4D3N in GOLD COAST!!!!
Standard greetings, BEEN A WHILE!!!
Decided to do up a quick guide to my Gold Coast trip.
It was my very first trip to Australia so I am no pro when it comes to travelling in Australia, I didn't even know all passports require Visa to enter Aus HAHA but since a lot of you have been asking me to share what I did during my trip, here'a a free guide from a newbie traveller to the land of Kangaroos!!!
Side note, I was very VERY excited to visit Gold Coast 'cause apart from it being my first trip to Australia, somewhere I really wanted to visit, Gold Coast is also a paradise to me since I was a child. Feels like a dream come true being able to visit it at least once now that I'm older!!!
It was a RATHER impromptu trip so I did a lot of last minute research to see what's there to do in Gold Coast.
Our trip is pretty short 'cause we didn't have a lot of time to take off... Our initial plan was to visit Seoul (somewhere that requires no research for me hahaha) but because of the crazy price surge of the air tickets within a day.... the site also pissed me off way too much to buy a ticket to jet there so I changed my mind LOLLLL.
Anyway, after that I just suggested every possible destination to go for a quick vacation....
PLANE TICKET
So after a few suggestions, we found a REALLY cheap ticket to Gold Coast for just SGD$450 PER PAX on budget airline, Scoot.
Not being a huge diva but I've never taken budget airline...... ok the only time I took one was to Penang and it was less than an hour.
There were NO OTHER FLIGHTS to Gold Coast during the period we decided on flying (after that we realised it's the Commonwealth Games period plus we booked the tickets rather late), so we went ahead on taking Scoot hehe. Plus it was really quite a steal price-wise, especially for an impromptu decision! PERFECT.
It was an 8HR flight to Gold Coast from Singapore btw.
If it's your first time on Scoot too, remember to pack some snacks along with you (they said no food & drinks but I brought some snacks and no one chased me off lol), a loaded laptop with entertainment, and an empty bottle to fill after checkpoint. Just so you won't have to spend $5 on a bottle of water on flight.
ACCOMMODATION
I went on Agoda to search for a room, quickest possible way, not sure if it's the cheapest way.
The rooms were on an average $200-$300 (of course, for the normal rooms), which I will consider pretty pricey tbh.
We went ahead with Rhapsody Resort, just about 15min walk away from the main beach at Surfer's Paradise. It was about SGD$250 for a night (I'm sure it was during the peak season, it should be cheaper on non-peak). I really liked the room!!!!
Anyway, I didn't get to snap a lot of pictures during my trip so if you're interested in how my room looks, check out my vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_rCYx55T_I&t=347s
It's really pretty with an awesome view...
Really well equipped, there was a stove, oven, dishwasher, microwave, washing machine, dryer..... LIKE WOW.
It was really clean as well!!!
TRANSPORT
So I went on my Twitter to ask about the transport around Gold Coast.
One of you got back telling me that it will be good if I get a car to drive around, especially if I'm going outside of the city.
Another one of you told me that I can just take the public transport if I'm travelling within the city and it's super convenient!
We actually booked a horse-riding package further up at Numinbah Valley, it was about an hour's drive away from Surfer's Paradise, so I decided to rent a car.
We rented a car from Expedia, it ended up pretty expensive so I'll suggest you to just try and take the public transport.
The damage for us was about $500 for 5 days, excluding petrol and carpark charges.
TBH I find it really ex 'cause we spent only one day out to Numinbah Valley/ Springbrook. Otherwise we could've just taken the public transport. But I guess if you're lazy like me and has a partner who drives........ :D nyehehehe.
FOOD
We spent about $50 per meal! Just hopped into a random restaurant, mostly at Surfer's Paradise!
I'm not a huge fan of western food so I can't really judge HAHAHAHA
WHAT WE DID
I highly recommend you to check out my vlog before reading this post~~
DAY ONE
We landed in Gold Coast Airport (OOL) at about 7AM++, got our ride and reached our hotel at about 9AM.
Didn't get to check in first so we drove down to the main area of Surfer's Paradise, which is pretty much home to us for the rest of the days 'cause it's the nearest area with lots of restaurants and supermarket. There's also a huge TIMEZONE there if you're really bored haha.
