Australia Day 5 - Back to Sydney

After 2 days of thrilling adventures exploring Gold Coast, it is time again to pack our luggage to head back to Sydney. Since Gold Coast is widely known for their beautiful beaches and the sea, my *mds* and I decided to head down to the beach nearest to our hotel to catch a sunrise before our return flight. Too bad that we did not manage to see the sun slowly rising due to the clouds at the horizon, but nevertheless, the view present before us was beautiful. If the weather had not been so cold in the morning and if that incident did not happened, I think we would have enjoy the experience more.

The Coolangatta Airport. (It looks extremely alike to our budget terminal right??) In addition, there is no eateries inside the airport!! =(

The Jetstar plane carrying us back to Sydney. Now with the recent Brazil air disaster, better check the model of the plane you are boarding.....

.

The ANZAC War Memorial

.

Archibald Fountain

New South Wales State Library

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The iconic Sydney Opera House

Circular Quay

.

When one has reached the Sydney Opera House, how can one walked away without catching a show in the opera house? After reviewing all the available options, my *mds* and I decided to catch this drama entitled: "When the Rain Stops Falling". Below is the Synopsis of the drama:

"2039. Fish are a rarity, almost extinct. Rainfall is incessant. The planet has been ravaged by generations of abuse. The scars left by our ancestors are deep, marking the environment and humanity itself.
.
Crossing continents and spanning four generations of one family, When The Rain Stops Falling delves into the past and reaches into the future, bringing to light the enduring impact of collective and individual actions.
.
It starts with a phone call. Gabriel York’s estranged son, Andrew, has contacted him. He wants to visit. He wants to know his father; to discover why he abandoned his own son. Andrew will not find the answers to his questions but as the stories of his ancestors are played out, the terrible history of his family unravels.
.
In this epic play, Andrew Bovell (Lantana, Scenes from a Separation, Holy Day) weaves a complex web of secrets, lies, misplaced loyalty and betrayal. This work re-affirms Bovell’s place as a remarkable chronicler of the Australian experience and one of our greatest story tellers.
.
When The Rain Stops Falling was acclaimed as the theatrical hit of last year’s Adelaide Festival, bewitching audiences with its intelligence and multi-layered brilliance. Sydney Theatre Company proudly presents this astonishing Brink production in the Drama Theatre of Sydney Opera House for a strictly limited season from 7 May 2009. "

We managed to get the ticket at AUD30 each because the two of us are considered to be students!! How nice of the counter salesperson!!

.

By the time the drama ended, it was already quite late. We hastily walked back to our hotel as the streets in Sydney (to me) are not very safe. You can see people high on alcohol, blabbering nonsense and doing obscene acts (urinating on the streets). As we get ready to rest for the night, tomorrow will be an adventure to the Direct Factory Outlet at Homebush for more shopping actions at cheap price!! =)

Goodbye my Motorola V9

Forgive me for drowning you in 30cm depth of water.

Australia Day 4 - off to the MovieWorld

After our beautiful dreams in Dreamworld the day before, its time to hit the road again for more exciting adventures at the Movieworld. We woke up early again to catch the GC shuttle to try to be one of the first people to get into the park when it opens.

However, apparently there are a lot of other enthusiastic people that have the same idea as us~ Look at the queue below!! Luckily, we had our tickets with us and no time was wasted at the ticket office.One of the rides that we look forward to is the Superman Escape. Look at the loop and the height!! That will be so exciting if we get to ride on it. However, sadly, it is down for maintenance until further notice!!! Why must this happen when we are here?? *Grrr* I Wish I can go back to Cedar Point again! Dragster and the Millennium Force!!

Some of the characters that I managed to catch to take photos with. =)

Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster - A coaster in darkness, where you will experience unexpected drops, wild swings and even riding backwards!

.

Now, Now, where is Batman?? =)

The Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes.

Austin Powers!!

And here is the Scoopy Doo family in one of the drama

Shrek in their Movieworld daily character parade

Daffy Duck

Sylvester from the looney tunes!!

..We had a great day and fun at the MovieWorld. There are a lot of activities, for example, the Shrek 4D and stun shows no shown here due to space limitation. The stun show was simply awesome!! For the Shrek 4D, it is the same one that we had seen back in the USA. For food wise, so far it has been burgers and fries and we are pretty sick of those, not to mentioned that they charged us expensively. It is around AUD12 for a meal I think. The chicken that they cooked are super hard and dry, totally unlike the kind that we will get in KFC or McDoonalds. Luckily, their beef patty is better. Tomorrow, we will be flying off to Sydney to continue our adventures and hopefully, there will be other variety of food instead of western again.

