Bern came by my place on Sunday afternoon after finishing his work. We went back to his place to pick up his camera charger before we made our way to the airport =D Popeye's chicken for dinner! We walked around the duty-free shops (hate pesky sales assistants who shadows your every move!!) and we tested the fragrances etc before making our way to the gate.
The good thing about travelling through the night is that you catch the sunrise :)
Time to wake up for some breakfast!
Soon, we touched down! (7ish Australia time)
G'day Australia!
We found our driver who would take us to our hotel after some time, and off we went on a long journey where we caught another forty winks :) We were the last to be dropped off at our hotel hehehe... By the way, the weather was really lovely in Gold Coast.
I love the hotel! It's like the service apartment we stayed in BKK for our cheerleading exchange several years back, but even better. A small kitchen area with things we need to prepare meals, etc. We have a small balcony too!
We quickly washed up, applied moisturiser and sunblock (me lah) and off we went to explore the area. It was still pretty early and shops don't open early here.. so we decided to check out the beach that was conveniently located behind our hotel.
The peaceful road with little cars at 8 - 9ish on a Monday morning
We are here! The sand is really fine and soft, I love it here. :) The sand was so fine, it got into my shoes and stayed there most of the remaining day. >=(
Trying to get as much sand outta my shoe!
Acting like a crazy
Baby's rubbish, that's him. Hahahaha
My baby with my FishEye 2 :)
We snapped some pictures and went off to check out Surfers Paradise Boulevard
Hard Rock Gold Coast :)
We walked around somemore.. and met the iconic Meter Maids!
You gotta give it to them for wearing so little in this weather! FYI, the Surfers Paradise Meter Maids were introduced in 1965 to help beat the bad image created by the installation of parking meters on the tourist strip in December 1964. A controversial promotion it was, young women dressed in gold lame bikinis and tiaras strolled the streets of Surfers Paradise feeding coins into expired parking meters and leaving a calling card under the windscreen wipers. In 1994, the tiaras were replaced by the sun-conscious and true aussie akubra hat ideal for the tropical climate. Althoug the gold bikini is still accepted, the gold lame has been replaced by gold lycra and sequins. In the 21st century, they are more than just meter feeders, they are also tourism ambassadors and a mobile source of tourist information.
Here we are at the entrance of Surfers Paradise:
And our first attraction of the day: Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum!
We paid kids' price ($8) because I printed out the vouchers! :)
Off we went on our self-guided tour to take a look at the exhibits... Mr Ripley went travelling far and wide and brought back all the bizzare, strange things he enjoyed :)
I guess most of us already know of this.. women in China used to bind their feet... painful and cruel... *OUCH!* =(
The tallest man standing at 2.72m! I'm only 5"1'.
That's a really big hand..
Get this right - this is not a lady, it's a man!
The real three-legged man: I wonder how he walks...
Magical string-less harp that can be used to play music! Technology can be so amazing heh
The inspiration behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!
These are fertility statues. Beside these statues was a frame with all the testimonials from people who gotten pregnant after touching the fertility statues :)
Yikes! Shrunken heads.... =\
Tips to prepare a shrunken head. :|
I think I've read about this in primary school, these ladies wear hoops around their neck, and with each passing year, they add one more. If they commit adultery, the hoops will be removed and they will die a slow death as their neck muscles cannot support their neck anymore.
There's an exhibit about tongues and amazing things that some people can do. There's a video showing how some people can fold/roll/twist their tongue and they encourage you to try by looking at the mirror located conveniently beside the TV. It's only later when we walked further down that we came by a room where I realised it was a two-way mirror! Meaning I could see what the people were doing, or trying to roll their tongues in the mirror ahahaha
It's possible to be alive and still visit Hell and Paradise. Ripley did it, so can you!
This boat is made with matchsticks!
There were some other illusions exhibits... very interesting... hahaha
We were done and it's time for MovieWorld! We got our tickets from a discount tickets booth. Tip: It's good to buy from such booths because the tickets are cheaper as compared to buying them at the attraction itself. We also got a slip of paper with the various bus numbers we can take to get to other places like Pacific Fair, Harbour Town, yadayada. I really like how punctual the buses were, before I came to OZ, I had the impression that you had to wait half an hour or so if you miss a bus. But it's not true! The timings of the bus services were clearly written on the board so you know what time the bus will arrive. If the bus arrive early, it will wait for a while before moving on to the next stop.