After checking in and napped till late afternoon, we walked over to the beach and made a roughly 15-20min stroll down to the main area of Surfer's Paradise again. Honestly a pretty long walk but it's just a straight way down so definitely won't get lost HAHA. And quite romantic to take a stroll down the beach together with the sun setting. The ocean was really pretty too. Oh and the beach is just in front of our hotel.
Sums up our first day 'cause we were both really tired from the red-eye flight and just decided to spend some time checking around Surfer's.
DAY TWO
I booked a horse-riding session at Numinbah Valley around 2PM, so we decided to wake up earlier and drive down to O'Reily's Vineyard where the Mountview Alpaca Farm was located. AND as you know I am a HUGE fan of alpaca!!!!!!!!! HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE.
Took us about an hour's drive... but honestly we were pretty disappointed. It's still a pretty vineyard with mountain-view and a peaceful stream, you can also be accompanied by an alpaca for 15min if you pay AUD$15... Probably really disappointed 'cause the alpacas were all stuck in a pen and you had to pay that much to spend mere 15min with you walking them with a leash... (I didn't pay for that btw).
I'll rather head to the alpaca farm I went in Taiwan where I got to mingle around with them freely, and they were all so happy and free, running out from their pen towards the huge grass field during feeding time!!! LIKE THEY JUST TROTTED OFF FAR AWAY OMG SO CUTE LIKE HOW WITH THEIR LONG NECKS AND FLUFFY FURRRRRRR.
Didn't expected my time in O'Reily's to be that brief, so we had so much more time left before our horse-riding session!
We headed down to Springbrook's National Park to check out the Glow Worm Caves.
I heard it's gonna be stunning when it's dark 'cause you get to see the cave glow, but I went there in the day. The waterfall is really pretty still!!!
After that, we spent more time waiting around some cafe down the road, and headed back to the horse-riding place.
AND THE HORSE-RIDING SESSION WAS SOOOOO WORTH IT.
It's a 3HR package for couples, so you get to ride a horse to check out the farms and nature around Numinbah Valley, something you can never see in SG, and then stop by the stream to have a picnic with sparkling juice and cheese + crackers. Super romantic, something I've seen in movies and never imagined that I'll ever try.... REALLY enjoyed myself.
The package itself is AUD$350 for two pax. So worth it. Booked it here!! You're welcome hehe. #NotSponsored #IGoogledForIt #GEM
The guide who brought us around was really friendly too, and you can tell she really loves her horses, and the area that she's living in. She shared her knowledge of the animals and nature around Numinbah Valley... it's really interesting!
DAY THREE
It's a theme park day!
We bought our tickets at Surfer's Paradise the day before, it's about $10 cheaper than getting tickets from the gate, and you don't have to queue for tickets too. Just remember to bring your tickets during your theme park day!!! xD
The first theme park we decided to head to was Dreamworld + Whitewater World (inside dreamworld)!
Been so long since I went to a waterpark so I was pretty excited hehe.
I was expecting Dreamworld to be A LOT bigger but it's not that big compared to what I've imagined hahahhahahahaha. Still bigger than USS HAHAHA.
Whitewater world was alright too, just really thrilled 'cause I haven't been to one for YEARS, but we both got 'injured' from the water rides, as predicted.
After the water rides we went back to Dreamworld 'cause we realised we kinda skipped the zoo area, and since I haven't been to Australia, I haven't get to see an actual Kangaroo or Koala!
Thankfully Dreamworld has this zoo section so I got to meet a Kangaroo hehehehe.
If we went earlier, we'll probably get to interact with baby tigers and koala T _T
There were alpacas too, saw them from afar but the area was closed by the time we were there!
DAY FOUR
ANOTHER theme park day!
We decided to head to WB Movie World and I have to say I LIKE IT MORE THAN DREAMWORLD! But to be very fair, Dreamworld has this animal section so it's kinda worth going down either.
There's Wet n Wild next to Movie World but we didn't head down 'cause the water park yesterday was already intensive for two old people's body LOL. But we took a glimpse of it and it looks a lot fancier than the one yesterday~ Just from the glimpse ok not accurate LOL.
BUT Movie World was GREAT!
Probably because of the nostalgia due to the characters from WB, and a lot of superhero themed stuff which is definitely a killer to most people hehe.