Australia Day 3 - Dreaming in DreamWorld

Day 3 since arriving into Australia and 2nd day in Gold Coast. We woke up early to brace the freezing temperatures to wait for the bus to pick us up to the Dream World theme park. Luckily, we have bought our tickets at the airport, or else, we will have to squeeze with the throngs of people from the picture below (horrible)!! This is already considered quite good since it is their off-peak season, I can't imagine what it will be like when their peak season kicks in...Wipeout - that is what they called this mean machine. It will toss you left right center and upside down. Confirm guaranteed with great trills!! I think there is a person merlion-ing from the machine when we are leaving. I saw the staffs busy spraying the seats with water....
.

The Claw - Another mean machine to bring you sky high and turn you 360 degree, experiencing about a few G when you are coming down all at the same time. Excellent trill!

These birds in the picture are what I called them the road sweeper. They are the unofficial cleaners "employed" at the park to clean up any food the tourists have dropped while they are eating. In a moment, all the organics on the grounds are inside these bird's stomach. Butter trading of food for work huh?
Yes, how can I be in Australia without taking pictures of their beloved kangaroos. See.... the kangaroo beside me likes taking pictures!! =p Thanks to *mds* for taking the perfect shot.
.

The Tasmania devils. Not as menacing as they are portrayed to be.

The Koala bears taking their afternoon nap after their lunch.
Big bad Crocodiles - Don't they look like logs on water?
A eagle awaiting to soar into the sky

Their water theme park that I have no access to. The slides looks exciting, don't they?

Our dinner back at the hotel overlooking the hotel's pool. Nice ambiance, nice view, nice company.

.

And to finish the day with a few sips of the red wine.

Australia Day 2 - To the Gold Coast

After 1 night in Sydney, we woke up early next morning to prepare for our internal flight to Gold Coast via Jet Star at the domestic airport. By afternoon, we landed safely at the Coolangatta Airport and we proceed to buy our transportation ticket to our hotel. The 3 day Freedom pass we bought includes unlimited local bus ride, free theme park transfer and a airport transfer to and fro from our hotel valid for 14 days from the date of purchase. (p/s: The Coolangatta Airport is the worst airport I have ever encountered. It not only looks like our budget terminal, the whole airport is deprived of food as well!!)

.The friendly bus that took us to our hotel - Australis Sovereign from the picture below.
Our hotel room comes with a balcony with a sea view (that is minus the few blocks of building in front of us...)

Gold Coast beaches with people para-surfing on it - Strong winds, strong waves and a nice view.

A beautiful sunset complimenting our dinner at the Southport Yacht Club

If you are in Australia, no matter what, you must taste their fishes. For that, I have their fish of the day. A huge slab of fish that comes with boiled rice, peas, and some greens. Yummy!! Their fishes are confirmed fresh and sweet.

The yacht club that we had our dinner

Don't know if the readers can see this picture clearly, but it shows the luminosity of the moon shining on the clouds on the sea horizon. A beautiful scene indeed.

Me and my *mds* =)

Australia Day 1 - Landing into Sydney

After 4 years of undergraduate life, I have had enough of studying. I have waited to say this for a long time (since maybe 2 years ago?), and that is: "Goodbye NUS!! I graduate lo!!" Well, I am almost there, but I still have to wait for the eastern wind to come on May 29 2009 at 3pm. Hopefully everything goes well.....

.

For mine and *mds* graduate trip, it was all the way free and easy. All the hotel accommodations and transports are all pre-planned or pre-booked so that we need not worry about them when we landed at the airport. Time is of the essence and we have to make sure every single seconds are used to the fullest. =)

. On board the Qantas flight to Sydney, I found a very interesting thing - Magnum are served on board the flight and they are made by Ben & Jerry!! I only knew that they made ice cream in cups/tubs but in sticks too? Why they never do this in Singapore??

The train station that we alighted to go to our hotel for the night. At least, our MRT are not as complicated as theirs. There is no such thing as express service trains where you have to scrutinised all the stops for the incoming train to see if it will drop you off at the stop you wanted.

Museum stop - the stop which has seen the history of Australia unfold. There are history pictures on the tiles as you walk out of the station to hit the streets. Interesting, and certainly not as boring as our MRT stations. =p

Y Hyde Park Hotel - the hotel where the rates are cheap and location is good. It is conveniently located at the central of everything such that they are all within walking distances!!

.

St Mary Cathedral

Our first dinner in Australia - Instant Noodles!! We walked towards the wrong direction on the street such that we did not see any restaurant or eateries at all!! In the end, we have to settle for these instant noodles that we have bought in a convenient stall. We discovered later (when we came back to Sydney again) that had we walk in the other direction, we could have so much more choice and definitely better food to eat!

Back

Back to the hot and sunny Singapore last Sunday. Though I appreciate the warm, but at night, it's just a little too hot isn't it? Well, give me some time to sort the photos, maybe a week or two before I start uploading it. Where shall my next holiday be and more importantly when?? =p