getting one after one of the staff opened a package to show us the instructions on how to activate the sim card. We also bought some food and fruits for breakfast.

Qoo10 - [LTS]LH-ML103/Mini water dispenser/Penguin shape/8-cup daily need /des... : Household Goods

Day one in Gold Coast

We arrived at Swell Resort which was located at Burleigh Heads at about 4.15 pm (Gold Coast time). We were greeted by the friendly staff at the reception desk on arrival. The check-in procedure was fast and we were allocated an apartment on the 4th floor.

This two bedroom apartment had an ensuite bathroom in the master bedroom and another common bathroom near the other bedroom. This was the first time we booked an apartment for our overseas trip. It definitely costs less than booking two rooms in a hotel. The downside of staying in an apartment was that we had to clear our own rubbish as there would not be frequent housekeeping service. According to the Swell Resort website, they do provide "mid-stay" service if the guests stayed for eight nights or more. For our case, we were only staying for five nights, so there was no housekeeping service.

Sera was happy to sit on the high chair. A full kitchen behind the bar counter.

King size bed in master bedroom. I like!

A small walk-in wardrobe in the master bedroom that lead to the ensuite bathroom

Bathtubs in both bathrooms

A rectangular dinner table that could accommodate up to six persons.

The other bedroom had 2 single beds.

The pictures below were taken from the apartment's balcony.

Sera sitting on the sun chair at the balcony

After a long flight, we were all very tired so we rested for a while before venturing out. We wanted to go to a Woolworths supermarket, which was supposed to be the nearest from the Swell Resort. Along the way there were many of these trees.

The flowers were orange, bright and beautiful.

We were a bit lost with no mobile data access to Google Maps. We did not use data roaming as it was pretty expensive and we had intended to purchase a pre-paid sim card in the Gold Coast itself. We approached a man to ask for directions and he actually brought us to the supermarket himself. Such a kind soul! Woolworths was hidden away from the main road so without that kind man's help, we would probably be going up and down the slope with the supermarket nowhere in sight.

We bought some fruits from Woolworths and went to Crust Pizza for dinner. Crust Pizza was just outside the Swell Resort when we took the lift to the ground floor and exited through the carpark .

After dinner, we headed back to our apartment. We were all very tired and rested early.

We did not book a sea view room as it was more expensive. We were not so particular about having a sea view. Our apartment was quiet at night.

Our Scoot Experience - On the Way to Gold Coast

Sera was very excited to board the plane. To her, it was her first time onboard an aeroplane. Actually it was her second time. She could not remember her first time onboard an aeroplane as she was too young then.

It was quite cold onboard the Scoot aeroplane, similar to other full service airlines.

After taking off at about 2.30 am, the airline staff (the scootes) went around the cabin with their Scoot cafe's snacks and beverages. Anyone could buy from them. We were already full at that time so there was no need to get any food.

We managed to sleep for about an hour or so. After that, it was quite difficult to fall asleep again for Ardon, Lynn and myself. There were a lot of "ding" sounds arising from passengers pressing the "call for help" buttons which were located at the side of the seat handles of every seat. While some were genuine calls for help, others were pressed accidentally. This included myself and Sera. I accidentally pressed it when I came back from the lavatory as I held onto my seat's handle for support to sit down. Sera accidentally pressed it while she was asleep.

Meals (included in our FlyBagEat package airfare) were served at 6.30 am (Singapore time). Lynn was too tired to eat so she only ate a bit. Sera also took a few bites only. Canned drinks (Coke or green tea) and Toblerone chocolate bars were served with our combo meals. As Lynn and I did not want to consume the canned beverages at that time, we paid another $8 in total for a cup of coffee and a cup of tea. I thought we could keep the canned beverages for later consumption. I only noticed that there was a water dispenser near to the lavatory much later. Then at about 7.30 am, we realised that we had to disembark at the Sydney airport to go through the security checks at the airport again before boarding the same flight TZ 3 Scoot aeroplane. We were too full to drink the Coke and green tea. We had to disembark at around 12.45 pm Sydney time (Sydney is 3 hours ahead of Singapore time). The flight arrived early at around 12.20 pm Sydney time. We had no choice but to leave the canned drinks on board :(.

After boarding the same TZ 3 flight at around 1.15 pm Sydney time, the plane took off at about 1.55 pm. From Sydney to Gold Coast, there was a baby onboard the flight who kept crying. It seemed that the baby was having some problems and needed medical assistance. The air crew had a busy time doing first aid work. The plane arrived at the Gold Coast airport at about 3.20 pm. Before landing, there was the strange smell again.

We were told to remain in our seats as the medical team had to come up first to check and help the baby. So, we waited for another 15 minutes or so before we could disembark. We had to walk down a flight of stairs from the aeroplane and take a short walk before reaching the Gold Coast airport terminal building. Luckily we didn't have a lot of carry on baggage with us.

At the airport's public area, there was a cafe so we ate some food before going to our holiday accommodation - the Swell Resort.

Taxis were readily available at the airport. There was someone there to guide us to a Gold Coast cab. The cab driver helped us to load the luggage into the cab and helped us to unload when we arrived at Swell Resort. Such excellent service!

