We love travelling our beautiful country, but our son Daniel is now 19 and choosing somewhere to go that is interesting for him was hard. We have two girls, Madi and Hannah, who are 8 and 6, so we needed somewhere they would enjoy too. But what about us, the parents, Alan and Lisa, who dream all year of a getaway from the grind of work? Where to go? Hmm, the Gold Coast, of course!
We gave the newest airline in Australia a go (Tiger Airways) and weren't disappointed. Sure, you have to walk onto the tarmac to board the plane, but at the price, it was worth it! A virtually-new airbus and very nice cabin crew too.
We had booked into Blue Waters Luxury Apartments in Labrador, right on Broadwater. Lovely air conditioned two-bedroom apartment featured a full kitchen and overlooked pool and tropical garden. There was plenty of seating around the pool, and the BBQ was great for cooking the odd barramundi, scallop and prawn we purchased from Charis Seafoods, just down the road. Here you can buy virtually anything caught in the surrounding seas or rivers. The sales-lady even gave us instructions on how to barbeque the seafood (with butter, garlic and a little chilli - yum!)
After collecting our rental car, our first stop in sunny Queensland was Tropical Fruit World near Tweed Heads. A jolly avocado greeted us and the friendly staff gave us some yummy tropical fruits to taste. One was a cactus, yes a cactus! We took a tour of the fruit farm where avocado trees were loaded with fruit and you could sit under a macadamia tree and use a cracker to open the hard shells for the delightful native nut inside. A huge ice cream sundae with tropical fruits finished off the day. On the drive back to Surfers we marvelled at how lush and green it was compared to our dry, dusty town in the wheat belt of north western Victoria. We also stopped off at the local supermarket (there are heaps of shopping centres in the Gold Coast) and stocked up on supplies to last us the next 10 days.
On Thursday we were off to Movie World. My husband gleefully programmed his Christmas present GPS and the female voice got us off to a great start - "in 400 metres, turn left, and follow the course of the road". Excellent, no map reading, what a relief! Movieworld is always busy, and often you have to line up, but in January, we were surprised with only a 10 to 20 minute wait on most of the rides. The new Superman and Batwing Spaceshot were a joy for the adrenaline junkies - Alan and our son Daniel - but I was a little more reluctant, only taking on the Wild West Ride, and getting photographed screaming all the way down!! Of course it wouldn't be a great day without going into the Shrek 4D ride (shsh, don't give the secret away if you've been on it before!).
Sea World was next on Friday, and Alan and Daniel were booked for a tropical reef snorkel. With wetsuits and snorkels provided they enjoyed viewing the hundreds of fish, including sharks, in shark bay, while we watched them dive from the underwater viewing area. The kids loved the new Sesame Street Beach with the rides, but phew, try not to let them in the many merchandise shops as they will want to go crazy. You can eat at the 'all you can eat buffet' in the Paradise Room, overlooking the Ski Jumping Lagoon. For us, it turned out cheaper than the fish and chip boxes at the cafes. The dolphin show was magnificent, and it really was worth the trip when Madi said "Mum, I want a job looking after sea animals".
Booking a cabana at Wet n Wild was a great idea, it cost $98 for the day, but we had own deck chairs in a shady gazebo and didn't have to worry about trying to get a seat. Based at the kids area Buccanneer Bay, it meant I could relax and watch the kids play in the shallow pools all day. What a great relaxing day, whiling away the hours floating around calypso beach, or in the wave pool, whilst the others went on the water slides. Grab some insulated cooler bags at the supermarket and take your own sandwiches and drinks, it's much cheaper. You can get splash cash where you deposit money onto a wristband and then use it to buy food or drinks, or the obligatory photo of me screaming once again going down the huge waterslide, Mammoth Falls, in a six-person raft.
