Travel: Australia - 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!

[kerajo]

bigfoot:

Will be leaving for Gold Coast soon!


For those interested, I booked online for accomodation at Lillydale Farmstay. Just google it. You can find it easily. I choose to book at Agoda.com since I have discount using Citibank credit card. Once booking is done, the staff at Lillydale will take over from there. We are staying 2 nights there.

For the second part of our trip, we will be staying 4 nights at Pacific Views Resort. Judging from feedback, it should be good. Keeping our fingers crossed. :xedfingers:

For theme parks, I have already booked Dreamworld and Sea World. Was trying to choose between Movie World and Sea World. In the end, decided to go to Sea World because during our last trip to GC, I remember my kids enjoyed themselves more at Sea World.

We will also visit Currumbin Sanctuary, Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, Surfer Paradise Night Market. Any more places I should visit? I feel like we are revisiting all the places we had went during our last trip 4 years ago. Need more suggestions.

By the way, we are flying via Scoots. First time trying out their services. Any feedback? What are the things we should expect? etc...

Hi Bigfoot,
Hope you had a great trip with your family in GC last Dec.

I will be staying at Lillydale farmstay with my husband and 2 kids (3 and 8 yr old) for 2N in this coming June. May I know how do you settle your meals at the farmstay?

[SBKS]

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.

u can buy onboard the bus.

http://translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares/go-card/buy-a-go-card

[bigfoot]

kerajo:

Hi Bigfoot,
Hope you had a great trip with your family in GC last Dec.

I will be staying at Lillydale farmstay with my husband and 2 kids (3 and 8 yr old) for 2N in this coming June. May I know how do you settle your meals at the farmstay?

Yes, we had a great trip! The stay at Lillydale Farmstay and Pacific View Resort was excellent. My kids love it!

For meal at Lillydale Farmstay, we choose to settle on our own as we are not sure whether our kids will like the meal pack. Also we don't cook.

You can drive to the nearest town (sorry can't remember the name but sound something like Rathdowney - thanks to the GPS keep repeating that word). You can check with the staff there. They will be glad to direct you. Easy drive. I don't even need the GPS to get back to Lillydale after that.

At that town, there is a restaurant in the hotel/motel. It is just a small motel. So don't expect the kind high class resturant. They serve western food (what else) like fish and chips, burgers, etc. Their portion is really BIG! So, no need to order for everyone. We order 2 sets and couldn't even finish.

There is also a petrol kiosk with a minimart. You can buy milk, bread, muffin, etc there for breakfast. Alternatively, there is a bigger minimart beside the restaurant. We stock up food from there. We bought frozen pizza for one of our lunches. There are muffin, instant noodles and cakes which u can also consider. This particular minimart also sell burgers and chips (basically western food again). But it is more for takeaway - although there are tables and chairs outside the minimart.

So, DON'T worry about your meal. Understand your concerns as we have that same concern before the trip.

Add on: To get to the farm, pls follow the direction given by the staff of Lillydale (thru email). I thought with GPS it will be easy to drive there. I was wrong. Haha. No wonder they gave us specific instructions on how to get there.

[bigfoot]

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?

Not sure if my reply is too late. Don't worry about self driving in GC. It is one of the best driving experiences I have oversea. The good thing about driving in Australia is that it is also left hand drive similar to Singapore.

GPS is good. I started driving in Australia way before GPS was popular. Was using those maps to navigate. Now with GPS, it is even simpler than ever! Just make sure you know how to operate the GPS. Most of the popular places can be searched easily in the GPS. Have fun!

[kerajo]

Thanks Bigfoot.

You have addressed all my concerns on food.

[dark chocolate]

Dear all


Can someone advise if there is a difference in terms of service between Quantas and Quantas fly by Emirates for flights to Brisbane? Thks!

[happydl]

dark chocolate:

Dear all


Can someone advise if there is a difference in terms of service between Quantas and Quantas fly by Emirates for flights to Brisbane? Thks!

This coming June, I will be flying to Brisbane by Emirates. I heard that Emirates has the best entertainment channels among all the airlines. I read in one of our local blog that the plane is newer than SQ. http://www.thewackyduo.com/2009/12/gold-coast-report-day-1.html

I had flew with Quantas previously to Brisbane (1996) and I do not like their services. The male steward asked me to go to the cooler behind to take water myself when i press the service button for plain water for the second time.

He actually held my empty cup and pointed at the water cooler behind and said: You take this cup and go behind and take the water.

That time I was young and internet was not advanced that is why I didn't make noise. If it happen now I sure complain like hell.

[EmilyMummy]

hi hi to all


:?:

I will be bring my 2 girls (1 and 4yrs) to gold coast early july, would like some advices.

1. can we bring packet milo, cereal, bread, biscuit and sweets?
(any other items u managed to bring in for the kids, i only know unopened milk powder is allowed)

2. I checked the website of currumbin wildlife sanctury and steve edwin's zoo, both required $$$ to take pics with their animals (esp our fav koala & kangaroo) :gloomy: . Are there any other places where we pay for entrance and get to hug koala & kangaroos and take pics for free? :?

3. How abt Paradise country? do we have to pay to feed or take pics with the above animals? :?

Thank you :please:

[babyspike]

Just back from my trip to GC. Weather's still pretty hot when it's not cloudy


Yanyan, driving is much better than Singapore I feel, less traffic and drivers are more courteous and cautious. If you are arriving at Brisbane airport, I recommend Apex Car rental (http://www.apexrentacar.com.au/) as their prices are reasonable and their cars are very new, FOC car seats and GPS. We rented the Hyundai i45 this time and find it more spacious that the i30cw we rented last December. If you are heading to Lillydale farm, ask them for the TomTom GPS as we had no problem with it. The directions given by Lillydale is very much similar to google maps.

Lilydale's very fun for the kids with animal feeding twice daily and the kids love climbing up the haystacks to search for eggs, which we get to keep and cook. We ordered a BBQ food pack for one night and the beef's pretty good. Wonder if it's from their black angus cow they rear. We didn't drive out for our meals as we got enough bread, tuna cans, Kraft macaroni with cheese packs, frozen pizzas, quiche, fruits etc and we cooked our meals using their microwave, stove and oven. You can also get some quick fixes like gelato and cakes at the farm. We stayed at the Maroon room and we can see the donkeys and sheeps from our windows, lovely! The tractor ride is enjoyable and so is the bonfire with marshmellows.

EmilyMummy, you can bring what you've listed (even some cup noodles), just declare it's food for the kids. I brought my milk stack container needed for the plane ride and had no problem clearing too. At Paradise Country Farm, you only have to pay addition to hug a koala but the cost is basically for the photo taken, which is still quite worth. The park ranger will give out free feed for the kangeroos that roam about freely. The same feed is given to the emu. You can get your tickets from Themeparks.com.au that comes with free opal mining/gold panning. We chose the former and were thankful it's in shade. The kids love it and get to keep their goggles and (planted) opals from their mining lot with a cert too

For this trip, we had memorable experiences doing Infinity maze and the Catch-a-crab cruise. The former can be quite frightening for kids who fear dark, and my kids cried when they came out. haha.. But my hb and I are impressed by the effects, while some sections are meant to be a little eerie, and the music played made us anxious while trying hard to find unobvious exits, esp when the kids want to get out fast and there is no turning back. The cruise is very fun - yabbie pumping in shallow waters, catch a crab (even though it's merely pulling up the bait cage placed overnight, everyone's happy to see their cages having two or more crabs), fishing and a great seafood lunch with fish, crab and succulent and sweet fresh oysters!