Gold Coast ~ Part 2

14th Oct 2011..our 2nd day of the trip but 1st day in Gold Coast..we arrived around 7.30am but got out from international arrival gate at about 8.15am..lama jugak nak lepas masuk gate tu..it is true when everybody said that australian airport customs are strict..they are! especially to tourists who come from different continent. Plus, we brought a bag full of dried and canned foods so we've been detained by the customs for checkup. Actually, we have to declare all items especially medicine and food we brought in first, then only they checked. But a big thanks to Yan as an AJK makanan, all the foods lepas kastam. All the food ok..which means she did her research well..tapi..tapi..tapi..yang buat kami lama tersekat di kastam ialah sebungkus kecil pil poh chai kepunyaan seseorg yg takut sakit perut ketike dalam plane..we called it as tragedi 'kerana poh chai'..korang nak tau pil poh chai tu ape? inilah mendenye..

ngeee..pil chi-kit teck aun laaa..they called it poh chai pill..tips: dun ever bring this to australia unless u wanna declare yourseld having seizure if not taking this pill..siap kene isi borang declaration bagai ok. haha..ok, u may want to check this web 1st before thinking of bringing foods/medicine from outside.

So, after the detailed check up, we were safely in the gold coast territory legally. So, first thing first, we have to figured out how we're going to be transported to our pre-booked apartment. So, at last, we made our way to this booth called Shuttle. They have good bargain on free-several-day pass on bus or they called it as Translink. It cost us around AUD95 for 5-days free pass of translink inclusive of airport transfer to our apartment an also transfer to theme parks. Comparing to renting a car which may cost us more (rental fee, petrol and parking fee), we decided to maneuver around the city by bus; yet, the system is quite good, and easy to understand (ok, we took at least one day to understand what bus to take, and where to take it..ok la tu kan..hehe)..plus the bus route covers all attraction places..

please look into this booth if you choose to ride on bus around the city

this is the 5-day-free pass that cost us AUD95 which is about RM320. Basically inclusive of all transportation cost we need to spend during our stay.

meneliti all phamplet/flyers about all attraction places and activities in gold coast. lots and lots of info to digest. but all there. you just have to dig in. gambar di atas menunjukkan ke-serious-an berbincang mengenai what other things that gold coast offers.

on the bus that transfer us from gc airport to our apartment. took us around 45minutes to reach out apartment

Ok, cerita sket pasal our accommodation. We stayed at Blue Water Luxury Apartment (ok,name je luxury, tapi xder lah luxurious sgt pon) which we pre-booked via booking.com. That is the best bargain that we can get so far since there are 4 of us and we need 2 bedroom apartment with all the facilities (kitchen, kitchenette, and laundry). The apartment located in Labrador, which is about 7km from Surfers Paradise, the heart of Gold Coast (GC). Oh, sangat x mampu untuk duduk di tengah2 bandaraya itu..cause for an apartment like where we stayed may cost us at least AUD50 more per night at Surfers Paradise. The apartment cost us RM420/person for 6d 5n.

all round the apartment..so ok la for RM330 per night kan? bahagi empat? you do the math..

 Jadi..hari pertama nie sgt penat after 7 hours in plane..kitorg rehat jap..then terus sambung activity dengan as per planned itinerary..since it is our first day, we planned to just go around the city and hit the shopping place. So, we headed to Pacific Fair. Since we had the 5-day-free-pass, tersalah naik bas pon xder masalah. haha..the journey took longer than expected sbb salah naik bas..

Review on Pacific Fair..emmm ok laa..for me, NOT a good bargain shopping place...haha..i prefer Harbour Town (we'll get there in one of next entry ya..)..didnt buy much here unless shirt and dress from Cotton On..but it has ice cream stall yang damn delicious and an amazing kebab stall ever..this kebab stall is the best-est we ever had at GC..andd...the place got Coles (a market like Tesco/Carrefour) that close at 10.00pm whereas the rest shops closed at 5pm..so, we bought our food supplies here in later time..

a local is trying to help us with the bus system..oh, he's handsome but he's a kid...:p

Yan yang gembira dapat eskrem besh...

strolling around

inside the not-so-cheap-Shopping Centre..but fae, liza n yan did shop for perfume here..its quite a good bargain..

this is the kebab stall im talking about..if you're happen to come here dun forget to fill ur stomach with this..its worthy

kedai kebab yang ala2 subway..bahan2 yg nak taruk dalam kebab kite boleh pilih sndiri

ok..too much photo of this kebab thingy...jadi dapat bayangkan kesedapannye kan?

shopping food supplies @ coles in pacific fair

Later that night..we come out again..to the famous surfers paradise...since the bus system is 24hours, so we have no problem to go out late night. Its weekend night, so we can see hot chicks come and out of bars and pub parties..but our main intention is to go to the night market..nothing much been sold here except for rare items for gifts and souvenir..but that night we had a extremely beautiful moon by the sea..its one hell of a view..

street performer..rare!

dance floor in the middle of the street

 the beautiful moon by the sea..oh, so romantic!

the night market

merenung bulan..bahagia, bukan?

us in front of hard rock cafe..ala..lampu x nyale penuh pulak..spoil!

ripley's believe it or not @ surfers paradise

  another ice-cream session in front of hard rock cafe..its coppenhagen's extremely delicious ice cream..must try!

oh, there is an incident happened after this session..liza lost her purse together with her passport on our back home..what? hilang passport?! yes, i know..its quite a mess..but we've survived it..more of it later guys!