A gruelling schedule of theme parks and the determination to get our money's worth from two-day passes saw us at Dreamworld the next day. The kids spent all day on their favourite rides, and again, the photos with characters from Nickelodeon. It was worth the half hour wait to line up and see the tigers, they were magnificent, but as all cats are, they were only interested in doing something if there was some nice raw chicken for the effort! Wiggles World is the mecca for all little kids with colourful rides suited just to them. One little upset girl lost her parents, and the friendly staff were great in finding her dad - we saw them back together later on that day. If you do visit Dreamworld, make sure you agree on a meeting place with your older kids as getting separated is common; we didn't see our 19-year-old all day! If you have older kids, Dreamworld is heaven for them with stomach-twisting, jaw-dropping rides such as the Motocoaster. The photos from that were hilarious with the wide-eyed, grimaces on Alan's and Daniel's faces.
That evening we thoroughly enjoyed the Outback Spectacular, stirring a great sense of nationalistic pride within us. The stories, music and comedy were just fantastic. We didn't have to move from our seats either, with ladies delivering our three-course meal. Beer, wine or softdrink were included in the price and so were our stockman's hats, which we wore with pride. The finale of all the horses and riders carrying flags and synchronised riding was magnificent. What a great country we live in!
The 3 park superpass is good value with unlimited entry to Movie World, Sea World and Wet n Wild, but use your motor club membership (such as RACV or NRMA) to purchase them cheaper - it saved us over $100. With our superpasses in hand it was back to Sea World for our Family Dolphin Adventure, where the five of us donned rash vests, boardies and lifejackets to enjoy time patting and playing with three different dolphins, one of which was a young dolphin, Nudgee, who had been rescued from Nudgee beach, and who sadly, had multiple scars from fishing hooks. The staff really seem to love their work, and have a close bond with their dolphins. It pays to book your animal adventures online before you go, and that way you won't be disappointed, as many of them are booked out as soon as you arrive at Sea World.
Day seven and off to Movie World to catch up on what we missed the first day. I felt much more relaxed about going when I knew we could come back another day and not madly try to see and do everything in one day. With the super passes we just walked right in to the park, there was no lining up. Madi and Hannah spent most of their time with their hands over their ears at the Police Academy Stunt show, but admitted they still loved wild shooting and errupting bombs. After that it was back to the pool, for the routine evening swim then to watch a DVD, before falling into bed.
On day eight we were off to Stradbroke Island for a day cruise. We spent the day swimming, paddleboating, swimming, kayaking, swimming and sand tobogganning. We enjoyed a very nice BBQ lunch at the resort, but be sure to take your insect repellant as the mosquitoes are many and mad. Cruising past the huge waterfront homes on the way back made me a bit homesick for our cosy home back south, but appreciative of my modest mortgage.
Up early as usual (ther is no daylight savings in Queensland) with an early obligatory swim in the pool, and off to WhiteWater World, the latest theme park to open. Right next door to Dreamworld, it was included in our two-day pass. We got seats next to Wiggle Bay, a nice shady pool area just right for little ones and their mums and dads. The Nickleodeon Pipeline Plunge was also near us, and the kids (and adults) were having a great time squirting each other with the various water cannons.
Just about everything at the Gold Coast involves water or watersports, and an evening dinner cruise aboard Blue Fire Cruises was the evening entertainment. The Churrascaria roast meat was delicious, with salad and vegetables, and they just kept serving it up til we said "no more!". It was worthwhile paying the extra for the seafood menu, with a huge platter of seafood brought right to our table. The evening entertainment was great with singing and Brazillian dancers entertaining us, and getting the kids up dancing the Samba.
Our last day on the Gold Coast involved shopping at one of the many shopping malls around the area.
We had a fabulous holiday on the Gold Coast althought the kids had spent so much time swimming, I feared they might have grown gills and webbed feet!
My advice to anyone considering a holiday to the Gold Coast is don't forget to take buckets of cash with you if you want to buy all the photos and eat out a lot. It is possible to get away with spending a whole lot less if you make your own food and take it to the theme parks. We utilised the cooking facilities and barbeques where we stayed. Also, research your holiday thoroughly on the internet for accommodation deals and cheap car hire. There are even great looking caravan parks right on the beaches. It was the simple things like swimming in the pool or playing in the sandy beaches along the broadwater, that the kids loved best.
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