Travel: Australia - Gold Coast

[yanyan]

Btw…can we do dolphin feeding in jun? Would it be too cold for the kids?

[KSmom8]

yanyan:

Btw..can we do dolphin feeding in jun? Would it be too cold for the kids?

I believe can do wild dolphin feeding year round but check the Tangalooma official website. Water should be very cold. We went in late October and the water was cold! Magical experience to hand feed wild dolphin though still feel that is very commercialized.

Not advisable to bring young children to feed the wild dolphins at Tangalooma, in my opinion. The adults have to stand in waist high seawater, holding the child or one of the Tangalooma staff will hold your child. If the sea is rough, the waves can come up quite high and both will get drenched... Or worse, both adult and child can fall and end up drinking seawater...could be quite traumatic for the young child.

[babyspike]

Just visited GC in mid Dec. Many thanks to those who replied to my questions. The self-drive was very pleasant (drivers are more polite than here and road conditions are good too), but weather was super hot and luckily we got long-sleeved UV protection suits from Rip Curl which was cooling to wear. I checked the prices at Brisbane airport and seemed not much difference from getting them here.


We visited Tangalooma for a Day Trip and felt that the package with air-con VIP lounge was worth paying for, as my 3yo girl could sleep soundly in it as we chilled out while waiting for dolphin feeding time. My hb and I thought the buffet lunch that came with the package was still alright despite the bad reviews from TripAdvisor about food at the resort. There are two shower rooms that are clean and plenty of lockers in the VIP lounge. The climb up the sand hill was super exhausting to me especially when my kids refused to stand in the sand and we gave up carrying them 1/3 up the hill. Ended up I did the tobaggan while my hb babysit them and when I reached the bottom of the hill, I saw the kids happily playing with the sand (Argh!).
We carried our kids to feed the Dolphins and my pants still got wet. So i think it’s still better to carry your kids, what’s more water in June will be so much colder. We also had enough time to do a quick wash and change up before boarding the transfer back to Brisbane.

We look forward to visiting GC again in cooler weather and to cover what we’ve missed.

[babyspike]

Oh yes yanyan, do consider F&E for the young kids. My girl had fever on the second last day and we were thankful we were on F&E so she could rest well and still enjoyed TV and the beach at the front of our apartment. Also, kids under four enters most tourist attractions for free, while travel agency will still charge you at least 80% of adult fare for the kids.


I saw a mummy carrying her baby to stand on the beach to watch her hb and boy feed the dolphin.

Remember to pack all the necessary medicine for the kids. We even brought the essential ones on board and declared my boy's nose spray with steroids. They are generally nice to families with young kids :).

[yanyan]

Thanks babyspike…yes i’m planning for F&E! Will be doing my itinerary & seeking info from these 50pages! Thanks!

[micollh]

can i know how long will it take to go to airport from let’s say town ? i need to estimate the timing… as the flight is like 9am… what time should i be in airport ?

[bebebub]

micollh:

can i know how long will it take to go to airport from let's say town ? i need to estimate the timing.. as the flight is like 9am.. what time should i be in airport ?

Which town? Which airport? Weekday or weekend?

[yanyan]

Hi, how is the driving like in GC? My hb only drive in sg, not even msia so is it safe to drive in GC with gps?

[happydl]

Hi,


If we are not driving. Where can we buy the Go card for bus? Cos I will be arriving via Brisbane not Gold Coast.

[SK II]

My family intends to visit GC in Nov. Appreciate any recommendation for apartment suitable for 2A+3C (8,9,12). Ideally if they have channel for Nickelodeon programme as I understand most shops closed after 6pm so need some entertainment for the kids. Thanks a lot!