Saturday 6 December 2014

At Changi Airport Terminal 2

Our flight to the Gold Coast was on 25 Nov 2014 at 1.45 am. This meant that we would have to be at Changi Airport Terminal 2 on 24 Nov 2014 at 10.45 pm, 3 hours before our departure as advised by Flyscoot. As we were early, there was no one in the queue and we were able to check in almost immediately.

After checking in, we cleared immigration and customs and went into the departure area. As it was an eight hours flight, we went to MacDonald's to eat as we were not sure what time we would be served food on board the flight (we booked "FlyBagEat" with Flyscoot) .

After eating, we had a bit of time before we had to go to the departure gate. So we took a leisurely stroll in the departure area and eventually saw the "Enchanted Garden" and "Orchid Garden and Koi Pond" in the departure transit lounge at level 2.

We were told to be at the boarding gates at 12.45 am, one hour before the flight's departure time. No boarding calls would be made to remind us. So, we kept track of the time and arrived at the departure gate on time.

We could not bring in the distilled water we bought from the convenience store near MacDonald's through the security checks so we drank most of the water and kept the bottle to be refilled later after clearing security. We waited for a short while before we could board the plane. The plane was able to take off on time at 1.45 am without any delays.

Related posts:

Planning - Booking of Flight
Booking of Holiday Accommodation and Visa Application
Our Scoot Experience - On the Way to Gold Coast
Day One in Gold Coast
Day Two in Gold Coast
Day Three in Gold Coast
Day Four in Gold Coast
Day Five and Day Six in Gold Coast
Our Scoot Experience- The Return Journey

Booking of Holiday Accommodation and Visa Application

After we had booked our flight to Gold Coast Australia, I sourced around for a suitable holiday accommodation. Our flight back to Singapore on 30 Nov 2014 was at 9.25 am which meant we had to be at the airport around 6.25 am. So I was torn between booking an accommodation in Surfers Paradise (central) and one nearer to the Gold Coast airport (further from the theme parks).

I had read that Surfers Paradise could be noisy at night. In the end we booked a two bedroom apartment at Swell Resort as the resort is just a 15 minutes drive from Gold Coast Airport and the apartment has a king size bed in the master bedroom.

After we booked the apartment, we sent an email to Swell Resort just to check and confirm on a number of things. They also gave us the instructions on after reception hour check in procedure. Their reception hours are 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays, 9 am to 2 pm on Saturdays and 9 am to 1 pm on Sundays.

For Singaporeans, we also need to apply for a travel visa to enter into Australia and this can be done online.

Related posts:

Planning - Booking of Flight
At Changi Airport Terminal 2
Our Scoot Experience - On the Way to Gold Coast
Day One in Gold Coast Day Two in Gold Coast
Day Two in Gold Coast
Day Three in Gold Coast
Day Four in Gold Coast
Day Five and Day Six in Gold Coast
Our Scoot Experience- The Return Journey

Thursday 4 December 2014

Planning - Booking of Flight

We had the intention of going for an overseas trip this year. I was looking for information on Taiwan, Gold Coast or Perth in Australia, Vietnam and some parts of China. I could not decide which one because of the costs involved and other uncertainties, but my preferences at that point in time were Taiwan and the Gold Coast, Australia.

By the time we could firm up our departure dates, many of the departure dates for tours to Taiwan did not coincide with the dates that Ardon could take leave for. Doing free and easy in Taiwan seemed to cost more and the air tickets to Taiwan were also quite expensive during the holiday season. The cheaper airfare from a full service airline involved a stopover in another country's airport before reaching our final destination. This would waste too much time and time was not on our side. Seats from budget airlines to Taiwan were limited on the days that we wanted.

My next choice was the Gold Coast, Australia. However, after checking with Flyscoot and other airlines, the airfare, including their surcharges and taxes, would cost between $3300 to $4000+ for our family of four to just get onboard the aeroplane. So it seemed like an impossible dream. Perth was not on the list due to the schedule of the flight time. Effectively we would only get 2 days there. Comparing carefully between the tours in Vietnam and China, for the places that we wanted to go, the tours would cost at least $1000 which means $4000 or more for the whole family during the holiday peak season. In order to visit those scenic places in Vietnam and China, joining a tour group would be much easier. I nearly settled for Bangkok. However we had just been there a few years ago, so I would prefer to visit another place.

Then, the impossible happened. One evening, I checked my email and realized that Flyscoot was running a promotion with one way fares to Gold Coast at $98. What's more, the dates that we wanted qualified for the promotion. This meant that - inclusive of surcharges, taxes, meals, check-in baggage allowances, seat selections and travel insurance - it was about $2500+ for the whole family. That was a total discount of $1000! So, naturally we booked the tickets on the same day. The journey to Singapore to the Gold Coast would involve a one hour stopover at Sydney airport. However, the return journey was a direct flight from the Gold Coast back to Singapore.

Day Four in Gold Coast
Day Five and Day Six in Gold Coast
Our Scoot Experience- The Return Journey

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