Monday 8 December 2014

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.

Day Four in Gold Coast
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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.


Related posts:

Planning - Booking of Flight
Booking of Holiday Accommodation and Visa Application
At Changi Airport Terminal 2
Our Scoot Experience - On the Way to Gold Coast
Day One 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




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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.


Related posts:

Planning - Booking of Flight
Booking of Holiday Accommodation and Visa Application
At Changi Airport Terminal 2
Our Scoot Experience - On the Way to 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




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