I'm a sucker for thrill rides with a theme. I really enjoyed the Superman one 'cause the story goes kinda like how the MRT broke down and it's really dangerous and Superman pushed us out of it and the roller coaster went VROOOOOOOOOOOM.
But ya if you get what I mean!!!!!!
Also a lot of Joker and Harley thing going on I really love. xD
Since we didn't head to another water park, we completed all the rides pretty quickly and left around 4PM. SO... we decided to make an impromptu visit to a nearby Go-karting place called Slideways.
TBH really expensive, about $79 per person for 2x 10min races.
I have to say it does feel a lot longer than 10min LOL.
And it's really very intense, if you haven't tried Go-karting before. I never knew it's such a dangerous activity ok not for the faint-hearted HAHAHA. Or maybe I'm just really loser but still.
I was aching all over after the rides. The circuit was pretty dope though!!!!
Check out my vlog if you wanna see how everything went!
We went home the next day, flight was at 9AM T _ T
A really short trip but I feel we went almost everywhere I wanted to go, and tried so many things I've never tried before. So I guess it's a pretty fruitful trip! :D
If it's another day longer, I'll love to try some water sports hehe, I found this page previously, if you're looking for water sports, you can perhaps try them out - http://www.surfersparasail.com!
That's all for this post!
FOOD
We spent about $50 per meal! Just hopped into a random restaurant, mostly at Surfer's Paradise!
I'm not a huge fan of western food so I can't really judge HAHAHAHA
WHAT WE DID
I highly recommend you to check out my vlog before reading this post~~
DAY ONE
We landed in Gold Coast Airport (OOL) at about 7AM++, got our ride and reached our hotel at about 9AM.
Didn't get to check in first so we drove down to the main area of Surfer's Paradise, which is pretty much home to us for the rest of the days 'cause it's the nearest area with lots of restaurants and supermarket. There's also a huge TIMEZONE there if you're really bored haha.
After checking in and napped till late afternoon, we walked over to the beach and made a roughly 15-20min stroll down to the main area of Surfer's Paradise again. Honestly a pretty long walk but it's just a straight way down so definitely won't get lost HAHA. And quite romantic to take a stroll down the beach together with the sun setting. The ocean was really pretty too. Oh and the beach is just in front of our hotel.
Sums up our first day 'cause we were both really tired from the red-eye flight and just decided to spend some time checking around Surfer's.
DAY TWO
I booked a horse-riding session at Numinbah Valley around 2PM, so we decided to wake up earlier and drive down to O'Reily's Vineyard where the Mountview Alpaca Farm was located. AND as you know I am a HUGE fan of alpaca!!!!!!!!! HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE.
Took us about an hour's drive... but honestly we were pretty disappointed. It's still a pretty vineyard with mountain-view and a peaceful stream, you can also be accompanied by an alpaca for 15min if you pay AUD$15... Probably really disappointed 'cause the alpacas were all stuck in a pen and you had to pay that much to spend mere 15min with you walking them with a leash... (I didn't pay for that btw).
I'll rather head to the alpaca farm I went in Taiwan where I got to mingle around with them freely, and they were all so happy and free, running out from their pen towards the huge grass field during feeding time!!! LIKE THEY JUST TROTTED OFF FAR AWAY OMG SO CUTE LIKE HOW WITH THEIR LONG NECKS AND FLUFFY FURRRRRRR.
Didn't expected my time in O'Reily's to be that brief, so we had so much more time left before our horse-riding session!
We headed down to Springbrook's National Park to check out the Glow Worm Caves.
I heard it's gonna be stunning when it's dark 'cause you get to see the cave glow, but I went there in the day. The waterfall is really pretty still!!!
After that, we spent more time waiting around some cafe down the road, and headed back to the horse-riding place.
AND THE HORSE-RIDING SESSION WAS SOOOOO WORTH IT.
It's a 3HR package for couples, so you get to ride a horse to check out the farms and nature around Numinbah Valley, something you can never see in SG, and then stop by the stream to have a picnic with sparkling juice and cheese + crackers. Super romantic, something I've seen in movies and never imagined that I'll ever try.... REALLY enjoyed myself.
The package itself is AUD$350 for two pax. So worth it. Booked it here!! You're welcome hehe. #NotSponsored #IGoogledForIt #GEM
The guide who brought us around was really friendly too, and you can tell she really loves her horses, and the area that she's living in. She shared her knowledge of the animals and nature around Numinbah Valley... it's really interesting!