It was a pretty long ride, so we took a short shuteye. :) We got off at the train station where we waited for another bus to take us there. We've got some time to kill, so we bought some chips to munch on while waiting.
We are here, we are here!
Characters were aplenty! Lotsa photo-taking opportunities hehehe
Justice league :)
Bern & Austin Powers - Yeah baby yeah!
Batman and us. With his arms around us, I say we can be sure that we're safe hahaha
Scooby-Doo & Mystery Inc gang & me!
We decided to go for Shrek 4D adventure first since we were about 15 minutes or so to admittance to the show. And it will end just in time for the Street Parade, so why not? :)
the 3 little pigs and Pinocchio trapped in the dungeon
Poor Gingy strapped down on the table =(
We were issued "Orge-vision" glasses as we entered. It was very fun! We came face to face with the characters, galloped in their carriage, had spiders dropped on our laps and felt donkey's dragon breathed into our faces =D
When we came out, we joined the crowd for the parade
After watching the parade, we went on for some rides! Wrmed up with Road Runner Roller Coaster that's family friendly. :) Then we took some more photos along the way
Bern and the Tazdevil heh
Bern with Daffy :)
Waiting for Bugs Bunny to stop by :)
Next up, Scooby-Doo spooky coaster ride! I don't do very well for rides in the dark. The laser lighting and sound effects had me ducking, screaming and laughing. Definitely got my adrenalin pumping. It's like the panasonic ride at Escape, but 13249534768 times better. =D
We dropped by Wild West for a quick bite :)
We took a walk up to the rides. And seeing that it's a ride where I will get wet, I think it's better to skip it because getting wet in a cold weather ain't gonna be fun hehe.
Oh! We made time to drop by Flourish & Blotts to take a look at some Hogwarts school supplies =D
Since we're here, we might as well buy an owl for a pet :)
School books and student diaries for sale!
Maybe I should join Quidditch as an CCA.
Potter costumes for you? :)
We also dropped by Willy Wonka's chocolate factory!
I was really expecting Wonka candies like the chocolate bars and all =( But it didn't, and I only wanted to get Wonka-related candies, so I got some Red Skins instead.
The more thrilling rides were at the entrance and we're on our way there... =D
We're at Superman Escape rollercoaster ride! It's damn FUN!!
Take a look at the structure....
We escaped from a terrifying earthquake in the Metropolis subway as our hero Superman propels us vertically into the sky at 100km per hour in 2 seconds flat! It was a long queue for this ride. While we were waiting for our turn, the safety instructions looped manymany times and I got it down pat in my head. I enjoyed the ride alot! Bern was resisting and he ended up tearing a muscle hahaha =P
At first Bern was a bit hesitant to go for the Superman ride, but after that, we were a bit floaty and groggy, so what the heck, we went for the Batwing spaceshot as well! =D I took off my shoes because I'm scared it will fly off as we plunge down hehe
This ride is a rapid 4.5G vertical launch up a 60 metre tower and follwed by a drop into a negative descent =D
The vehicle behind me was blown up before, and it was painstakingly put together again. :)
Our day was almost over, Bern bought Gingy whereas I got a Hogwarts student diary as souvenirs.
We waited for the bus to come and headed back to Surfers Paradise. We walked about, and I found this shop that sells Tokidoki stuff! I got a Tokidoki pendant at $40 AUD! It was retailing at $45, but there was a discount as it was a new shop :) I also managed to buy a top too. We went to Woolsworth and got some food before making our way back to the hotel. We passed by this new shop selling Stussy and Paul Frank stuff and in we went. I walked out with my Paul Frank slippers (12 AUD) and Bern got himself a teeshirt! He also received a free Stussy iPod nano pouch! =D
That's the end of our first day :) Will blog again soon about Currumbin Sanctuary, wallabies and more!
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire