Gold Coast 9th-11th

8th may

it seems like just yesterday when we took the much-awaited flight to aussie.. it can't be already one month ago...

i swear those 3 weeks flew past in a wink. perhaps, like they say, good times pass quickly.

it took an abrupt end on monday when we flew back home and i'm still suffering from the hangover. from all the hassle and travelling that has become a daily routine over there i'm suddenly thrown into the throes of empty-handedness and boredom even. it still doesn't feel like it has ended.

and now i've had enough rest and wanna log down those travel tales. perhaps a bittersweet closure to that adventure in farawayland.

we din sleep a wink on that overnight flight. seats were so uncomfortable and squeezy. perhaps for a good reason we din sleep too.. for the skies were so pretty upon sunrise early morning when we looked out the window.

9th may

then, after a 1.5 hrs of trainride from brisbane, we finally arrived at the land of gold coast!! like 2 excited kids we quickly checked into the hostel, dumped our things, got changed and rushed down to the sunny beach!

it's a pretty beach isn't it.. lotsa pple suntanning in their bikinis.. sunny but dun be duped, the weather's quite chilly still.. strong winds blowing.

and yea.. just ignore the buildings behind whilst u lay on the sand, facing the sea. it's such a waste when u have a beautiful beach that's tainted by tall buildings and car tyre marks on the golden sand.

i prefer beaches that are au natural, with minimalistic human touches. but it'd be rather impossible in modern times. still.. there are beaches that are less commercialized, definitely.

nevertheless, we had a great time in gc. days just bumming around, lying on the sand, eating on the beach, walking round the lil' town full of shops and eateries. pretty much commercialized i'd say. but at least the shops there close later than other areas we travelled in aust.

these seagulls are beautiful.. but they're also irritating pests! they follow wherever there's food and swarm around u if u're eating on the streets, on the beach, anywhere. they're everywhere throughout australia, as we'd see. but we first met them on our very first day in gc and became so irritated with them... we bought fish and chips and ate on the benches, and they started swarming around us in a huge group.. looking as if they're gonna attack anytime.

and with their friend, the ibis.. this ugly looking huge bird with a long beak which freaked me out so much.. it walked behind me suddenly and kept eyeing on my food.. i was so afraid it'd poke me with that super long beak la! brrr..

and all these birds.. they fly around at human height.. freaks pple out.. haha.. can hear pple screaming sometimes when they start flying in swarms around us.. i'd always cover my head when they do that cos i dun want my hair to look like the shit-covered grounds...

10th may-Movieworld!

we had a really fun time in movieworld! okie it's not as big-scale as those in america i'd guess and we could kinda cover everything within a day.. but still, not bad for a first experience. it's like stepping into fairytale land. love the shrek 4d show! so funny.. we watched a 3d film on the big screen and we could actually feel water droplets on our faces when the donkey sneezes, feel spiders crawling up our legs during the spider scene.. blah blah.. haha.. cute..

love all the pretty, colourful architecture and lil' houses and shops.

and here, we ate the first of many yummilicious aussie ice-creams!

absolutely love their ice-cream after this first try. why can't the ice-creams back home taste so great? over there we crave for a double scoop ice-cream waffle cone so often, and would give ourselves a lil' treat once in awhile. quite costly.. bout 5, 6 AUD for a double scoop. and surprisingly eating ice-cream in the cold weather doesn't make u cold or anything, and in fact it's a better experience even.. cos the ice-cream doesn't really melt!

the other day in s'pore we bought a cone from a certain ice-cream parlour that aust also has and it's so disappointing.. the waffle cone doesn't taste nice and is not so crispy, the ice-cream mediocre, and the size of the scoop? pathetic.. i'm nv a big ice-cream lover but if i live in aust, i'd be one.

and our reward at the end of the day came in the form of a huge rainbow. it must be the first time i'm seeing such a bright and complete one before my eyes! too bad i was on the bus and could only capture lousy shots. at first only one end of the rainbow appeared and slowly the entire rainbow came out! i could only fit one end of it in this shot though.. the whole rainbow is too big! i love rainbows!

that day was also free bus day (again, why can't we have such stuff in s'pore!) and we actually missed our stop and ended up going to the pacific fair shopping mall, which happened to close at 9pm on thursdays (6pm on others). super lucky us.

11th may

more beach.

our last day on the beach was a gloomy one.

we settled down nicely with our picnic spread and suddenly, without warning, the rain came down and everyone ran into shelter! the entire day was rainy and dark.. and freezing. went for a walk on the beach when the rain slowed but it was so windy and cold that we couldn't stay. even bought a piping hot chocolate to warm us up. the waves were huge. the beach was empty except for some cranky bummer who was still swimming in the sea.. madness.

reflections from gc overall.. it's a pretty slow and peaceful town. short walk to the beach from our hostel, and everywhere's within walking distance, much like a small, vibrant town. love those nights when we have nothing to do and sat on benches by the shops or by the sea, writing down bits of the day we spent, chat and eat. gc gave a very relaxed and casual feeling.. a good start to a long journey ahead.