Travel: Australia - Gold Coast

[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!

[dark chocolate]

Dear babyspike


How old are your kids? Can you share your itinery please?

I am bringing my boy to GC for a F & E trip this Jun and am planning where to go.

Thanks!

[babyspike]

Hi dark chocolate, my boy is 6 and girl is 3. The girl gets to do most of the stuffs for free as she's under 4, except the catch-a-crab cruise. How old is your boy? If he's much older, he can do more thrilling stuffs like the jet boat ride and 4WD ATV tour. My itinerary turned out as follows:


Day 1 (Sun) - Reach Brisbane airport, get dataplan card from Lyca, collect car from Apex, do groceries at Coles, brunch, drive to Lillydale farm, rest. We fore-go the 4pm animal feeding as my nose was running real bad and rather let the kids rest, moreover it rained very heavily by then.

Day 2 (Mon) - Lillydale farm (animal feeding, boomerang throwing, tractor ride in the morning, then bbq dinner and bonfire with marshmellows in evening. bonfire last whole night). You can also explore their dinosaur cave, go horse/pony riding and canoe at their lake. We didn't do as it was too hot. We did the 4pm animal feed too :).

Day 3 (Tue) - Check out Lillydale, head to Tambourine mt (Skywalk, cedar creek course, glow worm cave, galleria walk). Check in to Silvershore apartment. Recommend Fish & Chips from Charis seafood just 5min drive away.

Day 4 (Wed) - Sea World

Day 5 (Thu) - Paradise Country Farm, Movie World

Day 6 (Fri) - Infinity, lunch @ Pancake Paradise, Skypoint, play with sand at surfers paradise (briefly explore market available on Fridays).

Day 7 (Sat) - Catch-a-crab cruise, play sand at Coolanganta beach (could only play less than 30min as sun was scorching when it came out from the clouds). Head back to Silvershore to swim in the pool.

Day 8 (Sun) - check out for return flight.

Hope my iti helps in your planning. Have a great trip!

[pillow28]

hi, can i ask how’s Mt Tamborine? do you recommend a stayover up in the mountains?

[babyspike]

Hi pillow28, I do personally think Mt Tambourine will be a nice place to stay, esp if you are on honeymoon, and get to do lots of wine tasting etc. I rem coming across some nice cottages package their stay with hot-air balloon with breakfast + champagne, sounds nice ya? Can’t rem the name though, so you can check at TripAdvisor on recommended accomodation.


As both my hb and I don’t drink, and we prefer not to change accommodation too many times, esp having to lug the kids around, half day at Mt Tambourine is sufficient for us.

Oh yes, there’s a cheese factory which we missed. Sounds like a good place to drop by too.

[pillow28]

Hi thanks for the quick reply . I actually have 2 kiddos in the same age grp as yours so thinkg whether gd idea to stay over