DAY THREE
It's a theme park day!
We bought our tickets at Surfer's Paradise the day before, it's about $10 cheaper than getting tickets from the gate, and you don't have to queue for tickets too. Just remember to bring your tickets during your theme park day!!! xD
The first theme park we decided to head to was Dreamworld + Whitewater World (inside dreamworld)!
Been so long since I went to a waterpark so I was pretty excited hehe.
I was expecting Dreamworld to be A LOT bigger but it's not that big compared to what I've imagined hahahhahahahaha. Still bigger than USS HAHAHA.
Whitewater world was alright too, just really thrilled 'cause I haven't been to one for YEARS, but we both got 'injured' from the water rides, as predicted.
After the water rides we went back to Dreamworld 'cause we realised we kinda skipped the zoo area, and since I haven't been to Australia, I haven't get to see an actual Kangaroo or Koala!
Thankfully Dreamworld has this zoo section so I got to meet a Kangaroo hehehehe.
If we went earlier, we'll probably get to interact with baby tigers and koala T _T
There were alpacas too, saw them from afar but the area was closed by the time we were there!
DAY FOUR
ANOTHER theme park day!
We decided to head to WB Movie World and I have to say I LIKE IT MORE THAN DREAMWORLD! But to be very fair, Dreamworld has this animal section so it's kinda worth going down either.
There's Wet n Wild next to Movie World but we didn't head down 'cause the water park yesterday was already intensive for two old people's body LOL. But we took a glimpse of it and it looks a lot fancier than the one yesterday~ Just from the glimpse ok not accurate LOL.
BUT Movie World was GREAT!
Probably because of the nostalgia due to the characters from WB, and a lot of superhero themed stuff which is definitely a killer to most people hehe.
I'm a sucker for thrill rides with a theme. I really enjoyed the Superman one 'cause the story goes kinda like how the MRT broke down and it's really dangerous and Superman pushed us out of it and the roller coaster went VROOOOOOOOOOOM.
But ya if you get what I mean!!!!!!
Also a lot of Joker and Harley thing going on I really love. xD
Since we didn't head to another water park, we completed all the rides pretty quickly and left around 4PM. SO... we decided to make an impromptu visit to a nearby Go-karting place called Slideways.
TBH really expensive, about $79 per person for 2x 10min races.
I have to say it does feel a lot longer than 10min LOL.
And it's really very intense, if you haven't tried Go-karting before. I never knew it's such a dangerous activity ok not for the faint-hearted HAHAHA. Or maybe I'm just really loser but still.
I was aching all over after the rides. The circuit was pretty dope though!!!!
Check out my vlog if you wanna see how everything went!
We went home the next day, flight was at 9AM T _ T
A really short trip but I feel we went almost everywhere I wanted to go, and tried so many things I've never tried before. So I guess it's a pretty fruitful trip! :D
If it's another day longer, I'll love to try some water sports hehe, I found this page previously, if you're looking for water sports, you can perhaps try them out - http://www.surfersparasail.com!
That's all for this post!
Didn't get to snap many pictures 'cause I was mostly vlogging or just chilling~
BUT DAMN THE SKY IS SO BLUE.
Ok if you have any other questions, you can tweet me @speishi OR leave me a comment on Instagram OR leave a comment below (I hope I'll get to them haha)!
Again, linking you to my vlog - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_rCYx55T_I if you still haven't watch it after promoting it for 3 times in this post HAHAHA.
See you when I'm less lazy to blog about my other trips!!! :D
Please also let me know if you have great itineraries for other destinations you've enjoyed, will love to travel around~
Thanks for sticking by!
xx
BUT DAMN THE SKY IS SO BLUE.
Ok if you have any other questions, you can tweet me @speishi OR leave me a comment on Instagram OR leave a comment below (I hope I'll get to them haha)!
Again, linking you to my vlog - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_rCYx55T_I if you still haven't watch it after promoting it for 3 times in this post HAHAHA.
See you when I'm less lazy to blog about my other trips!!! :D
Please also let me know if you have great itineraries for other destinations you've enjoyed, will love to travel around~
Thanks for sticking by!
xx
